Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003, HenRi KiRya wrote:

> I need to use a realtek cardbus pcmcia net card ( cnf401 fast ehternet
> cardbus adaptor)
> its not included in the pcmcia.tgz package from slackware
> the card came with an rtl8139.c file
> what would be the best way forward
> - seek to comile a driver on basic linux ( wouldnt that require kernel
> source files ?)
> - plug in another higher kernel ( wouldnt that raise other issues of
> dependancies and libraries?)
>
Are you sure there's no realtek module in the Slack 7.1 pcmcia.tgz?
Anyway if there's not, it sounds like what they want you to do with the
rtl8139.c file is compile a new kernel with this module in it.  I think
that's what files that end in .c like that are for: they written in c
programming language and tell the kernel routine how to compile for that
device.  A bit sketchy on that, but I think that's the gist.  For that,
you'd need both kernel source AND a compiler.  That would take up quite a
bit of disk space.  Plugging in another kernel is definitely an option,
but does introduce some complexities as you mention.  I don't think
libraries are the problem, or dependencies.  The kernel would just need to
have any of its loadable modules (don't know how many you load beside this
pcmcia one) to have been compiled for that kernel.  Due to the work of the
Delilinux team, this might be easier than it sounds.  When I was
experimenting with wireless on my laptop, I grabbed the pcmcia.tgz from
the Deli site: it contains updated modules for the 2.2.25 kernel.  Not
sure if it contains the rlt one you're looking for, but it might.  For
some strange reason, they do not seem to provide the 2.2.25 kernel at the
Deli site, though.  I was able to find that kernel at the Drinou Linux
site, though.  So I was able to test out a couple of wireless NIC modules
this way using BL2.  Hope this helps.

James