[wplug] I'm a Linux whimp (need kernel help)

[Robert E. Coutch]

Yes - It's true.

You see I've been using Linux since early 2000.
I can get a system up and running and configure most services.
I can apply patches and build packages from tar balls, and SRPMS.
I can troubleshoot and resolve many problems.

I can do lots of various tasks but there is still one area where I fear to 
tread.
I'm a total noob when it comes to the kernel.
Oh sure, I've updated my kernel and installed drivers but this has been 
through RPM's or install scripts.

Now I have encountered a situation that requires skills I don't posses.

Here's the situation:

I have a Thinkpad T23 that my company gave me when it was replaced with a 
newer laptop.
I have SuSE 9.3 up and running with all the ACPI and other laptop goodies 
working great.
This laptop uses the SuperSavage IX/C video chipset and I want to get 3D 
acceleration working.

I first tried using CVS to get the latest DRI goodies for this chipset since 
it's not normally included in any of the popular distros.
I got the files fine but during the make process I ran into some errors 
(actually, a lot of errors).
I went to the DRI website and grabbed a tarball snapshot.
The extracted snapshot had an install script that was going to build and 
install everything I needed.
I provided what I thought were the proper paths to the kernel files.
I do have kernel sources on my machine.
The script reported it could not find my kernel config. file.

In the process of grabbing the kernel sources from SuSE I had also grabbed a 
DRM source package.

I'm not sure if the SuSE RPM did this or if the DRI script did this but I now 
see the sources for the savage DRM module in my kernel sources 
( /usr/src/kernel-modules/drm).

I gave you this long synopsis so you can comment on what I should and 
shouldn't have done.

So finally - here's the question:
HOW DO I BUILD THESE MODULE SOURCES INTO MODULES ?


Thanks for any help,

Bob