Belkin F5D5020 16 bit PCMCIA network adapter not working under DSL4.4.10, any ideas?

soldersplash · 10-15-2009, 05:36 PM

Hello fellow DSL users!

I have just put DSL 4.4.10 on an old laptop.
Twinhead SL9T:-
P1 133MHz 128MB RAM 2GB HDD

Installed without hitch, working desktop Linux environment. Hurray!

Network adapter not working though. Booo!

Has anyone got any ideas how I can get the Belkin F5D5020 16 bit PCMCIA network adapter working under DSL 4.4.10 ?

In dmesg log there are some entries from 'pcnet_nc' reporting errors relating to this card and suggesting I try 'axnet_nc'. I went to quite a bit of trouble to get this driver used instead of 'pcnet_nc' and that hasn't helped. The card is still not working.

As a side issue, I joined up to the official DSL forum to get help on this but cannot post new topic due to lack of permission. I followed all the joining up instructions but cannot seem to get fully registered. I can log in with my user name and password OK but then can't post. Anyone got any thoughts on that?

Thanks,
Daniel.

colorpurple21859 · 10-17-2009, 08:47 AM

what version of card, maybe this driver will work
orinoco_cs driver Belkin F5D6020 [only Version 1] the only other thing I've found are a few post about editing the pcmicia config files in /etc

soldersplash · 10-17-2009, 03:05 PM

Thanks for the reply colorpurple.

I tried

modprobe -r pcnet_cs

ok

modprobe orinoco_cs

then

lsmod

pcnet unloaded and orinoco loaded but when I

ifconfig eth0

Device eth0 does not exist.

Am I missing something or is there better way to load/unload drivers?

Cheers,
Daniel.

colorpurple21859 · 10-17-2009, 07:09 PM

have you tried editing the /etc/pcmcia/config.opts file according to this http://tuxmobil.org/pcmcia_ci10403.html and then modprobe pcnet_cs

soldersplash · 10-18-2009, 02:14 PM

Hi colorpurple,

If I try to edit /etc/pcmcia/config.opts, with root access, I have a problem saving it as nano give the following error:-

[Error writing /etc/pcmcia/config.opts: Read-only file system ]

Thanks again for the replies

Any more ideas?

soldersplash · 10-18-2009, 05:02 PM

colourpurple,

Again, thanks for trying. I am thinking that I would be better to ditch DSL having read that it's core developers have split and that the DSL site/forum is practically a graveyard now.

Cheers,
Daniel.

colorpurple21859 · 10-21-2009, 09:55 PM

have work around to edit config.opts file if your still interested.

soldersplash · 10-22-2009, 01:33 PM

Hi colorpurple,
Since I am struggling to get any other distro to run at all on the atticware, yes, I would like to know how to fix that config file please
Daniel.

colorpurple21859 · 10-23-2009, 04:57 AM

copy the file to your home directory edit the file, copy the file back. then add the file to the filetool.lst from the menu then save/backup. The file is a link to /KNOPPIX/etc/pcmcia/config.opts which is a read only file system setup at boot time. if you want to try another distro try using puppy 2.15ce edition from puppy archives and use xvesa.