Mom's new laptop: configured. (Pentium M 1.4ghz w/ Centrino chipset, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, 15" screen, ~1.2" thick. From a company called WinBook.)

Navi's new kernel: installed. (A lean, mean motherfucker--lots of hardware support stripped out. Unlike the previous three kernels I compiled, this one would actually fit on a floppy. Or, to put it this way:

1263339 /vmlinuz-2.4.18-bf2.4    # Stock Debian 'stable' kernel
1323156 /vmlinuz-2.4.18-new      # Debian configuration, compiled on my own box
1376163 /vmlinuz-2.4.18-tc       # Debian configuration plus traffic control
 927717 /vmlinuz-2.4.18-opt      # New optimized kernel

)

Missions accomplished.