updating debian etch with ubuntu live CD

mariogarcia · 12-15-2006, 09:58 AM

Hello,
this is my issue,
i have installed debian in a laptop.
the network card is not recognized. I have a ubuntu live cd or even a knoppix in which the network card is recognized. could I mount from those live cds the linux partition and with an apt-get download all the packages necessaries with dependencies that allow me to upgrade the etch install? ie: fakeroot, libncurses, etc.
thank you

rickh · 12-15-2006, 11:18 AM

I wouldn't recommend updating a Debian system with packages from another distro. If the live cds recognize your card, it's obvious that there are drivers available for it. Tell us the model of your wireless card.

vharishankar · 12-15-2006, 11:21 AM

Yeah, although they look similar, Ubuntu and Debian packages are pretty incompatible in the sense that the dependencies might break badly if you replace one with the other. Ubuntu and Debian maintainers probably use their own set of package info and package dependencies list and would not match...

mariogarcia · 12-15-2006, 11:35 AM

what i was thinking was to put etch repositories in sources.list of ubuntu and use an apt-get to download them. but not install them, i think i can use apt with --download-only; then i must read further to tell apt to download them on a location i want.
the issue i have is to download a package with all the dependencies.

my card is a realtek using the r1000 drive,i have such drive but unable to compile it due to missing packages.
i would also love to configure the wireless card of course i don't really know what it is but I know it's a intel
I have a toshiba satellite a110-178 which is not available in the linux laptop site

thank you
mario

rickh · 12-15-2006, 12:56 PM

I don't really understand what you're asking for. I'm not even sure if you have Etch or Ubuntu installed on your laptop. Assuming that you have Etch installed, maybe this site will help you out.

mariogarcia · 12-15-2006, 03:24 PM

i have etch installed
network adapter doesn't work in etch
using live cd ubuntu to connect to the internet.
my question is:
if i replace ubuntu repositories for etch repositories in ubuntu's sources.list and download the packages I am missing to be able to compile the drivers of my network adapter with all the dependencies, will it work or not?
is it possible to download packages with apt-get, not install them and choose a location without having to download each package individually and doing an dpkg -i.
do you think i am stupid to say i have a thing installed when I don't?

James4coffee · 12-16-2006, 01:59 PM

I had a similar issue, I have both ubuntu and debian installed. I used ubuntu to download the drivers I needed and put them on a usb stick, rebooted into debian, installed drivers and voila, I have network card working. You don't have to install ubuntu, just use the live cd and a usb stick. The drivers are on the realteck website, and info on what to change cos they got typos on http://forums.debian.net/index.php just bdo a search...
You should be able to do the same for the wireless card.
If you still have problems come back and I'll try and guide you throu... bear in mind i'm no expert...

Hope this helps
James

mariogarcia · 12-18-2006, 11:35 AM

i would like to install a network ethernet card; RTL8101E pci express fast ethernet.
i have downloaded the drivers and didn't compile. i have took the hassle to download every package and dependency necessary by hand and i compiled the newest kernel and despite having a new kernel and all the driver do not compile.

now my question is. how can i make a 'deb' from a 'make clean modules' command.
i have tried the make command for the network card in a debian sarge stable, and they compile. no errors during the make.
I may not try stable on this laptop as it recognizes nothing, not even the cdrom.
thank you for your help

rickh · 12-18-2006, 11:44 AM

You shouldn't have to be compiling things. Your best bet is to get the Etch Netinstaller, plug your PCI ethernet card into the laptop, connect it by ethernet cable to the laptop, and start the installation.

James4coffee · 12-18-2006, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariogarcia

i would like to install a network ethernet card; RTL8101E pci express fast ethernet.
i have downloaded the drivers and didn't compile. i have took the hassle to download every package and dependency necessary by hand and i compiled the newest kernel and despite having a new kernel and all the driver do not compile.

now my question is. how can i make a 'deb' from a 'make clean modules' command.
i have tried the make command for the network card in a debian sarge stable, and they compile. no errors during the make.
I may not try stable on this laptop as it recognizes nothing, not even the cdrom.
thank you for your help

if the 'make clean modudes' command isn't working that it's unlikely to work as a .deb??
Ubuntu packeges could break your system and may be why things aren't going so well.
Have you installed the linux-headers and linux-restricted-modules for the relevant kernel??
May I suggest that if it works with sarge that you install sarge and when etch is released you do an dist-upgrade?

Or, Post the errors you're getting and I'm sure someone here could help.

mariogarcia · 12-18-2006, 02:38 PM

I have downloaded the kernel from kernel.org 2.6.19.1.bz2
did a make menuedit
did a fakeroot make-kpkg
and installed the compiled kernel with dpkg -i linux-image...deb

not used ubuntu yet for anything. unless booting from it with a LIVE CD and seeing the network card is recognized and get internet connection.

as for the errors i am getting they are the following
I issued the command :

Code:

make clean modules 2>err.txt

here are the results of the file err.txt

Code:

/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c: In function ‘r1000_open’:
/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c:756: warning: passing argument 2 of ‘request_irq’ from incompatible pointer type
/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c: At top level:
/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c:1295: error: conflicting types for ‘r1000_tx_action’
/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c:137: error: previous declaration of ‘r1000_tx_action’ was here
/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c:1344: error: conflicting types for ‘r1000_rx_action’
/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.c:136: error: previous declaration of ‘r1000_rx_action’ was here
make[3]: *** [/root/r1000_v1.05/src/r1000_n.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [_module_/root/r1000_v1.05/src] Error 2
make[1]: *** [modules] Error 2
make: *** [modules] Error 2

linux-restricted-modules the things that i find are for ubuntu.
the linux headers? should I get something else than the sources of the kernel from kernel.org?
edit:
on this laptop impossible to install sarge. it doesn't recognize the cdrom and ask me to load drives from floppy. and of course there's no floppy nowadays

farslayer · 12-19-2006, 09:04 AM

Ran across this how-to where the guy is using the same driver on a debian system and he says the driver needs to be patched before it will compile..
http://www.atworkonline.it/~bibe/debian/
Follow the link to the details and links to the patch etc..

Quote:

Wired LAN
The latest "official" sources (version 1.04, released on August 8, 2006), available here, must be patched to use module_param_array instead of the deprecated MODULE_PARM macro. While Realtek RTL8168(B) support makes its way into the kernel mainline, you can apply this patch against a 2.6.18 kernel.

$ cd /usr/src
$ tar zxf /path/to/r1000_v1.04.tgz
$ cd r1000_v1.04
$ patch -p1 < /path/to/r1000-module_param.patch
$ make clean modules
$ sudo make install
$ sudo depmod -ae
$ sudo modprobe r1000
$ dmesg
$ echo r1000 |sudo tee -a /etc/modules

James4coffee · 12-19-2006, 02:45 PM

I also seem to remember reading somewhere the you need to install ieee80211 source for the wireless to work
Hope this and the above helps

james

mariogarcia · 12-21-2006, 05:42 AM

hey guys,
thank you i managed to install the network card.
even though there are things that I still not understand. such as dmesg recognizes it as eth0. but when I do an 'ifconfig' it shows it as eth1
if i configure /etc/network/interfaces with eth0 it says device not found. I am forced to configure it as eth1.
does anyone know why? it's not really a problem but i wonder why this innacuracy.
thank you again.

James4coffee · 12-21-2006, 01:33 PM

Glad to hear you got it working, as to your question as to why eth1 instead of eth0, I have no idea, and mine does the same at the moment. I seem to remember reading about how to change it somewhere, if I find it, I'll post back.

James