network setup problem

[dave mallery <dmallery@cia-g.com>]

hi

i have been getting back to debian from 5 years of r/h.

i have a machine dedicated to the process: piii 550 256mb, 3c905 (module 
3c59x)... vanilla 2.2r5 potato install

here is my first problem at startup:

the loopback is missing from the route table
if i try to add it manually:
route add -net 127.0.0.0 (as per man page)
i get SIOCADDRT: invalid argument

ifconfig lo shows it up and running.

/etc/network/interfaces just shows:
iface la inet loopback
for it... no ip 127.....

of course, ping does not work right:

the ping display is missing the 'from' part:
> ping alfie
PING alfie.cia-g.com (10.42.42.110): 56 data bytes
 then after ctrl/c
--- alfie.cia-g.com ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
>

this is a pure & simple potato install.
i am sure the problem is revealed by the SIOCADDRT error,
but i don't know where to look.

thank you

dave


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