OK, I found some good instructions that require only a recompile of freetype -- apparently the reason Linux renders fonts so poorly is that Apple has the good algorithms patented, so they can't turn on the good font rendering by default.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=694...

I might have to reinstall Linux this weekend, if it works I'll write a blog post with lots of pictures.

This guide has pictures of a Linux install with properly non-smoothed fonts. http://avi.alkalay.net/linux/docs/font-howto/Font.html

He doesn't need to compile a kernel for that, just Freetype.

Slightly off topic, most people who compile a kernel don't need to - they usually need to add a module, which if it isn't already packaged, is easily compilable on its own. Check RHEL 4's release notes (which show how to create a Makefile for a single module).

The compile love of Linux novices comes from old documentation from before kernel 2.0, when most drivers started being available as modules.

Good point, thanks for bringing that up.