To merge the new e1000 driver : 1) download the package from http://e1000.sf.net/ 2) extract it in some temp directory : # cd /tmp ; tar zxf ~/e1000-7.3.15.tar.gz 3) make a hardlink copy of the target kernel : # cd /usr/src; cp -al linux-2.4.33 linux-2.4.33-e1000 4) apply the tools/do_patch_e1000 script from the kernel's e1000 directory : # cd /usr/src/linux-2.4.33-e1000 # cd drivers/net/e1000 # /w/tools/do_patch_e1000 ~/e1000-7.3.15/src 5) check that the Makefile is properly patched, then clean the temporary files : # grep kcompat Makefile obj-y := e1000_main.o e1000_hw.o e1000_ethtool.o e1000_param.o kcompat.o # rm -f *~ 6) diff the kernel to rebuild the patch # cd /usr/src # diff -urN linux-2.4.33 linux-2.4.33-e1000 > /w/2.4.33-e1000-7.3.15.diff