[Techtalk] NIC+Kernel

[hobbit at aloss.ukuu.org.uk]

On Tue, May 28, 2002 at 10:40:30PM -0400 or thereabouts, kansas_kennedy @ phreaker. net wrote:
> Well, I am here to hack my kernel to get my NIC detected in RHL 7.2 (2.4.7). 
> The problem is I can't find the - #/usr/src/menuconfig & there's nothing 
> called /usr/src/linux-2.4.X...the other commands are also not being taken...

You will need to install the kernel-source package as well as the
kernel package. It will be on the RH CD(s) but it will not have 
been installed by default. Or you can grab a kernel tarball from
ftp.(mirror.)kernel.org. Go for a 2.4.x one, not a 2.5.x :) 
 
> Can anyone suggest me what should I do to hack my kernel for this particular 
> matter?

I will presume the following paragraph is right. I haven't a clue,
myself:

>     If your Linux kernel is any new version above than 2.4.5
>  (included) and it is a new installation, you can configure the
>  kernel by following console commands to enable the driver for
>  SURECOM EP-320X-S/S-1 100/10M Ethernet PCI Adapter.
> 
>            #/usr/src/menuconfig
> 
>        Enable the option of "Myson MTD-8XX PCI Ethernet support"
>  in "Ethernet (10 or 100 M bit)" of "Network device support" as a
>  loadable module or system default module.

But as to this:  

>            #make dep
>            #make clean
>            #make bzImage
>            #cp /usr/src/linux-2.4.X/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot

There is a much cleaner way which will spit out rpms which will
install on RH. It's in the kernel Makefile even if you get the
kernel as a tarball. 

"make menuconfig"; forget all the rest after that (make dep, clean,
blah blah -- that can all go); "make rpm"

This gives you an rpm you can install. *Do* use rpm --install and
*not* rpm --upgrade. The kernel rpms will install next to each other,
unlike many others, and if your new one is no good, you can just
go back to an old one. If you use rpm --upgrade, you will remove
the old working one. 
 
>        Then, edit /etc/lilo.conf, run "/sbin/lilo", and then reboot
>  your Linux system. After new kernel has been rebooted, it will
>  automatically load the driver for this adapter.

This advice is a little out of date. If you have a new installation
of RH 7.2 (as opposed to an upgrade from something else), you will
not have lilo as your bootloader and thus editing /etc/lilo.conf
is not what you need to do. You will have grub as your bootloader,
and I don't know how to add new kernels in that. Someone else here
is bound to, though :) 

Telsa