[vox-tech] Re: Your Laptop Is Ready

[Jeff Newmiller]

On Fri, 31 May 2002, Murry Shohat wrote:

> Hi, Jeff -
> 
> Peter did not include the disks and now plans to send 'em by mail. This 
> is fine. I'm travelling until next Thursday.
> 
> I need the CD you burned to install a network card, right?

No.

> I have a Xircom card that provides a 56K modem and a 10-base e-net.

Depends on the model. http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/pcmcia_list.html may
help.

Once again, I am not entirely fluent in this pcmcia stuff, but I think the
kernel driver should be loaded automatically when you insert the card, and
once the driver is available, commands like "ifconfig" and "route" need to
be invoked.  These commands are normally invoked automatically by the
Debian startup scripts or by the pcmcia slot manager daemon, based on
information you supply in either /etc/network/interfaces or /etc/pcmcia/
somewhere.  I don't know how the network you are connecting to is
configured, so I can't say much about the values you will need to get
routing to work, but "man interfaces" gives you some background.  Mine
looks somthing like:

----
# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

# The loopback interface
# automatically added when upgrading
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The first network card - this entry was created during the Debian
installation
# (network, broadcast and gateway are optional)
# automatically added when upgrading
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.1.1
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.1.0
        broadcast 192.168.1.255
        gateway 192.168.1.254
----

You can test these contents using "ifdown eth0" and "ifup eth0".

> I should have included it  earlier.

hindsight... :)

> If Debian/GNU lacks the driver for the card, any ideas? Slashdot?

No, Slashdot is not the right place for questions like this.

The LUGOD [vox-tech] mailing list (http://www.lugod.org/mailinglists/) is
one place to ask... I follow that list anyway, and you get more eyes than
you do by sending them to me only, so maybe faster response and incorrect
answers prompt additional suggestions will happen.

Other venues are news:comp.os.linux.setup (truly bazaar), or
http://lists.debian.org/debian-laptop/.  If you are not totally lost, a
little googling can save everyone time, too (http://www.google.com or
http://groups.google.com).

---

Thanks for the VR3.  I hope to get some time to upgrade the firmware and
network it soon.

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