Comment 409 for bug 85488

You don't want to re-write the kernel, you want to recompile it, so if you're searching for directions, keep that in mind or you won't find the information you want.

The information you need, except for finding the USB option to disable it, is here:

http://www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_ubuntu

I wasn't successful in getting the kernel to work after compiling it, and the help I got in the forums was contradictory, but you can look through the directions and see if it's something you want to try to tackle (I gave up on the idea and decided to use the work-around and wait for Gutsy). I did use Fishor's kernel but it didn't work for me and I had to remove the GRUB menu listing for it. That doesn't mean it's defective, it's just compiled for a computer different enough that it won't work on mine (might be an AMD-Intel thing).

If you do recompile your kernel (or use someone else's kernel), you'll want to lock your kernel down so it doesn't get updated in the normal updating process.

Another option is to use a distribution that fixes problems instead of requiring their users to wait. Some of the others were quick to address this problem in the Linux kernel. There are distributions that are Ubuntu based now, like Linux Mint (don't know if it has this problem, though). http://linuxmint.com/

I had made a recommendation to my company that we investigate replacing at least sme of our PC operating systems with Linux, but because of watching this problem and seeing how the problem isn't addressed immediately, I won't recommend Ubuntu if they decide to switch some of the computers over to Linux. I don't think all 10,000+ PCs at PACCAR (worldwide) would be able to use a different (non-Windows) OS, but many of them could definitely be switched over.