Installing thee new kernel and module packages is no different to installing similar packages you would obtain from the Debian archives.
If you are installing a new version of a kernel that is already installed you should move the corresponding modules aside, or else you will be asked to do so during the install:
# cd /lib/modules # mv 2.4.16-p3 2.4.16-p3.prev
Now we are ready to install the kernel:
# cd /usr/src # wajig install kernel-image-2.4.16-p3_kayon01_i386.deb
You will be asked whether you wish to run lilo. Usually you would. If this wipes out a precious master boot record (MBR) you can recover it with lilo -u.
Now install the modules (if any):
# wajig install alsa-modules-2.4.16-p3_0.5.10b-9+p0+kayon01_i386.deb # wajig install pcmcia-modules-2.4.16-p3_3.1.8-10+2:kayon01_i386.deb
For Mint (4.10.27) with support for CD-RW you now need to modify /etc/modutils/cdrw (as suggested in CD Writing HOWTO):
options ide-cd ignore=hdd alias scd0 sr_mode pre-install sg modprobe ide-scsi pre-install sr_mod modprobe ide-scsi pre-install ide-scsi modprobe ide-cd
To get this information into the right place the following should be done:
# update-modules
Again for Mint (4.10.27) the following were added to /etc/modules (otherwise the modules must be loaded manually for some reason which can be avoid using char-major stuff but don't understand this yet):
sr_mod sg ide-cd
For alsa edit /etc/alsa/alsa-base.conf to set startosslayer=true to be sure snd-pcm-oss is loaded at boot, otherwise it needs to be added to /etc/modules also.
# reboot