My understanding is that Linux' firewire can only be built as a module.I wish it could be built in, for the very same reason that I'd like to boot from it on _my_ powerbook.
If you're able to find otherwise, I'd be willing to build a kernel for you, if you would supply a prepared .config file for the kernel you'd like to have.
Best,
Mike Crawford
crawford@goingware.com
Read "GoingWare's Bag of Programming Tricks" at:
http://www.goingware.com/tips/