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I am interested in compiling a custom kernel in Ubuntu 20.04 so I can use the fingerprint scanner in my hp envy x360. Also I want to learn how to learn the process. Where do I start? How difficult is it? Any pointers and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

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From memory:

  • Log in as root.

  • Download the kernel sources from kernel.org and uncompress them to /usr/src/.

  • Open a shell in the directory you just unpacked and run:

    make oldconfig && \
make xconfig && \
make && \
make modules && \
make install && \
make modules_install

  • Edit your grub configuration and reboot.

If you're not running X then change make xconfig to make menuconfig or make config.

If you want things to go a bit quicker, change make to make -j4 to run 4 tasks in parallel (change 4 to the number of cores your machine has). The same applies to the make modules command.

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  • How hard would it be to create linux drivers for my hardware that is not supported yet?
    – RainneDecember
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 1:18
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    If there is no Linux driver currently available (in-kernel or otherwise) then I'd say it would likely be very difficult (especially if you have never written a kernel driver before). In the end it boils down to whether hardware documentation/sample code is available. I was in a similar situation as you with trying to set up a fingerprint scanner on a Sony laptop. Since the manufacturer/sensor vendor withheld most of the technical data regarding the scanner the problem ended up being intractable.
    – Alex Hajnal
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 1:36

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