Re: kernel upgrade options
on 27 Oct 99, Brad wrote...inter alia,
>
>> If there is nothing sinister arising out of the above, I propose to apply
>> patches 2 to 7 and then on to 12.
>
>Go to 13, it fixes some problems with 12. In particular, i wouldn't bother
>to compile 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12, just do the patching.
>
I haven't yet done any patching - after spending some time reading and
trying to understand things, I was suddenly confronted with two problems
I'd been unaware of:-
a. my Internet connection could not be made.
b. I could not mount my floppy as previously.
Additionally, when I tried to implement Sound, I couldn't.
I've spent five days trying to sort these out myself - it's the best way to
learn so far as I'm concerned. I thought I was getting a little knowledge
of things - that now seems over-optimistic.
re a. I normally use SuSE (or RedHat) for Internet connection - mail
folders etc are on one or the other. The connection on Debian was
OK with 2.0.36, and I did use Lynx for text browsing. I've been waiting
to get hold of Pine and perhaps Netscape before moving things over.
Wvdial sometimes connects starts pppd and immediately says 'ppp
daemon has died (exit code = 1)'. On another occasion when I know
the lines were busy it picked this up and said 'try again later' At
other times it produces lines of 'machine code', ( I guess talking to
my ISP's machine) then aborts.
Kern.log says the kernel is not compiled for ppp (I've not used any
modules).
All the files seem OK to me, /peers/provider, resolv.conf, /chatscripts/
provider, /hosts, /host.conf and /pap-secrets (although this has 'one'
immediately above my username * password, which I haven't noticed
before). /ppp/options contains only 'lock' and 'debug', whilst /peers/
wvdial is OK as is the wvdial configuration.
My limited experience indicates, therefore, it must have to do with the
kernel - but what? I enabled 'networking support' which seems the only
relevant option. I've re-run 'make config' (good experience for a new-
comer) and found nothing helpful. The other distributions connect
without difficulty, so presumably it is not hardware.
re b. I did think I understood how to mount /floppy. Obviously wrong!
Is there a file somewhere to list kernel enabled filesystems? If I edit
/etc/fstab to include '/dev/fd0 /floppy ext2 noauto,user 0 0',
mount /floppy gives me 'wrong fs, bad option, bad superblock or too
many mounted fs'. If I change 'ext2' to 'auto', I get 'you must specify
the fs type'. The latter according to what I've read should work and
make for a short command-line. In the kernel I enabled all the fs I'm
likely to need.
What stupidity assails me? I don't regret the time spent trying for
answers - merely my inability to get them.
When I do get ppp working and go for patching, are there any apart
from 8 to 12 incl that do not need to be compiled (between 2 and 13
that is?).
If you do have the time to help I shall be grateful.
Regards, John.
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