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.