Linux/Unix - Linux on a Laptop help

Author

Linux on a Laptop help

dagger

2002-06-26, 1:04 pm

I have an older laptop (P100, 16 megs of Ram, 780 HD)

I would like to instal a Linux shell on it (no X).

I can install RH 6.0 BUT my 3Com PCMCIA Ethernet card is not supported. (Model: 3cce589et).

I would rather not spend the money on a new PCMCIA network card for this laptop.

I think it would be much easier to just change distos to one that supports the card I already have.

Does anyone know of a linux distro
that supports a 3Com 3cce589et network card
and that also allows gives me the option to use a PCMCIA.img disk so I can get my
external PCMCIA Panasonic CD-ROM detected so I can intall the distro.

RH 6.0 lets me do that but later version of RH does support the Ethernet card but does not support my PCMCIA external CD-ROM and does not detected it and I can't complete the install

I have to start each install with a boot.img disk.

Thanks

The VMS Kid

2002-06-28, 5:56 am

Use Red Hat 7.3. It might not configure the device automatically, however. Check for proper IRQ allocation. Also check your /etc/pcmcia/config file.

dagger

2002-06-30, 6:23 am

Actually I can't install any later version of RH after 6.0 because they do not give me an option to load a pcmcia.img disk.
This laptop does not have an internal CD-ROM so I have to use an external one (PCMCIA).

Also this laptop is a P100 with 16 megs or RAM and a 780 HD...
it does not meet the min requirements for later 6.* and 7.* versions.

6.0 works find on it,
it's just I can't get a network card going.

I gave up on my 3com
and am now trying to install a SOHO card that is (according the the HCL) is supported by this version of RH. But for some reason it is sitll not working.

lopezb

2002-07-03, 1:11 pm

What do you mean your machine doesn't meet the minimum requirements?

The only requirements for RedHat is the amount of free disk space you have (and that is questionable too - check out the LRP - Linux Router Project, a fully functional Linux router on a 1.44 floppy).

The smallest system I have has 24Mb of ram, and I know that I can take the memory upgrade out and run on 8Mb of ram (Toshiba 110cs laptop) - it isn't a screammer, but from a command line it runs just fine.

lopezb

2002-07-03, 1:15 pm

My bad - 780 HD, thats whats killing you.

I have successfully built 7.1 and 7.2 on 850Mb, just choose custom install and select your packages carefully - then make an nfs or samba mount to another machine you have running on your network (don't worry about the NIC, I will help you get it going) and use that drive space for building a more robust system. You'll be stuck attached to your local network at home, but with that laptop, I'm sure you aren't out and about with it (probably has a short battery life by now).

dagger

2002-07-03, 1:57 pm

quote:
Originally posted by lopezb
My bad - 780 HD, thats whats killing you.

I have successfully built 7.1 and 7.2 on 850Mb, just choose custom install and select your packages carefully - then make an nfs or samba mount to another machine you have running on your network (don't worry about the NIC, I will help you get it going) and use that drive space for building a more robust system. You'll be stuck attached to your local network at home, but with that laptop, I'm sure you aren't out and about with it (probably has a short battery life by now).

Hi thanks,

Right now it has 6.0 on it
and I just need the network card (pcmcia) to work.

As for the recent versions of RH (7.1 for example)...when I use the boot.img disk to get thing going for an install it tells me I do not have enough RAM for the installation and stops the install. I don't have any options at this point to change the installation packages.
That was why I had to revert back to 6.0
which I was able to install with no problems at all.

6.1 and up wouldn't install
because of something or other that had to do with the laptop I have.

But if you have any suggestions on how to install an PCMCIA network card. (3Com 3CCE589ET or a SOHO ND512-E
I'd be in your debt.

lopezb

2002-07-03, 4:15 pm

This is the support info for your NIC, the module IS loaded in my set of kernel modules - you will have to check yours (see how below)

http://www.redhat.com/support/hardw...cl-i.ld-23.html

Linux PCMCIA Supported Device List Last updated: 1999/02/16 01:33:11

The following cards are known to work in at least one actual system.
Other cards may also work -- if you can get a card to work that is not on this list, please let me know. This list is complete to the best
of my knowledge. CardBus cards are listed at the end of each section. At this time, all CardBus drivers should be treated as experimental. Beware that some cards have 16-bit and CardBus versions with very similar names.
If the CardBus version is not specifically listed as supported here, then you should not expect it to work.
-- David Hinds <dhinds@hyper.stanford.edu>

Ethernet cards: [3c589_cs driver]
3Com 3c589, 3c589B, 3c589C, 3c589D
3Com Megahertz 3CXE589D, 3CXE589EC, 3CCE589ET, 3CCE589EC
Farallon EtherWave, EtherMac
Hitachi HT-4840-13

#####
if you use RH you can do

[root@lopez-home /]# slocate -u

(wait some time, longer than a few seconds on the P100)

[root@lopez-home /]# slocate 3c589_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.18-0.13/kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.18-0.13/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.18-4/kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.18-4/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.18-5/kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.18-5/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o

as you can see, included with the kernel modules for all three kernels that I have installed (don't ask - I do some strange development stuff that ONLY works with certain kernels) the correct modules are found NOW I have them as modules - there are two things that you can do. You could load the module doing a /sbin/insmod 3c589_cs, but the correct way is to rebuild your kernel with the module built in - you wouldn't have to "load" it everytime you reboot.

I know you said the card isn't recognized, but another good question is do you have the pcmcia daemon running? When you put the card in the slot does anything happen? I haven't used 6.0 for quite some time - so I will build one of my laptops with 6.1 or 6.2 (6.0 if I can find it) and see EXACTLY what needs to be done.

That card is supported. My guess is that you don't have the modules loaded, if the modules aren't there you will have to get the kernel-source for your kernel from the rpms on your RH cd and build them. I can explain that later if you need help with it.

##To check if pcmcia daemon is running

[root@laptop root]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia status
cardmgr (pid 344) is running...

##To check what kernel you are running:

[root@lopez-home /]#uname -a
Linux lopez-home 2.4.18-5 #1 Mon Jun 10 15:37:14 EDT 2002 i686 unknown

##To check if the kernel-source is installed

[root@lopez-home /]#rpm -qa |grep kernel-source
kernel-source-2.4.18-0
kernel-source-2.4.18-4
kernel-source-2.4.18-5

We'll get this card working

Bill

dpx

2002-07-03, 5:12 pm

welcome to the Unix/Linux forum lopezb
nice to have you around

dagger

2002-07-03, 7:27 pm

Wow..thanks lopezb

I will try all that out

I appreciate the time you took
to look all that up for me and post it.

I owe you one

Thank you!!

dagger

2002-07-03, 8:14 pm

Hey lopezb,

Here we go........
Starting at the top of your excellent instructions:

I typed:

[root@localhost / root]# slocate 3c589_cs.o
and this came up:
/lib/modules/2.2.5-15/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o

Then I did:
[root@localhost / root]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia status
and this came up:
Usage: /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia {start|stop|restart}

Then I typed:
[root@localhost / root]# uname -a
and this came up:
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.2.5-15 #1 Mon Apr 19 22:21:09 EDT 1999 i586 unknown

Then I did the last command you gave me:
[root@localhost / root]# rpm -qa |grep kernel-source
and it took me back to:
[root@localhost / root]#

Also you asked:
"When you put the card in the slot does anything happen?"

Answer:
Yes, I get one beep then a second beep (more like a boop..lol) so it goes.....Beep.............boop.
I'm taking that as the OS recognized a card in the slot but could not
load anything for it.

lopezb

2002-07-03, 9:16 pm

The beep - boop is good, it means that pcmcia daemon has started and recognized that something has been put in the slot - so that works. Check one problem off the list

The 6.0 daemon must not have included the "status" option , just {start|stop|restart} - so you can check to see if the daemon is actually running and not crapped out by doing:

[root@laptop root]# ps -aux |grep cardmgr

which should result in something similar to this:

root 344 0.0 0.3 1540 692 ? S 14:56 0:00 /sbin/cardmgr

###
Just a note -

>>Then I did the last command you gave me:
>>[root@localhost / root]# rpm -qa |grep >>kernel-source
>>and it took me back to:
>>[root@localhost / root]#

means you don't have the kernel-source packages installed - but thats ok, since you have the module you need already in /lib/modules/,,,,

>>I typed:
>>[root@localhost / root]# slocate 3c589_cs.o
>>and this came up:
>>/lib/modules/2.2.5-15/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o

this tells you where (and confirms) that the modules are on the machine, it also lets us assume that you are using the 2.2.5-15 kernel

>>Then I typed:
>>[root@localhost / root]# uname -a
>>and this came up:
>>Linux localhost.localdomain 2.2.5-15 #1 Mon >>Apr 19 22:21:09 EDT 1999 i586 unknown

this confirms what kernel you are running and, isnce the module we found is in the 2.2.5-15 dir that it is the right module version
###

ok - so now that the daemon is running, now do the insmod statement

[root@laptop root]#insmod 3c589_cs

I know that if something doesn't work - you will get some message, like for me:

[root@laptop root]# insmod 3c59x
Using /lib/modules/2.4.9-34/kernel/drivers/net/3c59x.o
insmod: a module named 3c59x already exists

or in this case I'll load your 3com module

[root@laptop root]# insmod 3c589_cs
Using /lib/modules/2.4.9-34/kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/3c589_cs.o

so you should get some sort of output from the insmod statement - if all goes well your pcmcia daemon is working and your module will be installed -

the next step is to do an /sbin/ifconfig and see what is turned on - at minimmum you shoud see this:

[root@laptop root]# ifconfig

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0
RX bytes:1768 (1.7 Kb) TX bytes:1768 (1.7 Kb)

what we want to see is the eth0 interface up, if it isn't there - then tell it to go up

[root@laptop root]# /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up

this is the next step where things might not work - we'll have to explore some other options - I might need to think more about whats going on, maybe the kernel module had problems etc. but I've got my fingers crossed.

if it is there, and it doesn't have an IP address asigned to it, give it one (we can tell it to get a dynamic address later - so give it one first)

[root@laptop root]# /sbin/ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1

then do an ifconfig again and your interface should be up

[root@laptop root]# /sbin/ifconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
inet addr:192.168.1.1 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:7305 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:633 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0
RX bytes:2020128 (1.9 Mb) TX bytes:83247 (81.2 Kb)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0
RX bytes:1768 (1.7 Kb) TX bytes:1768 (1.7 Kb)

Ok - I'm monitoring my e-mail for notification that someone has posted to this discussion - if you want or have aol instant messenger or yahoo instant messenger I can try and talk you through any of this online.

Bill

bkl91167 on AIM
bill_k_lopez on yahooIM

dagger

2002-07-04, 6:05 am

Thanks lopezb

I'll try all that out

I really appreciate all your help

dagger

2002-07-04, 6:04 pm

To all the folks following this thread
I believe the main reason this network card
is not working properly is because of a bad
network connector (dongal).

I am going to pick up a new one
this weekend and see if that fixes the problem.

To anyone else using Linux on a laptop
with PCMCIA cards I recommend you
save all of lopezb instruction posts.

They helped me a lot in troubleshooting
this particular problem

Thanks lopezb!!!

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