I am trying to do an internet installation of Suse 10. Unfortunately, my cable provider will not permit a DHCP request unless I change the MAC address of the ethernet card to look the same as the one on the machine which usually connects (using ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:01:02:03:04:08).

With Suse's internet installation boot disk, I can't seem to get a command prompt, even using the system recovery utility.

Could there be any way to change the ethernet card's MAC address using just the kernel parameters? It seems unlikely but then I'm no expert on these things. (Yet.)

Most cable companies will allow you to provision another device. If you can boot up with a knoppix disk and use a web browser, you may be able to automatically add the new MAC address to their list.

Otherwise, can you get a command prompt by pressing [CNTRL][ALT][F2]?

Thanks jschiwal for the input.

Ctrl+Alt+F2 shows the modules loading, then DHCP fails (naturally) which prompts the "manual installation" with the possibility to configure server settings or reboot. Never get anywhere near a Bash prompt.

Oh well, guess this one is a non-starter. I'll just have to do a more traditional installation which doesn't use a network card. Don't feel like bringing the cable company into it, their customer service is terrible and their website even crashes my browser.

Thanks again.