ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Teacher has convinced (inadvertantly) me to try again and take the plunge with Linux.The last couple times I have tried the killer has been lack of internet connectivity. Here is my config....On the motherboard: RealTek RTL8139A Fast Ethernet Controllerconnected to a router.... D-link DI-614+ with 802.11b (I am connected using cat5)connected to my SB4200 cable modemUpgrading my ethernet card to a more "linux friendly" is NOT AN OPTION!!! I have one of the version 1 of these systems. I may get a new system in the future, but then this one would turn into my server, and would most likely run Linux anyway. (If I could get it working)Last time I tried this (I think with Drake 9.0), there was no way to get the ethernet to work. I was working with some guys on usenet, but our efforts were in vain.Teacher thinks Drake 9.1 will work, but I am still not conviced. If Internet does not work, I simply will not use Linux. The line has been drawn. The challenge has been spoken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 The RealTEK should be fine but WHY is a new NIC not an option. You can get Intel NICs for $10 on ebay. Either should work fine. My server has a Realtek in it and I'm running MDK 9.1 behind a Linksys router and I've sold 8 or 9 such setups. You give the server a fixed IP, point the gateway address to the router, and the DNS numbers to the router and your ISP and it works just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Here is a site on your ethernet chip and Linux. It looks like a go. The router and modem are fine. Go for it. Do the download. Burn the ISO. Do you know how to do that? What do you have for a CD burner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 Yep I have nero and a burner. You mentioned something about checksum. What is that about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I use DLink DFE538Tx 10/100 FD Cards without problem. These cards use 8139 chipsets.Suggest you get a copy of Knoppix Live CD and use it to pre-test your hardware. It should be able to boot and connect you immediately to the Internet without making any changes to your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specmon Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Hey Ross,I have the same ethernet card you do, and had the same trouble with Mandrake 9.0. Nothing I could do to get an internet connection.But Mandrake 9.1 grabbed it and ran with no trouble at all. Burn those ISO's and let 'er rip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxdude32 Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Yep I have nero and a burner. You mentioned something about checksum. What is that about?This thread covers doing checksums using a program called md5sum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rons Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Good point about Knoppix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 I have a Knoppix disc here (fairly recently downloaded) and it detected eth0, but I was not able to pull up a site in Mozilla. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 Downloading the iso's now... looks like I am averaging about 200KB/sec. Not bad at all.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Hi Ross Allow me first to officially welcome you to the All Thing Linux !! I see this is not your first post on the Scotsnewsletterforums . . . . so, where have you been hiding all that time ? Right let´s get serious now; I´m not surprised Mandrake 9.0 had problems with your hardware, at that time your system was brand new and in general you have to allow Linux to catch up with the hardware manufacturers who are mainly focused on Windows. But there is a very good chance 9.1 will do better, anyway there is a good reason to give it a test run, so if 9.2 ( and I do promise 100% support in 9.2 ) will be there in a few weeks from now, you did get some training in the install process and basic Linux skills. ( Most of us did install a few times before they where completely satisfied with the setup, so no need to wait for 9.2 as you can do the push-ups in 9.1 ) Checksums in Windows Burning ISO´s Basic rules for install These are the three Tips to start reading. The last one has a line about partitioning, with Mandrake you don´t have to worry too much about that, you can let the installer do the brain-work. Well, that leaves me to wishing you a good and smooth install, the many members here are there to assist you and tell you to not worry too much. Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 See Ross549 - you give it a title like "getting ready to take the plunge" which sounds very familiar and everyone flocks in to watch the action and give you advice. Glad you decided to come join us and have some fun. Sounds like you have a great download speed on the knoppix. So why aren't you downloading 9.1 yet? You should be installing now. Did you understand about the md5sum? That is a way to make sure you have a perfect image instead of the possibility of errors later on. Preventative measures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Ross, I know your NIC card will work fine in Mandrake 9.1 (it does on mine quite easily)... You will run into issues if you try Knoppix or DamnSmall (I had fits with anything Debian-based). SuSE did eventually work (I think my router was the problem there), but don't be surprised if you run into stuff that doesn't work well... I've never tried RedHat, so am no help there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryB Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Hey RossYou might want to try MEPIS linux (another live CD)also...even though Debian based, I've had success with it..but then again Mandrake 9.1 has worked on every system I own. The specturm is from old 166MMx -2.0G P4..with various eth0 cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I thought he was downloading Mandrake 9.1 . . . . . did I understand him wrong ? Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 See Ross549 - you give it a title like "getting ready to take the plunge" which sounds very familiar and everyone flocks in to watch the action and give you advice. Glad you decided to come join us and have some fun. Sounds like you have a great download speed on the knoppix. So why aren't you downloading 9.1 yet? You should be installing now. Did you understand about the md5sum? That is a way to make sure you have a perfect image instead of the possibility of errors later on. Preventative measures!I AM downloading 9.1..... I had the Knoppix CD here for a while, and just tried it... but no joy on it.Looks like right now I have almost all of the first disc downloaded, and will start number 2 soon (15 mins or so.).Actually, as I type the previous paragraph, disc 1 finished. On to disc 2!!The checksum tingy- yeah, I think I have it figured out... just have to run the program on the iso's... make sure no errors are present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I have a Knoppix disc here (fairly recently downloaded) and it detected eth0, but I was not able to pull up a site in Mozilla.That sounds a bit strange. Was ifconfig clean?andYou will run into issues if you try Knoppix or DamnSmall (I had fits with anything Debian-based).I am interested. I have been using Knoppix as an acid test for old hardware. If it does not work with Knoppix I am (in general) not interested in it. I am also using the Dlink card in a straight Debian/Sarge install without problems.PS: Love your sig. Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend's cat and my notebook. In general I am a great fan of OPPs (Other People's Pets). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I wonder if he has a bad NIC. That Realtek chipset should work with 9.0 or 9.1. My server is running it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Ross Just to keep you busy while you´re downloading . . . . the install process: Basically go for all the defaults the installer is presenting you, but do check if it leaves you enough space for your XP partition to move around in . . . ( you can switch to expert mode to move the slider to more space and switch back to normal mode after ) . . . then, when it comes to choosing packages . . . do choose ALL the ones on the left side ( including developement packages ) and, if you do not run a server, only the default ones on the right side + Gnome and KDE ! On the next screen it will ask you if you´re sure about certain packages: the answer is YES ! Then very near the end of the install it will give you an overview of the hardware it has auto-configured, check the list and see if there are no missing parts, you can still do adjustments and tests there, but note down first what the installer found himself, so you can return to that if you need to. That´s all the info you need . . there will be more for when the install was successful ( step 2 ) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Take a look at this tool, from Karen's Power Tools. It is called Hasher and is a wonderful tool for Windows for checking the MD5sum. Once you have done that then go to this tip and get the ISO recorder Power Toy if you need to in order to burn the ISO. I think these two things tend to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks in creating ISO images so you can load Linux. Good luck. I know you can figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 JuliaThe guy has Nero . . . no problems burning ISO´s in Nero as long as you don´t use the wizard . . :DKaren´s pthasher is good advice, free and effective. Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigggl Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 It's pretty simple to check md5sum in windows. I do all of my distro downloading, md5 checking and burning in Windows. (It's my work computer)For:disk_name1.isodisk_name2.isomd5sum disk_n~1.isomd5sum disk_n~2.isoTo check it, you can view the MD5SUM file in a regular text viewer like Notepad. I use Bruno's advice here and just write down the first few digits and last few digits. If the first and last are right then 99.99% of the time the whole thing is right.If you downloaded both the install and the md5sum files, there is a command that checks them together without you having to compare them. I forgot the exact command, though, and I probably save time by not having to look it up. It's something like:md5sum -? disk_n~1.md5 where "?" is some command letterYou do need to dir the files to see which disk is ~1 and ~2. I almost always have disk2 as ~1 and disk1 as ~2 when DOS abbreviates the files. Fortunately when it lists the directory, the long name is at the far right.I'm sure that's clear as mud.For burning iso's in the popular cd burning programs, you just have to go to File and chose something like Record CD from CD Image . I'm using Roxio and that's what its option is labeled as. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 JuliaThe guy has Nero . . . no problems burning ISO´s in Nero as long as you don´t use the wizard . . :DKaren´s pthasher is good advice, free and effective. BrunoBruno, I think Julia is so excited at the prospect of another "convert" that she is mixing everything up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 I wonder if he has a bad NIC. That Realtek chipset should work with 9.0 or 9.1. My server is running it now.My NIC works fine in Windows (all flavors).The big thing is that it is integrated on the motherboard, and I have no free PCI slots (the lone slot is being used by my Audigy2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Ross,As long as the two of us know what we´re doing . . . B) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I wonder if he has a bad NIC. That Realtek chipset should work with 9.0 or 9.1. My server is running it now.My NIC works fine in Windows (all flavors).The big thing is that it is integrated on the motherboard, and I have no free PCI slots (the lone slot is being used by my Audigy2) That was what I read from your prior posts. Did not realize it was MB ethernet chip set. Which driver does Windows load? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 Which driver does Windows load?The built in Windows driver, version 5.366.818.1999. Actual file is rtl8139.sys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Teacher has convinced (inadvertantly) me to try again and take the plunge with Linux.Bruno, I think Julia is so excited at the prospect of another "convert" that she is mixing everything up. You sure are confused. Are you sure you are ready to try Mandrake? First you think it was inadvertant that I convinced you to give it a try again. I tried real hard every time you were not on tne roof to show you what fun Linux is! I guess I was successful in keeping the hints subtle.Have my penguins confused? I know you have Nero. I also know that I had better luck with the ISO Recorder than I did with Nero. I was just trying to make it easy for you. I take the time to give you all this valuable advice and this is what I get? Careful, we will banish you back to the Water Cooler. Are you sure I mailed that nice letter to your boss yet? ___________________________The Ever So Subtle Teach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 Wow- are you threatening me?? That's a good one!!!!I think I am ready to "try" Mandrake.... I have taken classes in unix that dealt specifically with the CLI, I have edited .conf files with vi, I have written numberous batch files in DOS. Above all, I am not afraid of the command line. I think I am ready.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Which driver does Windows load?The built in Windows driver, version 5.366.818.1999. Actual file is rtl8139.sys. Ok. That is a pretty standard driver.Wild Guess: Try the "ACPI=NO" Knoppix cheat code.You can check for boot errors using the command "dmesg | grep -i eth0". The command "ifconfig" will give you current status on the interface.I can't check Knoppix at the moment. Will look at it later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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