[PLUG] Make menuconfig and make dep on their own?

[me at prestoncrawford.com]

I'm having trouble getting my TV Card working properly. Only another list,
someone told me the following.

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things like upgrading V4L/V4L2. If you want to upgrade bttv, you also
need the kernel sources. IIRC, a kernel recompile is not necessary. Just
"make menuconfig" and "make dep" should be enough.
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Now I may be ignorant to Linux, but aren't those commands part of the
process of recompiling the kernel? Can they be run on their own?

Preston