SUMMARY Re: firewall/webserver combo

[Paul Tod Rieger <prie@abl.com>]

I had asked:

> Of course, that still leaves the 3C900.  Any clues as to why it's not  
> working either?  (Maybe it's a PnP device, too?)  I didn't notice any  
> 3C900-specific (or RTL8039) driver when I was installing the system.   
> Maybe because the install doesn't recognize PnP devices?

My thanks to Paul Reavis <preavis@partnersoft.com> for giving me some  
tips on NIC modules:

>> Many of these require that the `8390` module be loaded first; just
>> `insmod 8390` and you'll be fine.
>>
>> The 3c900 driver is combined with the 3c590 in 2.2 kernel; perhaps it
>> still is in yours?
>>
>> Hmmm.... the only specific RealTek driver I see is 8129/8139; it
>> mentions 8019/8029 as well. Perhaps that's an NE2000 compatible (module
>> ne2k-pci)?

I insmod'd 8390 and 3c59x -- and was able to ping my own IP!  Adding  
these to /etc/modules, a reboot made the error messages disappear.

However, the cable modem refused to recognize the connection to the  
3C900 NIC (connection-status light stayed off), so I couldn't go  
anywhere.  A bit discouraging but I don't want the 3C900 connected to the  
cable modem, anyway....

Then I replaced "3c59x" with "ne2k-pci" to try the other NIC (which w95  
reported as a RealTek 8039 although the box says aceLink ALC320T and the  
chip says RTL8029):  No errors upon reboot, I was able to ping my own IP  
-- and nameserver!  I was even able to "ftp ftp.debian.org"!  (I tried to  
log in as root, but got kicked off....)

It turns out, unfortunately, that the 3C900 should be "avoided if  
possible because the driver isn't very good", to loosely quote  
www.debian.org.

So I need to get another card, one that isn't ne2k-compatible (already  
have one) and preferably supports thin ethernet (I don't want to buy a  
hub -- the last thing I want is another thing to plug in).

Tod