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Thread ID: 49601	2004-09-24 21:54:00	Linux: Network Card Installation	tkelly (709)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
275357	2004-09-24 21:54:00	I have successfully installed Linux Mandrake 10.0. I wish to install a Dick Smith XH8135 (wireless) NIC which comes with Linux drivers. Physical installation OK. Hardrake identifies an unknown PCI card; running the config tool only gives a large array of network/drivers to be tried, but no option to pick these up from the CD. Tried running files directly from CD, but either the editor programme opens the file, or I'm asked what to run the programme with. Tried iwconfig and ifconfig at command line, but with no response. Can anyone help with this - I thought Linux was supposed to be easy!	tkelly (709)
275358	2004-09-24 22:29:00	> ... running the config tool only gives a large array of > network/drivers to be tried, but no option to pick > these up from the CD. Tried running files directly > from CD, but either the editor programme opens the > file, or I'm asked what to run the programme with. You need to copy the driver from the CD to your home directory. As it will be an compressed file, you will need to extract it. Once extracted, look at the contents and you will see a README which should give you the instructions for installing and any other vital information. > Tried iwconfig and ifconfig at command line, but with > no response. You may not have the wireless-tools installed yet. Open up the Mandrake package manager (rpmdrake) and search for "wireless" and install wireless-tools. > Can anyone help with this - I thought > Linux was supposed to be easy! Linux can be easy, but it is not Windows and people shouldn't expect it to behave like Windows. With installing drivers in Windows, you have a very limited range of OS's so a driver can be supplied for Win98 or WinXP etc. With Linux, there are many types of package formats that the different distro's can use and new kernels are always being released. So the easiest way for manufacturers to supply a generic driver, is to make one that can be installed on any distro (if compatible with that kernel series) and this ususally involves compiling the driver for your system. Sometimes a manuafacturer will release a pre-compiled driver in a package format specific for the most common distros and these will be available from the manufacturers website. :)	Jen C (20)
275359	2004-09-25 06:24:00	Thanks for the advice Jen. The ReadMe file says to run 'make config' and then run 'make install'. Have tried running both of these - but messages indicate that there is no such file or directory, and they don't appear to be in the directory. Are these programs which should be run from somewhere else and require a path? Any ideas ...?	tkelly (709)
275360	2004-09-25 08:42:00	Ignore the last posting. I have now been able to run 'make config' and 'make install' OK. The next installation instructions are to: - run '/sbin/insmod rt2400.o' (as root) run '/sbin/ifconfig ra0 inet YOUR_IP up' run '/sbin/route add default gw YOUR_DEFAULT_GW dev ra0' (where [YOUR_IP] like [192.168.1.1], [YOUR_DEFAULT_GW] like [192.168.1.254]) - run '/usr/local/bin/RaConfig' to start the Configuring Utility. Things go wrong at the first instruction, which can't find the rt2400.o file. However, this file does exist, at lib/modules/2.6.3-4mdk/kernel/drivers/net/rt2400.o How I get the run command to pick this up? (Also, what does GW stand for in the instructions above?) Thanks for any assistance!	tkelly (709)
275361	2004-09-25 09:00:00	try modprobe rt2400.o (loads module for current session only) then lsmod the last command will list loaded modules post back results of last command you must be logged in as root to run these commands also have you tried modconf as a command	beama (111)
275362	2004-09-25 09:07:00	GW I suspect stands for Gateway	beama (111)
275363	2004-09-25 11:25:00	Thanks. Tried 'modprobe rt2400.o', but this failed to do anything. Tried 'modprobe -c rt2400.o', which produced a vast amount of text (lines beginning with 'alias symbol ...'). Then tried Ismod, but get the response: 'bash:Ismod: command not found'. I was logged in as root for these - any other ideas ...?	tkelly (709)
275364	2004-09-25 11:30:00	> Thanks. Tried 'modprobe rt2400.o', but this failed to > do anything. Nothing does appear to happen, this is normal for modprobe. You should just get a new prompt line if successful. > Then tried Ismod, but get the > response: 'bash:Ismod: command not found'. I was > logged in as root for these - any other ideas ...? You have typed I (capital i), it should be lowercase L (l for lima). lsmod	Jen C (20)
275365	2004-09-26 06:13:00	Thanks for your persistance with Linux novices like me! Typing 'modprobe rt2400.o' produced the message 'FATAL: Module rt2400.o not found' - so something seems to being wrong here. Does this mean it didn't install properly, or it just doesn't know where to find it? Typing lsmod did produce a screen full of module/size/use by. Modules in list were: sg, sr_mod, af_packet, hid, ide-floppy, ide-tape, ide-cd, cdrom, floppy, supermount, intel-agp, agpgart, ppa, parport_pc, imm, scsi_mod, parport, uhci-hcd, usbcore, rtc, ext3, jbd. Does this provide any more clues...? Thanks	tkelly (709)
275366	2004-09-26 06:49:00	Hmm ... I think we need to start from the beginning here. I have taken a look at the README included in DSE's Linux driver (www.dse.co.nz) and also the newer driver available at the developer's (sourceforge.net) site, and the instructions appear different. From the last link, the rt2400-1.2.1 package includes a how-to for Mandrake 10. Is it possible to post the contents of the README that you are following, or if this is too long, could you zip up the txt file and upload it to here (sal.neoburn.net) (it accepts files with a .zip extension) so that we can see what the steps are? Post the URL given by ImageF1 for your upload. A couple of things first to clarify: 1. Have you installed the wireless-tools from your Mandrake disc? 2. Have you got the current kernel source installed? To check this, enter in a konsole window and post the output here: rpm -qa | grep kernel	Jen C (20)
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