You will need wget more files for buildroot, and take more time.
Please download the binary tools and rootfs from the nios wiki, and install them.
Then use this script to prepare the sources, and you can compile the kernel.
But I still recommand you follow the uClinux-dist approach as in the wiki.
#!/bin/bash
rm -rf ~/buildroot ~/rootfs ~/linux-2.6.x ~/download/mx140 ~/uClinux-dist ~/apps# to prepare kernel source
cd ~/download
mkdir mx140
cd mx140# convert the crlf with unzip -a
echo "prepare kernel source"
unzip -aoq ../nios2linux-1.4.zip# kernel 2.6.11-uc0 source ported by microtronix
cp -a plugins/com.microtronix.nios2linux.kernel_1.4.0/linux-2.6.x ~
cd ~/linux-2.6.x
patch -p0 <~/download/kernel.diff
cp ~/download/kernel.config ~/linux-2.6.x/.config# apps ported by microtronix, only Makefile of inetd, ftpd and boa are patched to use the toolchains
mkdir ~/apps
cp -a ~/download/mx140/examples/software/linux/apps/* ~/apps
cd ~/apps
patch -p1 <~/download/mx140apps.diff# to prepare uClinux-dist source
cd ~/download
echo "prepare uClinux-dist source"
cd ~
tar jxf ~/download/uClinux-dist-20051110.tar.bz2
cd ~/uClinux-dist
patch -p0 <~/download/uClinux-dist.diff
touch ~/uClinux-dist/vendors/Altera/nios2nommu/inittab