Now that you have downloaded the proper kernel source, where is it supposed to go? We suggest creating a local directory in your home directory called linux/ to hold all of the different kernel source files:

$ 
mkdir ~/linux

Now move the source code into this directory:

$ 
mv ~/linux-2.6.17.8.tar.gz ~/linux/

And go into the linux/ directory:

$ 
cd ~/linux

$ 
ls

linux-2.6.17.8.tar.gz

Now that the source code is in the proper directory, we need to uncompress the tree:

$ 
tar -xzvf linux-2.6.17.8.tar.gz

The screen will be filled with files that are uncompressed, and you will be left with the following in the linux/ directory:

$ 
ls

linux-2.6.17.8.tar.gz
linux-2.6.17.8/