I've tried this twice now, even untarred the file again and redid my config.
When I compile I get this:

> make dep clean bzImage modules
<snip>
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -o scripts/split-include scripts/split-include.c
scripts/split-include include/linux/autoconf.h include/config
gcc -D__KERNEL__ -I/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -pipe -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -march=i686   -c -o init/main.o init/main.c
In file included from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/fs.h:19,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/capability.h:17,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/binfmts.h:5,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/sched.h:9,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/mm.h:4,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/slab.h:14,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/proc_fs.h:5,
                 from init/main.c:15:
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/dcache.h: In function `dget':
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/dcache.h:247: warning: implicit declaration of function `BUG'
In file included from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/capability.h:17,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/binfmts.h:5,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/sched.h:9,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/mm.h:4,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/slab.h:14,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/proc_fs.h:5,
                 from init/main.c:15:
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/fs.h: In function `put_bh':
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/fs.h:1105: warning: implicit declaration of function `smp_mb__before_atomic_dec'
In file included from /usr/include/asm/smp.h:15,
...
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/highmem.h:102: warning: implicit declaration of function `copy_page'
In file included from /usr/include/asm/io.h:108,
                 from /usr/include/asm/dma.h:13,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/bootmem.h:8,
                 from init/main.c:28:
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h: At top level:
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h:23: parse error before `pgprot_t'
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h:23: warning: function declaration isn't a prototype
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h:27: parse error before `pgprot_t'
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h:27: warning: function declaration isn't a prototype
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h: In function `vmalloc':
/net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/vmalloc.h:35: warning: implicit declaration of function `__pgprot'
In file included from /usr/include/asm/dma.h:13,
                 from /net/home-src/kernel/linux-2.4.12/include/linux/bootmem.h:8,
                 from init/main.c:28:
/usr/include/asm/io.h: In function `virt_to_phys':
/usr/include/asm/io.h:130: warning: implicit declaration of function `__pa'
/usr/include/asm/io.h: In function `phys_to_virt':
/usr/include/asm/io.h:135: warning: implicit declaration of function `__va'
/usr/include/asm/io.h:135: warning: return makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/include/asm/io.h: In function `isa_check_signature':
/usr/include/asm/io.h:237: `PAGE_OFFSET' undeclared (first use in this function)
init/main.c: In function `smp_init':
init/main.c:515: warning: implicit declaration of function `cpu_relax'
init/main.c: In function `start_kernel':
init/main.c:578: `PAGE_OFFSET' undeclared (first use in this function)
make: *** [init/main.o] Error 1

Anyone else run into this?  

-- 
Jon Schewe | http://mtu.net/~jpschewe | jpschewe at mtu.net
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels 
nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any 
powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all 
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39