1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" />
<title>Network Hardware Configuration</title>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" />
<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" />
<link rel="UP" title="Network Configuration" href="network-configuration.html" />
<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="Network Configuration" href="network-configuration.html" />
<link rel="NEXT" title="TCP/IP Configuration" href="network-configuration-tcpip.html" />
<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
</head>
<body class="SECT1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084"
alink="#0000FF">
<div class="NAVHEADER">
<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0"
cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="network-configuration.html"
accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom">Chapter 5 Network Configuration</td>
<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="network-configuration-tcpip.html"
accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" />
</div>
<div class="SECT1">
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE"
name="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE">5.2 Network Hardware Configuration</a></h1>
<p>Having decided that you wish to bring your Slackware machine on to some form of
network, the first thing you'll need is a Linux-compatible network card. You will need to
take a little care to ensure that the card is truly Linux-compatible (please refer to the
Linux Documentation Project and/or the kernel documentation for information on the
current status of your proposed network card). As a general rule, you will most likely be
pleasantly surprised by the number of networking cards that are supported under the more
modern kernels. Having said that, I'd still suggest referring to any of the various Linux
hardware compatibility lists (such as <a
href="http://www.eskimo.com/%7Elo/linux/hardwarelinks.html" target="_top">The GNU/Linux
Beginners Group Hardware Compatibility Links</a> and <a
href="http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Hardware-HOWTO/" target="_top">The Linux
Documentation Project Hardware HOWTO</a>) that are available on the Internet before
purchasing your card. A little extra time spent in research can save days or even weeks
trying to troubleshoot a card that isn't compatible with Linux at all.</p>
<p>When you visit the Linux Hardware Compatibility lists available on the Internet, or
when you refer to the kernel documentation installed on your machine, it would be wise to
note which kernel module you'll need to use to support your network card.</p>
<div class="SECT2">
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-MODULES"
name="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-MODULES">5.2.1 Loading Network Modules</a></h2>
<p>Kernel modules that are to be loaded on boot-up are loaded from the <tt
class="FILENAME">rc.modules</tt> file in <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/rc.d</tt> or by the
kernel's auto module loading started by <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/rc.d/rc.hotplug</tt>.
The default <tt class="FILENAME">rc.modules</tt> file includes a Network device support
section. If you open <tt class="FILENAME">rc.modules</tt> and look for that section,
you'll notice that it first checks for an executable <tt
class="FILENAME">rc.netdevice</tt> file in <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/rc.d/</tt>. This
script is created if <tt class="COMMAND">setup</tt> successfully autoprobes your network
device during installation.</p>
<p>Below that “if” block is a list of network devices and modprobe lines,
each commented out. Find your device and uncomment the corresponding modprobe line, then
save the file. Running <tt class="FILENAME">rc.modules</tt> as <tt
class="USERNAME">root</tt> should now load your network device driver (as well as any
other modules that are listed and uncommented). Note that some modules (such as the
ne2000 driver) require parameters; make sure you select the correct line.</p>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-LAN"
name="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-LAN">5.2.2 LAN (10/100/1000Base-T and Base-2)
cards</a></h2>
<p>This heading encompasses all of the internal PCI and ISA networking cards. Drivers for
these cards are provided via loadable kernel modules as covered in the previous
paragraph. <tt class="FILENAME">/sbin/netconfig</tt> should have probed for your card and
successfully set up your <tt class="FILENAME">rc.netdevice</tt> file. If this did not
occur, the most likely problem would be that the module that you're attempting to load
for a given card is incorrect (it is not unheard of for different generations of the same
brand of card from the same manufacturer to require different modules). If you are
certain that the module that you're attempting to load is the correct one, your next best
bet would be to refer to the documentation for the module in an attempt to discover
whether or not specific parameters are required during when the module is
initialized.</p>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-MODEMS"
name="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-MODEMS">5.2.3 Modems</a></h2>
<p>Like LAN cards, modems can come with various bus support options. Until recently, most
modems were 8 or 16 bit ISA cards. With the efforts of Intel and motherboard
manufacturers everywhere to finally kill off the ISA bus completely, it is common now to
find that most modems are either external modems that connect to a serial or USB port or
are internal PCI modems. If you wish for your modem to work with Linux, it is <span
class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">VITALLY</i></span> important to research your
prospective modem purchase, particularly if you are considering purchasing a PCI modem.
Many, if not most, PCI modems available on store shelves these days are WinModems.
WinModems lack some basic hardware on the modem card itself: the functions performed by
this hardware are typically offloaded onto the CPU by the modem driver and the Windows
operating system. This means that they do not have the standard serial interface that
PPPD will be expecting to see when you try to dial out to your Internet Service
Provider.</p>
<p>If you want to be absolutely sure that the modem you're purchasing will work with
Linux, purchase an external hardware modem that connects to the serial port on your PC.
These are guaranteed to work better and be less trouble to install and maintain, though
they require external power and tend to cost more.</p>
<p>There are several web sites that provide drivers and assistance for configuring
WinModem based devices. Some users have reported success configuring and installing
drivers for the various winmodems, including Lucent, Conexant, and Rockwell chipsets. As
the required software for these devices is not an included part of Slackware, and varies
from driver to driver, we will not go into detail on them.</p>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-PCMCIA"
name="NETWORK-CONFIGURATION-HARDWARE-PCMCIA">5.2.4 PCMCIA</a></h2>
<p>As part of your Slackware install, you are given the opportunity to install the pcmcia
package (in the “A” series of packages). This package contains the
applications and setup files required to work with PCMCIA cards under Slackware. It is
important to note that the pcmcia package only installs the generic software required to
work with PCMCIA cards under Slackware. It does NOT install any drivers or modules. The
available modules and drivers will be in the <tt class="FILENAME">/lib/modules/`uname
-r`/pcmcia</tt> directory. You may need to do some experimentation to find a module that
will work with your network card.</p>
<p>You will need to edit <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/pcmcia/network.opts</tt> (for an
Ethernet card) or <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts</tt> (if you have a
wireless networking card). Like most Slackware configuration files, these two files are
very well commented and it should be easy to determine which modifications need to be
made.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="NAVFOOTER">
<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" />
<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0"
cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="network-configuration.html"
accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html"
accesskey="H">Home</a></td>
<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="network-configuration-tcpip.html"
accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Network Configuration</td>
<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="network-configuration.html"
accesskey="U">Up</a></td>
<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">TCP/IP Configuration</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>
|
