Linux Kernel 64 compile on Knoppix 6.7

[Gilles van Ruymbeke <ruymbeke@gmail.com>]

Hi Klaus,
The 32 bits version of Knoppix 6.7 works great but I have some problems with the 64 bits version:
After installing the "amd64-libs-dev" package (+ 12 dependencies) I still cannot compile 64 bits binaries
(This was working just fine with Knoppix 6.5)
According to synaptic the installed version of gcc is 4.4 but "gcc --version" displays 4.6.
After replacing the /usr/bin/gcc link from gcc-4.6 to gcc-4.4, 64 bits compile now works,
but I cannot upgrade gcc from 4.4 to 4.6, even after trying to upgrade or remove before re-install.
Trying to compile the 64 bits kernels (from your sources) still gives me a 32 bits binary.
And obviously the vmware tools kernel modules do compile but do not load into the 64 bits kernel.
What version of gcc did you use to compile your kernels ? Did you use Knoppix to compile it ?
Any idea or suggestion ? Am I missing something obvious ?
Thank you again for your great work and Knoppix releases.
Best Regards,
Gilles