How to I apply a patch to the kernel?

Question

I am a bit of a linux noob, so be weary of my inept understanding certain aspects of the OS. Anyway, I just loaded ubuntu onto my desktop machine (Dual booted) and everything went fine. The only issue, is that (I have been researching my problem for a while and have decided this is the issue) the gaming keyboard that I have plugged in to the machine isn't supported by the kernel.

I found this: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg62270.html

Which is somebody else who had the same problem, and fixed it by applying that patch to their kernel. How do I do that? Is there somewhere where I can just copy the code from that webpage, or is it more complicated than that?

P.S. It isn't an issue with hardware. The machine is dual booted, and it works perfectly fine with windows 7, and it works perfectly in the bios and starting up until the moment that ubuntu loads.

Answer 1

The best way how to apply a patch is installing a new kernel binary. That's the easier way for most of the population. If you have Ubuntu 12.10, the last kernel binary could be found here: - http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/

Under directory "v3.6.3-quantal" (date 21-Oct-2012 18:04). Your referenced patch date is Wed, 25 Apr 2012, so I guess that the 3.6.3 will already contain it (will check in a few moments).

In order to install the kernel packages, please follow steps described here: - How do I add the kernel PPA?

Answer 2

You have basically two options.

1. First, to find a prebuilt kernel which includes that patch.

   If the patch is good (i.e. accepted by the community), there is a possibility that someone already distributes kernels with it. (Maybe even, in the best case, the latest distributions' releases include it already.)

   However, as you may know, installing binary files from varios third parties has all sorts of trust issues.

2. Compile the kernel yourself.

   In this case be sure to read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile carefully.