How on earth do I load modules from the floppy disks?

["Pedro I. Sanchez" <pedro.i.sanchez@altavista.net>]

Hello,

I'm trying to install Potato on an old PC using the boot up floppy disks
(version 2.2.16-2000-07-14) but fail to figure out how to install the
network drivers.

When loading the root disk I get a bunch of annoying messages

"modprobe: Can't open dependencies file /lib/modules/2.2.17/modules.dep
(no such file or directory)"

which so far seem to be accepted by (almost) everyone as harmless.

Once the root diskette is loaded I configure basic things like keyboard,
etc., and I mount my swap and root partitions. I then try to configure
the network driver for my Ethernet adapter because I want install the
base system from an NFS mounted disk. For this I select the option
"Configure Device Driver Modules" but I get the error message (I press
alt-F3 to see it)

"configured modules; modconf returned 32512"

I'm stuck at this point. Can anyone help me here?

Thank you,

-- 
Pedro