On Mon, Jan 27, 2003 at 06:46:13AM -0500, Mike M wrote: > On Monday 27 January 2003 05:47, Anand Buddhdev wrote: > > I want to install Debian over the network. I downloaded the 2 'vanilla' > > boot floppies, rescue.bin and root.bin, and booted with those. They > > have kernel 2.2.22, and they did not recognise my ethernet card. Then > > I decided to try the 2.4bf floppies, which have kernel 2.4.18. I see in > > the kernel config that the following 3 device drivers are compiled in: > > > > CONFIG_8139CP=y > > CONFIG_8139TOO=y > > CONFIG_8139TOO_8129=y > > I run routers with US$7 8139s and US$800 wan cards. They both work pretty > well for me. The price difference is striking, is it not? > > About a year ago I also had problems with rtl8139 drivers. After googling > around I found that some people used an older driver compiled from source to > solve the problems. It may be the case that the other distros you mention > have the older driver included and that the more recent Debian distro has the > newer driver. > > If you are interested in learning more about this possible fix, contact me > off-list and I will send a tar file to you of the old and new driver source. > The compile instructions are simple and included in the source (thank you Mr. > Becker). Hmmm. You may need someone to compile the driver for you lest you > have a chicken-egg problem. I have a Woody/vanilla i386 system.
Ok, I solved it. As I suspected, the patch that RedHat made in their kernel 2.4.18 works for my network card (it needs the 8139too.c driver). I compiled a 2.4.19 kernel which has this patch, and that worked! I connected to the network without any problems. However, because my kernel was 2.4.19, and the boot disk was set to use 2.4.18, it complained about paths, and the installation programme could not proceed properly. I think I will make a 2.4.18 kernel, with the patch for the driver, and see if I can use that to install the system. I will still need to update the kernel after installing the system. I looked at the Debain FTP mirror, and I couldn't see a .deb package for a newer kernel. I was to pre-download it to my disk after the installation program commpletes, so that at the next boot, I can upgrade my kernel. Does anyone know how I can get a hold of just an updated kernel package? -- Anand Buddhdev http://anand.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
