gentoo network help?

[liquid_cool]

ok, I finally got gentoo linux installed the other day. it boots and seems to work fine... except it doesn't load my network card driver. I spent some time trying to figure out why and I'm thinking it's because the driver is not in /sys/module. The file modules.autoload.d or something like that contains the names of all the drivers to load automatically... and all the other drivers listed in that file are in /sys/module.

I tried copying the driver I need (sk98lin.ko) to the /sys/module directory, but it keeps saying i don't have permission. I checked the permissions on /sys/module and also on the driver and I should have permission to copy the file. It seems that the /sys directory is protected even from my root user, and even though the permissions seem to indicate it's writeable. I was wondering if anyone knew a way to copy a driver into this directory, or knew another way to set up my network without having to recompile too much stuff...

[mikeL]

Have you tried to move the file using the command line, something like this

su -
password (to root)

mv /name of directory/sk98lin.ko /sys/module

If you get the "cannot access file" warning you might want to try using

mv -f this will force the move, hope this helps

[liquid_cool]

i tried the command line, I haven't installed a graphical desktop yet. but I haven't tried the -f option... I'll go try that now, thanks.

[liquid_cool]

nope, no luck... I still keep getting this error:

mv: Cannot create regular file '/sys/module/sk98lin.ko': Permission denied.

Oh well, there's probably some other way I have to set up the network or something... but I'm really hoping it doesn't involve recompiling the kernel or anything like that. And I'm really starting to think it's not worth all the trouble and I should just scrap the whole thing and stick with WinXP

[Dangermouse1]

I have not used Gentoo yet but those that have say you really need to read the handbook if you have not already looked at it, it may help.

[aym]

Is "sk98lin " in the output of lsmod?

If not, load it with modprobe sk98lin.

[kilgoretrout]

You can't just copy in kernel modules; you have to recompile your kernel and make sure your sk98lin moudule is included. You can either have it set to load as a module or compile it directly in the kernel but you have to set that during your kernel configuration.

[liquid_cool]

... I read the handbook and followed it pretty much to the letter, it was all going well, but when i rebooted the network drivers wouldn't load correctly. Actually it didn't even copy the right network driver over to the harddrive. I tried copying the driver over manually and then modprobe it, but that didn't work either. I was hoping to get away with not recompiling the kernel because it seems like such a hastle to me, and I've already had to do it a few times... but it looks like I'm gonna have to try it yet again.

Oh well, thanks for the suggestions anyway everyone. Guess I'll give it one more shot

and just to make sure I get it right this time... how do I add the driver when i recompile? I just write sk98lin in the modules.autoconfig.d/kernel-2.6 file? and how do I actually compile it as part of the kernel instead of a module... I don't remember seeing anything with sk98lin in the kernel config menu. Also as a side note, I'm not even sure that this is the right driver for my NIC, when I booted from the cd I just modprobe -a * everything in the network drivers folder, and that's the one I noticed it loaded... and it I could connect to the internet after it loaded, so I assume it's ok. I have an onboard 3com gigabyte lan or something like that (on a P4P800 Motherboard).

Also if i have to recompile when I add a network driver, does that mean I'm going to have to recompile everytime I add something, like KDE or Gnome, or other components and programs?

[aym]

As for compiling the correct module for your network card:

# cd /usr/src/linux
# make menuconfig

Then go to Device Drivers > Networking Support > Ethernet x Mbit, x value depends on your card speed, then highlight your network card model, and press Y.
Exit, saving your .config, then type:

# make && make modules_install

And copy over the kernel image and System.map to /boot (as explained in the handbook).

I suggest you leave the old image and copy the new image under a different name, and add an entry for the new kernel, so you will be able to boot using the old kernel in case something goes wrong with the new one.

You have to recompile your kernel if you change its config, but not KDE or GNOME.

HTH

[liquid_cool]

Thanks everyone, I finally got the network working... I guess I didn't pic the right driver the first time because I was looking for one that said 3com or something...
... Now I have another problem. I was trying to install a graphic desktop... I'm not sure, but I have to install Xorg for kde or gnome right? but when I tried installing Xorg, then ran xorgconfig... then I tried to run startx, and I keep getting this error:

Duplicate symbol __i686_get_pc_thunk.bx in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts/libbitmap.a:bitmapmod.o
Also defined in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts/libbitmap.a

Fatal server error:
Module load failure

...

XIO: fatal IO error 104 (connect reset by peer) on X server ":0.0" after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.


I tried unmerging it and then emerging it again... it was just a waste of alot of time... I hope I don't have to recompile the kernel again.

[aym]

Do you have "hardened" in your USE flags?

Currently there is a bug in the ebuild, try adding: "-pic -pie -hardened" to your USE flags in /etc/make.conf and emerge xorg-x11 again.

There are plenty of posts and bug reports in Gentoo.org having the same issue.

What do you have in your USE flags anyway?

Or you can install binary packages, if you don't want to spend time compiling and fixing things.

[liquid_cool]

I don't remember what I have in my USE flag, I think I might have put hardened, and kde, and maybe gnome, plus alot of other stuff that seemed like it might be good to have, like jpeg, video, and anything that seemed like commonly used media types... I felt like I probably put too many things in it, but when I read the info about USE flags it seemed like I should put everything I planned on using so that the programs were compiled with specific support for those things and would run better. I'm gonna go try recompiling with those changes to the USE flag that you suggested