Dell NIC Drivers

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Dell NIC Drivers
started by: webs05

Posted by webs05 on Aug. 15 2006,20:53

I need to add the drivers for a Dell NIC built into the motherboard. I believe the driver it needs is for an Intel Pro/100 VE NIC. I have looked through this forum and found remastering information, but I was wonder how to specifically add the drivers for a NIC. As in what folder etc... Obviously I am a noob, but I do understand the basics of Linux, and I have remastered Boothbox, which is what I am working with. The only information or help I can find from Boothbox, is to come here.

Sorry if I drain your patience, but I need to get Booth working on the Dell computers where I work, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 16 2006,02:17

Search came up with: < http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....9;st=15 >
You could always try to compile your the latest driver from the official site.

Posted by webs05 on Aug. 16 2006,02:28

Thanks for the quick response, but unfortunately the problem for me is not where do I get the drivers. I can get them no problem. The problem I am having is "How to compile the drivers (or add them) to the kernel." This is something I have never done before, so I know nothing about it. The remastering of Boothbox that I did resulted in editing some config files.

And with Boothbox, it seems to only look at eth0, so if I add a NIC into the PCI slot, it does me no good, because it it doesn't care about any other connection. Consequently I tried putting in a 3com card since they have good compatibility with Boothbox. So I have really little way of getting out of the fact I have to compile the kernel with the driver.

So if anyone has enough patience to teach me that would be amazing.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 16 2006,16:13

... why not first try the precompiled ones that are already in the distro?
That's what the forum link was for.

You could try to compile them if that doesn't work.

Posted by webs05 on Aug. 16 2006,17:31

The problem is that Boothbox is a little different than DSL. Once Boothbox boots up, you essentially have access to nothing. So the NIC driver is loaded when everything is loaded up in the beginning. Once it has booted, the only thing you can do is browse the internet on Mozilla Firefox. You have no access to the desktop, shells, or any other applications.

This is because the purpose of Boothbox is to be a Web Kiosk, so everything is locked down, so that the kiosk can safely browse the internet. So I have to learn how to compile to fix the problem. These machines have to be self-sustaining in a way.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 16 2006,17:40

If /opt/bootlocal.sh is still being executed at startup, you could experimentally add in the commands there. If not, putting it in some other startup script should be fine.

If the e100/other driver(s) were removed/missing, download the corresponding DSL version of boothbox and copy the module(s) over.

If mydsl still is there, you could make some temporary .dsl's to test it out - which may be easier/faster than to remaster (the DSL base image) every time.

Posted by webs05 on Aug. 16 2006,17:52

I will try these things you recommend. Would it be better if I remastered Boothbox using DSL, and used MyDsl to download what I needed? Another questions, so the driver I need for the NIC should already be in DSL? If this is the case all I need to do is copy the module over and package it up? As far as /opt/bootlocal.sh I believe it is still with Boothbox. What are some commands that I should try using to boot from eth1 instead of eth0?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 16 2006,18:39

Yes, there is a driver for your series, which may or may not work. (see my first reply)

I don't think ethx really matters, it's just a name.