[Sussex] Kernel compilation gone horribly wrong

Sat Jun 4 20:24:21 UTC 2005

Cap'n,

My advice:

00. Make sure that loadable modules are enabled

01. Unless it's vital to system boot-up (and that _DOES NOT_ include Net
Drivers!) compile it as a module - Select everything that looks even
vaguely like it might be correct![1]

10. Install a package such as Coldplug (or hotplug) that will run at
boot-time, detect the hw and (9 out of 10 times) install the module

11. Relax.

HTH,

Matt

[1] - yes, this approach may be lazy, hell, there are probably a
thousand better ways to do it, but, IME, it works.

M.

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 21:13:43 +0100
Captain Redbeard <hairy.one at virgin.net> wrote:

> Please help,
> 
> I'm using Slackware 10.1 which comes with the 2.4.29 kernel 
> by default.  The problem is that I've got a CD-burner and a 
> Speedtouch USB modem both of which per the relevant HOW-TO's 
> run better with a 2.6 kernel.  Unfortunately I've been 
> bashing my head off a brick wall for the past several days 
> trying to get a working compilation.  I've made about six 
> separate attempts to get all my hardware properly setup and 
> running and have yet to succeed.  I did manage to get the CD 
> burner working and the modem does seem to be recognised, 
> even though it doesn't work yet, but I cannot get either of 
> my NIC's working, even though they both work fine under the 
> 2.4.29 kernel.  I've been through the entire menu system 
> carefully several times, reading all the help messages, but 
> to no avail.  I've now come to the point where I really 
> don't know what to do anymore and have been unable to find 
> anything that will help.  Though there are several tutorials 
> on kernel compilation I've found none that go into details 
> on the configuration itself, they normally just deal with 
> everything else and skip over that section.  Therefore I 
> would like to know if there is anybody willing to take a 
> look at my configuration and tell me where I'm going wrong.
> 
> The following are the machine specs:
> 
> Motherboard: Foxconn 600A01 (5 x PCI, 1 x AGP, 4 x USB 2.0)
> CPU: Sempron 2.2GHz
> Graphics card: AGP GeForce2 MX 400 w/64Mb
> Audio: On-board VIA VT1616 (AC'97 2.2)
> NIC 1: On-board VIA VT6103L
> NIC 2: TrendNet TE100-PCIWN (though the default kernel 
> recognises is as a Realtek RTL8139)
> Hard drive (/dev/hda): Maxtor 6B200P0 (200Gb)
> DVD drive (/dev/hdc): Atapi DVD-ROM 12X
> CD-R drive (/dev/hdd): Matshita CD-R CW-75
> Modem: Alcatel Speedtouch USB revision 4
> 
> The .config file itself is too large to post here but I've 
> put it on the 'net at 
> http://freespace.virgin.net/black.rebel/kernel-config
> 
> The computer itself I would eventually like to use as a 
> server for a small home network (mainly for self-education 
> purposes) which would include a Win XP laptop.  Because of 
> this I've included a Samba server as well as several other 
> network-related services in the config though I don't 
> understand what they all mean and don't really know if I 
> need or not.  Other than that I have ruthlessly disabled all 
> options that I don't have any need for (so no SCSI, 
> parallel, ISA support, etc).  All of the hardware I 
> mentioned is listed and supposedly selected in the config 
> but I still cannot get my NIC's working at all.  When I boot 
> into the kernel and type "ifconfig eth0" I get the error message
> 
> eth0: error fetching interface information: Device not found
> 
> with a similar result for "ifconfig eth1".  Is anybody able 
> to have a look at my config file and tell me where I'm going 
> wrong or is the problem likely to be elsewhere?
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Captain Redbeard
> 
> 
> 
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