Gentoo and PCMCIA: anyone have this working sucessfully?

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

i am trying to install gentoo on a laptop with a pcmcia network adapter. please, if anyone here has it working, please tell me what kernel/type of install etc you used. i cannot, for the life of me, get this to work. i have tried three differnet kernels, both custom compiled and genkerneld, all to no avail. i've posted, tried every suggestion, nothing works!

please, if anyone has PCMCIA working with gentoo, PLEASE tell me what you did!

dkaplowitz · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 8:11 am Post subject:

I have it working on 2 separate Dell laptops. It should work on just about any laptop.

What specific kernel options did you enable for PCMCIA?

Check my configs and compare them to yours: http://www.dkap.info/i9100/index.html
prolly not a lot of stuff the same, but maybe will trigger some ideas for you.

Good luck,

Dave
_________________
http://dkap.info

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

i have tried enabling all kernel options for pcmcia (both pcmcia support and network pcmcia support) just pcmcia support (no network support) and no support at all, in both the 2.6.9 kernel, and the 2.4.26 kernel. also, i've tried a genkerneld version of the 2.4.26 kernel. my main problem comes when i try to emerge pcmcia-cs (i DO need this, correct? [even though the Xircom driver is listed in the menuconfig?]) the only way i've been able to emerge pcmcia-cs is with the genkernel verison of the 2.4 kernel, yet i still cannot access the network!

may i ask, which kernel and pcmcia options did you use? i would really prefer to use the newer 2.6 kernel, but i'm just going to use what works. also, could you please post what

PS. thank you SO much for posting! i'm finally making some headway into solving this problem!

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

also, did you emerge pcmcia-cs by any chance?

racoontje · Veteran Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 1290

But when you boot the Gentoo LiveCD, it works fine?

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

that's right, works with the live CD but nothing else. one thing i haven't tried is a genkernel version of the 2.6 kernel (is it possible?) but i'd rather just wait for dkaplowitz to get back to me with what configuration he used. (compiling a new kernel on an old 300MHz laptop takes quite a while!)

racoontje · Veteran Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 1290

You could do it faster. Boot the livecd and do an lsmod. It'll show you what modules the kernel on the livecd has loaded atm, and obviously, these work :-)

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

ok, here is the output from the lsmod:

xircom_cb
yenta_socket
pcmcia_core
evdev
parport_pc
parport
sbp2
ohci1394
ieee1394
ohci_hcd
uhci_hcd
usb_storage
ehci_hcd

it looks to me like the top three are the ones that are the applicable ones, correct? i would really prefer to compile my own custom 2.6 kernel instead of using the genkernel one, but i think i'm just going to stick with what works and use what dkaplowitz used.

PS. how can i set which modules i want loaded on startup of my gentoo install?

[edit] found the modules autoload file, about to test it out now... can't wait to find out what YOU did, though, dkaplowitz!

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

[update] here's the lsmod from the install of gentoo:

neofb
fbcon-cfb8
fbcon-cfb24
nm256_audio (unused)
sound
soundcore
ac97
yenta_socket
pcmcia_core
xircom_cb (unused)
ieee1394
input (unused)
uhci (unused)
usbcore

needless to say, it's still not working!

sa · Guru Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Posts: 450

if you want to use a 2.6 kernel, you dont need to emerge pcmcia-cs.

you should emerge sys-apps/hotplug and sys-apps/hotplug-base
and you should add these to your /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

ok, well i've emerged those two packages you mentioned and i'm now emerging gentoo-dev-sources so after i configure that kernel i'll give it a shot and see if it works.. *crosses fingers*

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

well, i've come across another problem -- yenta_socket and ds are unable to start up. i put them into the autoload, is there something else i also have to do?

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

what options do i have to enable in my menuconfig, because i am obviously doing this wrong.. here i'll show everything i have enabled relating to PCMCIA or networking:

<*> PCMCIA/CardBus support
<*> CardBus yenta-compatible bridge support

[ ] EISA, VLB, PCI and on board controllers (i disabled it, [my xircom card wasn't listed] is that a problem?)

[*] PCMCIA network device support
<M> Xircom 16-bit PCMCIA support

so that's everything.. i think i might try recompiling the kernel without "pcmcia network device support" and then re-emerge pcmcia-cs and see if that will work! :cry:

sa · Guru Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Posts: 450

i guess you dont have to put yenta_socket and ds in your modules.autoload if you have them compiled in as non-module...

from your lsmod you posted, I dont think your looking for the 16 bit xircom driver. try the cardbus one thats hidden here (in make menuconfig).

cabe · n00b Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 63

thanks SO much! i didn't even realize that was there! that totally fixed my problem.

still a linux n00b