Networking :: Must unplug / replug usb eth adapter to get on net

Hi all,

As the title of my post outlines, I have to disconnect and reconnect my usb ethernet adapter to get online. This happens in DSL and Slax. It doesn't happen in Xubuntu and Puppy -- I simply have to start PPPoE with those distros.

Any ideas about the USB problem that I'm having. Let me explain a bit more. Unfortunately, due to my particular hardware, I have to connect my adsl modem/router to my laptop's only USB port. That's right, I don't have an ethernet card in my laptop. I know, I know -- it's a crappy setup, but it's what I got. If I execute "pon" and start firefox, I get nothing. After I unplug / replug the ethernet adapter, and do "pon", I'm good to go. By the way, you wouldn't believe how long it took me to discover this simple fix!!!

Also, along the same lines, is there any way to start pon automatically? Or at least get a desktop icon and use a couple mouse clicks. Currently I have to go about 4 levels deep into the desktop menu to find "pon". I usually execute it from the terminal and that's no biggie. But my wife can't get the hang of that. She's had too much Windoze in her life.

FWIW, of the 4 distros that I've tried, I like DSL the best and have reinstalled it. I was leaning toward Puppy for a while because of the aforementioned problem with the USB adapter and also Flash worked right off the bat with Puppy. However, I wasn't fond of the "extensions" (dotpets and dotpups). Just something I didn't get the hang of. Xubuntu was too slow and too "hands off" for my liking. I have no real gripes about Slax, I just took to DSL quicker I guess.

Here are a few specs for my laptop:
Dell Latitude 400 MHz mobile pentium II; 128 MB RAM; 6 GB harddrive in 4 partitions (hda1 has windoze98; hda2 is linux swap; hda3 is ext2; hda4 is where DSL lives in ext2); the ethernet adapter that I mentioned is a Realtek (damned if I can remember the model).

Thanks in advance for your help!

Ed

Quote (Ed_Nelson @ Aug. 24 2007,00:55)

Also, along the same lines, is there any way to start pon automatically? Or at least get a desktop icon and use a couple mouse clicks. Currently I have to go about 4 levels deep into the desktop menu to find "pon". I usually execute it from the terminal and that's no biggie. But my wife can't get the hang of that. She's had too much Windoze in her life.

Why not write a simple bash script and create an icon in .xtdesktop that runs it?

original here.