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Installing new kernel on dual boot grub system



I have a Toshiba Qosmio G25 that comes with windows XP installed. I used the newest Etch installer to load Debian onto the 2nd harddrive. This worked reasonably well. Grep was installed in the /MBR of the first (XP) disk. All this worked fine. Then I decided that I wanted to customize the kernel and use the latest stable version from the Linux web site. I have done this with LILO, on another system, many times. I have never used Grub before.

I have read everything I can find on Grub and now am totally confused. All the instructions are slanted towards initial installation and do not match what is installed in my system. My /boot contains the following:
	config-2.6.18-4-686
	grub   (directory)
	initrd.img-2.6.18-4-686
	System.map-2.6.18-4-686
	vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-686

Questions:
1. Does the config file normally end up in this directory or do you have to cp the .config from the /usr/src/linux-xxx directory. 2. Where did the initrd.img file come from. I couldn't find it in /usr/src/linux-xx. 3. The System.map-xxx file has no link to a System.map file as in LILO. Is this normal or is it that I only have one linux kernel installed. 4. If I type in grub and get grub> , what do I do to install the new kernel and still keep the vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-686 kernel.

Most of the Debian instructions seem to assume that you are using a .deb file for installation. This is something I never do for the kernel. I always go to the Linux web site to get the latest release. Some one needs to write a Grub HOWTO that is more informative. I would do it but obviously don't have the necessary knowledge.

The menu.lst changes seems to be a straight forward text editing job. Right ?

All help will be appreciated.

Gary R.




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