pls i wanted to get my acpi, usb and sound working and some other devices. and i went to config-2.4.22-10mdk to change some settings. i was seeing stuff like =m or =y or ....not set. does the "y" represent yes and what does "m" mean and the "not set". what exactly is this config file for?. and again i arranged my desktop and menudrake and logged out. when i logged back in i saw that the arrangement has been erased both on taskbar and menu panel. but the programs are still working. and the last, my sound is faint although it woked when i tried using another driver for the soundcard (Ali 5455). i tried the trident driver for it and it workded but faintky but there was a time it came full blast. acpi works now as my laptop powers off by itself when shut down but the battery monitor doesnt show on the taskbar.

Editing that file will have no effect. It's more than likely just a record of the settings that were used for the last kernel compile (or at installation).

When you start to compile your kernel, if the file /usr/src/linux/.config exists it is used as a template for the settings that you want. "m" means module (this function can be plugged in and out of your kernel), "not set" basically means "no". After you've finished compiling, you should generally copy .config to (something like) /boot/config_version as a record of what you've done and as a template for the next time you want to tweak something.

What desktop do you use? For kde you have to tell it to remember the desktop arrangement at logout. Look in "Control Center".

All your hardware issues probably come down to picking the right options during compilation. Find out everything you can about your hardware, there are a lot of choices possible when you recompile, knowing about your hardware will help you a lot there.

John