on Mon, Apr 16, 2001 at 05:45:28PM -0700, GPswyft (gpswyft@yahoo.com) wrote: > I install linux from the floppies. Which version? I'm going to assume Debian GNU/Linux 2.1, "Potato". > The main problem is that I am tryig to install it on a computer I got > from the school library when they got new ones. > > Here's the problem, I have no idea what drivers to install to get it > working properly. You need to install the drivers necessary to get things working properly. It's a somewhat reflexive definition, but it makes sense if you think about it. Install, if something doesn't work, and it doesn't work because of lacking kernel support, find out what driver(s) are necessary. Generally, you're concerned with networking (your case), peripherals, disk drivers, SCSI support, sound, and video. To get your system running, it's usually only necessary to work with networking and storage (disks, CDROM). It *really helps* to know what you're dealing with in terms of hardware -- pull that case open, look inside, check out the cards, CPU, memory slots, and disk drives, to see what's there. If parts are labled, write down what they say. Often you're reduced to looking at chipsets and trying to figure out what you've got based on the manufacturer's numbers. This may sound impossible, but most of the time a Google search will turn up the part, say, "video 86C988" (try it, you'll know what video card I'm running). Adding "Linux" to that will almost always turn up driver-related information. > From what I see I have to pick them out by hand in Debian, and I have > no idea which ones will do what. The only one I install then is the > PPP support, which I figure might get me connected to the net to get > the rest of the stuff. I'm more than likely wrong, so if anyone can > instruct me on what to do I'd be grateful. PPP will do it. > Now, when I only install that PPP driver, I make it fine into the main > area of defining the base system and stuff. I set the time, and I get > to the point where I need to put additional packages no the pc. I can't > do this with a cd because i said before I don't own a cd burner. You can buy installation disks for about $10 or so, including shipping, from LinuxCenteral, Linux.com, and other sources. You don't need to burn your own. > So I try to hook up to the net using a PPP connection and my isp and > the computer can't seem to find the modem. It asks for a manual port. > Now, I've gone through a number of them, but I can't seem to make a > conncection to the net. First, there's documentation which covers this, the Modem-HOWTO, which you can find at http://www.linuxdocs.org/. For starters, you have to find out whether or not you've got a WinModem. If so, your best bet is to buy an external modem for about $100. Most of the stuff that's GNU/Linux-compatible is now labled as such. If your modem *is* Linux-compabible, you want to resolve your COM port and IRQ settings. See the HOWTO for information. Hint: 'dmesg' and 'setserial' are valuable debuggin tools. You'll also want the Hayes command set for your modem -- this is usually posted to the manufacturer's website, it's the set of commands (e.g.: 'AT', 'ATDT') which control the modem. > The last of my problems is that I finally got into the shell (after > the login, ect.) without installing any packages, more an accident > that intentionally. Well, now I went back in to the installation > process to retry the PPP package downloader. Well, to make it short, > I had to reinstall, but nohing works now anyway, so I will have to > reinstall after all. This isn't really anything you can help me with > unless you have some advice that will help if it happens again. Um. Not too clear what's going on there. If you can get local help or someone to walk you through things, this can be a big help. > Well, thanks for reading all of that. If anyone can answer those > questions and tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it, then > thanks. Well, goodluck to everyone else out there. Until the > inevitable next time... Good luck. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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