This is how I compile ARM kernels.  There are other ways of doing this, but this works, for me..

First – I should mention – Read the Wicki!    This is at http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Hub

After getting the ‘forked’ kernel I then had to obtain a suitable config file, which included the necessary extra items for the Pi Broadcom chipset..   Brief details are on the RPi wiki, at http://elinux.org/RPi_Kernel_Compilation.

According to the details elsewhere in the Wicki, the LAN chipset is SMSC LAN9512, and this is already selected, as ‘SMSC LAN95XX based USB 2.0 10/100 ethernet devices’ under ‘USB Network Adapters’..

Using the armv7xx cross-compiler already mentioned in an earlier post, the compilation was straightforward, and I then created the uImage boot image using # make uImage..

I – personally – didn’t use the method for cross-compilation mentioned in the Wicki, but instead modified the top-level Makefile, as I wanted the modules etc. to be resident in a local directory..

First, unpack the kernel source (from github..) in its own directory (raspberrypi-319 in the example below..).
I changed the unpacked kernel source directory name to something more appropriate (linux-3.1.9pi in the example below)
Then create a ‘lib’ (sub)directory there.

Then edit the Makefile, as follows (changing the armvxx……. description to suite your particular cross-compiler installation, if different..)

around line 195:
 change:
 ARCH            ?= $(SUBARCH)
 CROSS_COMPILE   ?= $(CONFIG_CROSS_COMPILE:"%"=%)
 to:
 ARCH            ?= arm
 CROSS_COMPILE   ?= armv7l-mandriva-linux-gnueabi-

-------------------------------------------------^
Don't forget the dash at the end, so the script will find
the correct version of gcc..

To install modules etc. locally - under the ../lib directory,
edit  Makefile:

around line 681:
 change:
 export    INSTALL_PATH ?= /boot
 to:
 export    INSTALL_PATH ?= ../boot
 and add:
 export    INSTALL_MOD_PATH ?= ../
- then run   # make xconfig   (or whatever you prefer...)
 # make
 and..   # make modules_install

Do Not run # make install!

Update:

The Pi uses a kernel.img file, along with some binary ‘firmware’ files (for the GPU) and config files, residing in the fat partition.     More details of this – and how to create the  kernel.img  file, will be in a separate post..

So, the whole kernel (compiled) source / lib / kernel.img package directory structure looks like:

raspberrypi-319  
 |   |     |
 |   |    tools (containing kernel.img file)
 |   |
 |   linux-3.1.9pi (containing compiled kernel source)
 |
 lib (containing modules and firmware directories created by the
      kernel compilation)

Then just tar up the raspberrypi-319 directory and contents, and ftp it to the Pi, then untar, and copy/move the bits to their correct destination, and copy the kernel.img file to the (FAT) partition, to be accessed by the bootloader….

Of course, I now have to wait for the Raspberry Pi hardware to arrive, to test this!

Usual disclaimer – This worked on my system  It may not on yours. If you are unsure how to do all this – Don’t!