linux newb banging his head against hardware/networking

[somecallmetim]

Being a sadistic fellow I thought I'd give Linux another go. Unlike Redhat 7.1 which had terminal problems getting to know my radeon 8500, the Mandrake 9.1 I've just installed went in very nicely.

I've got 1600x1200 full colour goodness and i've been poking around kde and gnome with interest.

Two little issues aren't smoothing themselves out though. The MX500 logitech usb mouse never worked so I ended up plugging in a ps/2 mouse which worked fine, but I'd like to get that usb issue worked out.

Secondly, and more vexingly, I can't get the networking to network. I'm behind a linksys router to a cable modem. It doesn't require any config at all in w2k or XP, the internet just comes up. My ISP doesn't require any special configuration.

I've played around with gateway and IP settings in networkconfig but with no success. I've tried creating a static IP in the same 192.168.1.0 range as the router (which lives at 1.1). I've configured the gateway to the router's address, didn't know what to put in host name so I just put tim.

I suspect that there are hardware support issues here. I am running the linux on a gigabyte GA-8SIMLH on a SiS 651 chipset. The onboard lan is an Realteck 31xx. I'm thinking that drivers didn't come for the sound/usb and lan... except there seems to be an 8139too driver installed for the lan.

Could I expect to find drivers for these items anywhere? Does anyone have any advice on how to hook up this linux through a router to the net?

Any help appreciated.

[CMonster]

you probably just need to put the nameserver IPs, I bet you can use DHCP for the rest -



Using the Mandrake Control Center under Network Card, IP 192.168.1.n where n is any number 2-254 should work fine also, you must of course specify 192.168.1.1 as your gateway, and don't forget to enter some dns server IPs

[Lemon[H]ead]

Here's a page that might perhaps help you out re: the USB mouse problem. It's worth at least giving it a look.

http://www.linux-usb.org/USB-guide/x194.html

[somecallmetim]

Thanks for the info guys.

I've tried statically setting up the IP as 192.168.1.110. I have another machine on the network running XP at .101. I tried pinging the linux box at .110 and no ping came back, so I'm not even getting into the ether let alone past the router.

After trying every combination of DHCP on/off, IP address static or not, and setting up the gateway at the right IP, I'm starting to think that the problem preceeds network setup (ie: hardware).

The ethernet card lights up, it shows as UP in the MD control networking panel, the 8139too realtek driver seems to be associated with it, but no connection. When I was poking through the hardware listing in the MD control centre the USB and sound weren't coming up (module not listed). I'm thinking that this is the equivalent of 4in1 chipset drivers and MD9.1 doesn't have them. The LAN, sound and USB are all on the mobo.

Am I barking up the completely wrong tree with this theory?

[Ruler2112]

Did you install a firewall when you installed Linux? That might be shielding your ping packets. Try pinging your windoze box from your linux box. If that doesn't work, ping localhost from your linux box. If *that* doesn't work, something in your networking layer is screwed and somebody else will have to help you.

BTW, what mobo are you using? If it's an nforce2 and Mandrake 9.1 is like RedHat 9.0, you'll need to download, compile, and install drivers for the onboard NIC. If you have eth0 listed as a networking device though, that's probably not the problem.

[hulkMAD]

what other computer is ur router hooked up to? if its some sort of windows, then go to the website below. this is proabably a last resort if u cant figure out how to get ur mandrake networking to work. it will only bring internet to ur mandrake computer, too. if ur NIC light is on, then it is connected to something and actually communicating with it, so thats a good sign. most likely not a hardware issue here.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/category04

ur best bet is clicking the "share an internet connection." then again, im also a n00b and kno nothing about linux.

for ur mouse, if theres a BIOS or something similar in mandrake, you might wanna go there and search around for the USB ports being enabled and stuff.

[CMonster]

The Realtek 8139 is fully supported in Linux and Mandrake 9x, I doubt that it is a hard ware issure. If I lived in Toronto I would make a day to visit and set it up for you. Perhaps there are some Linux/Mandrake users in your local area who would give you a hand.

[Urban_Squrill]

Dude sweet avatar somecallmetim. I am a big fan my self.

[somecallmetim]

Thanks for the thoughts...

The mobo is a gigabyte GA-8SIMLH on a SiS 651 chipset. The LAN is on the board.

eth0 comes up in the Mandrake control centre and the lan lights up, but no connection to the other machine on the network (running windows xp) is possible.

I intentionally didn't install any firewalling or set up any security whatsoever figuring that I could do that after I had the networking up and running.

I can live without the USB functionality, but the box is blind and dumb if I can't get it online. It's a shame because everything else on it works so well.

SCMT

[somecallmetim]

I'm writing this to you from the LINUX box!

How did I fix Mandrake 9.1? By deleting it and installing Redhat 9 instead.

The USB mouse and sound all came up first time without any effort and networking was flawless.

I have a fully functioning linux machine in about the same time it takes me to install windoze (note my cliquey, in-the-know, linux snobery in calling it windoze!)

It's only my experience on my particular hardware (which isn't exactly exotic, particularly new or rare), but Redhat seems much more noob friendly than Mandrake.

Now to really get into this linux stuff!

Thanks for the ideas all.