Custom kernel

Hey guys,it's nice to see people working on custom ROMS (special thanks to ECOTOX!), but could anyone explain why we won't just compile a new kernel at all or just take a compiled one? I'm just a linux USER, so sorry for my ignorance.There a drivers for the components and we know the architecture of the CPU. On the other hand we know a way of booting and modifying the flash. So can't we just grab a compiled arm-linux-kernel or even linux itself (e.g. debian), "bind" the drivers and flash it? Why won't this work?Thank you Friedrich