Alright, I'm getting closer. Recap: I managed to build a custom kernel with enough hooks to re-load my ethernet module (only took 10 attempts!) I found that to get the RTL 8139 modules to work I needed to prompt for experimental parts of the 2.2.x kernel to get RTL8139 support, and to check off support for the RTL8139 card. Then to get DHCLIENT to work, I had to compile with CONFIG_FILTER and CONFIG_SOCKET, but *NOT* with the kernel DHCP options!! (I had clumsily compiled DHCP support into the kernel...)
Once I did ALL that, I had my network back. The first thing I did was apt-get and jump to the packaged 2.4.15 kernel 8-) (Whee, unstable!) Now, I spent a few days trying to get my ESS1869 card to work. I chose to install ALSA, and used alsaconf to set it up. However, the only way I get the card to work is by running the command "modprobe snd-card-es18xx". ALSA is already running, so now alsaplayer works. The mixer settings are all OK. After I reboot, the card is not seen. (When the /etc/init.d/alsa start decalres "no cards found") But it will be seen if I run "modprobe snd-card-es18xx". How do I get it to be seen at boot time? I could go hack something into /etc/rc(mumble) but there has to be a "Right Way" that I am overlooking. Finally, once it is running, none of the GNOME sounds play. I can play the sound files through alsaplayer, but cannot figure out how to make GNOME play its sounds through ALSA. What am I missing?
