Kernel #4 is looking better. The partition table is now recognized, there's no more HDD errors, and I'm getting root to mount, and I think I have nearly all the same drivers loading (in addition to others). /dev/hda1, the reiserfs partition is failing to mount, I'll have to take a look at that tomorrow.

I have to say, doing this without the benefit of LILO or grub is a serious pain.

Also, if anyone tries to compile a kernel, use the source on the 1.10 cdrom image. I couldn't get earlier kernels to compile at all...