I wanted to compile a 2.6.14 kernel (the newest when I was recompiling).

Additional steps I took :

* sudo apt-get install libqt3-mt-dev

This step allows you to do "make xconfig" (graphical configuration) instead of "make menuconfig". However, bear in mind that if you executed "su" (or "sudo") to become root, you have to : "su <user from which you became root>" and then "xhost +". Otherwise the root user won't be able to use the normal user's graphical session. (Ctrl + D to exit normal user and become root again)

* sudo apt-get install yaird

The 2.6.14 kernels do not use devfs anymore, so the old initrd tools don't work for installing the kernel (you can take this step after the kernel compilation. It just has to be done before "dpkg -i kernel-image-..."