Luis Finotti wrote:
I thought "apt-get update/upgrade" would upgrade the kernel, but it seems that that's not the case. (I don't have any updates there.)
nope...the kernel is the "heart" of Linux, so you have to explicitly update it since it's the most sensible part of the system
So, how does one update the kernel. Although my computer is running fine, I wanted to install the alsa drivers, and I think I'd need something like"alsa-modules-2.4.16-386" or "kernel-headers-2.4.16". (I can't find "kernel-headers-2.4.3".)
you can install an already compiled kernel with "apt-get install kernel-image"
there you'll see a list of the available images, and then you do "apt-get install kernel-image-<the-version-you-want>"
but it's likely that this image does not have all the options you like/need compiled ni by default
so it's better to download the kernel-source, and compile it yourself with the options you like/need/want
you can compile the kernel in the traditional way or in the "debian way"search for "debian kernel compile" in google and you''' find lots of links on how to compile your kernel
Are there any risks in updating the kernel?
not if you know what you're doing :)