In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, on 10/28/98 at 12:53 PM, "Jerry E. McGoveran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
>I have a Debian installation in which the ethernet card driver is >apparently not installed. There were some errors at this stage of the >installation process, but the screen drew and reset to the inst. menu too >fast to read anything. I finished the installation, and now I need to >update the kernel and the drivers. I can't compile a kernel (downloaded >2.0.35 src) because I don't have gcc. I can't install the gcc package >because I don't have network access in Linux - only under Win95. >My Linux installation has a 2.0.32 kernel with 2.0.34 drivers, and this >is probably why the drivers don't work. I'm using the 2.0.32 kernel >because the 2.0.34 kernel wasn't working with my AHA2842 SCSI adapter. >Questions: >1) Can I get there from here? Sure. >2) How do I install a package assuming I can get the .deb files onto a >mounted filesystem? Dselect asks for a series of directory pathnames, >and complains when it doesn't find various files and directories within >them. Use dpkg. It is guaranteed to be installed, dselect itself use dpkg for installing packages. Use dpkg -i /mountpoint/directories/package_filename.deb This is the manual way for installing debian packages, and the advantage over installing tar-files is that the package management system is used. Dependencies are checked, installation scripts are run, and everything is set up correctly in the proper directories. gcc and lots of other software is available as debian packages from www.debian.org >3) Is there a direct way to update the kernel and/or drivers without >having to compile a kernel or use dselect? Dselect is not necessary. It is an interface when dealing with the entire debian distribution. (You don't want to run ftp and dpkg for each of 50 packages you may want to install.) I suggest getting gcc, kernel sources and the other utilities needed for development (make and such) Then compile a 2.0.35 kernel with the drivers you need. You may use dselect for installing further packages when the network is up and running. You can update the kernel by compiling it - or by getting a compiled kernel from someone else. Compiling it yourself is easy though, and you can set it up for exactly the hardware you have. If you have cdrom consider getting the debian cd for about $2 from www.cheapbytes.com or similiar places. It may save you a lot of time. >4) Should I give up on Debian and go buy the RedHat CD and hope for >better results? No need, but do as you wish. >5) Why did I want a Linux system in the first place? :/ It is certainly a good idea if you have a pc :-) Helge Hafting
