Well I had high hopes that this might solve my missing internal memory issue (cf. many other threads), but alas not. The good news is that I was able, using the instructions on the wiki, to reflash my N800 with the new kernel in a matter of ten minutes and it worked without a problem. Except...of course, it didn't 'restore' my internal memory (and I'd happily sacrifice any color chicken to get it back. Now, it may have sped up the transfer rate from the external memory (1G ScanDisk) card, but I really can't tell...yet...more tests later.

Forgive the dumb question, (especially after I've already done, yes, but is that what the point of this patch is? Or is it stability? Or a bit of both?

In any case, thanks to all who posted the patch and the thread and instructions for installing. This sort of support makes the forums clearly superior to the (dreaded) official Nokia support system. I am ever hopeful that the solution will emerge here before I have to send my baby back

ps I've not had any trouble with damaged cards...just the internal memory slot.