"The aim of this document is to help you have a working webcam in just a few hours. This NHF involves re-compiling your kernel. This isn't nearly as hard as it sounds. If you're kind of uncomfortable with the idea yet, read either the Kernel Compiling NHF or the Kernel-HOWTO. In my case I was forced to use the 2.2.17 backport, due to the fact that 2.4.0-test9 broke a lot of USB serial stuff (I need *working* USB for my Handspring Visor to sync via USB in Linux.) and at the time of this writing namesys hadn't released a patch for ReiserFS for 2.4.0-test10. (I needed that patch, since my entire file system is Reiser!) I will try to be as non-version-specific as possible."
"OK, the first thing we need to do is get a nice, clean copy of the linux kernel source. For most distributions, the source is stored in the directory /usr/src/linux/. Usually "linux" is just a symbolic link to a directory with a name like "linux-2.x.xx". ( the "x"'s mean whatever minor revision number and patch level the kernel is, as in 2.2.17) Delete this symlink with the command "rm -f /usr/src/linux".
"At this point, you need to apply any patches you need or want. Users who will be compiling 2.2.17 will need to apply the USB backport patch. Users of 2.4.x can just skip ahead to the section labeled "Configuring."
It is a good rule of thumb to apply patches in the order, from what you must have to what you'd kinda like to have. (This comes into play later!)"
