network drivers on livecd-ut2003-1.4.1

rob-h · n00b Joined: 15 Nov 2002 Posts: 5 Location: NSW, Australia

The gentoo livecd doesn't seem to have many network card driver modules.
I'm trying to install on a machine that has a crappy generic network card (the rest of my cards are 3coms)

Neither the tulip nor 3com drivers seem to be on the cd. This seems pretty strange considering how popular they are.

I don't particularly want to download another livecd, so would I be best off trying to start installation from a debain 2.2 cd?

I'm quite experienced with debian, but a newbie to gentoo.

thanks heaps,
rob

TripKnot · Apprentice Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 213

Since you already have debian on your system you have no need for the live cd. All the CD is needed for is to create partitions for gentoo to use. You can do this with your current debian install. The install guide should follow almost exactly as laid out except for the network setup part and your grub/lilo config.

rob-h · n00b Joined: 15 Nov 2002 Posts: 5 Location: NSW, Australia

thanks for the quick reply.

Debian isn't on the system, but i'm guessing its quicker to put it on first to avoid spending ages trying to get the livecd to work.
The question is why was the livecd released without all the standard linux network drivers?

i'm not criticising the developers (they do great work), but it does seem a little strange, even for a development version.

thanks,
Rob

Gibberx · Apprentice Joined: 20 Oct 2002 Posts: 217 Location: UMBC

I thought I had the same problem, but the drivers actually are on the disc. There's just something screwy with net-setup... rather than figure it out, I just set up my card manually (3com card). It's just as easy... instead of "net-setup eth0" type "dhcpcd eth0". If you already tried net-setup and get a "dhcpcd already running thing", type "killall dhcpcd" and then try again with the manual method. Continue as normal

rob-h · n00b Joined: 15 Nov 2002 Posts: 5 Location: NSW, Australia

I solved to problem
apologies to the gentoo developers, it wasn't the livecd at fault.

I noticed that `cat /proc/pci` wasn't showing my network card, so remembering that I just updated the bios in my system, went in and changed some settings.

Works well now. Still no tulip driver module - it must be built into the kernel itself which makes alot of sense.

thanks anyway,
Rob