How to use e1000 network driver with floppy/network install?
Dear group,
I'm currently trying to install Debian on a new computer,
using the boot floppy / network install approach.
The problem is that I have a Gigabyte 8PE667 mainboard
with LAN-on-board, that is, the Intel 82540EM Gigabit
Ethernet Controller.
With the help of a KNOPPIX CD I was able to figure out
that I need the Intel "e1000" driver for this ethernet
controller, but now I'm stuck:
- It seems that the driver is both available from Intels website,
and also built into kernels newer then 2.4.20. Correct?
- How do I use/apply it in the context of the floppy
based install?
(I saw there is a menu choice to activate modules
that are on "foreign" disks. Thus, can I put the e1000,
once I have it, simply on a MS-DOS formatted disk,
and then activate it via the said menu point?)
- How do I make sure that it also gets installed into
the final Debian system?
- Or is it sufficient if I simply use a 2.4.20 kernel???
My initial attempt was to use the Knoppix CD,
and to proceed along the lines of the chapter
" 3.7 Installing Debian GNU/Linux from a Unix/Linux System "
(http://www.debian.de/releases/stable/i386/ch-preparing.en.html#s-linux-upgrade)
of the installation manual.
That basically worked, besides a few smaller quirks.
(E.g. after chroot into the new environment, mount -a
did nothing, neither mount anything, nor produce an error,
even though the /etc/fstab file was correct...).
Another problem was that perl did frequently complain about problems with
localization ($LANG, ...), even though they were properly preset
by Knoppix.
The real problem though was that after booting Debian for the
first time (2.4.18 kernel), the e1000 driver (previously provided by Knoppix),
was gone. I actually liked the Knoppix based install a lot
(no hassle with the disks), but I'm entirely clueless if it
is sufficient to use 2.4.20 or newer kernel on next try,
or if I have to manually install the .tar.gz file from Intel,
and how the latter relates to the packaging system of Debian...?
Any help is much appreciated!
Thank you very much in advance! :-)
Best,
Carsten
--
Ca3D - Engine http://www.Ca3D-Engine.de
Carsten Fuchs http://www.Ca3D-Engine.de/carsten
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