every time i boot my laptop (compaq presario 1215 with debian sarge) i need to run "dhclient" to get access to the internet. i went through a lot of reading to try and get my PCMCIA NIC working, but after a shot in the dark it turned out that's all i needed to do. i don't want to have to do it every time i start up though!!

thanks,
michiaki

im guessing you are runnign gentoo.. you can add the dhclient comamnd to the rc.local file to run on startup.

/etc/rc.d/rc.local You need to add the full path to dhclint though which is probably /sbin/dhclient

im using debian sarge... i've looked in /etc/rc* and found /etc/rc0 through /etc/rc6 and /etc/rcS...
im assuming this corresponds to different runlevels?
where should dhclient go in that case?

Debian dont use a rc.local file.
To create a simple rc.local equivalent in debian create a file in /etc/init.d/ called local as user root.
The file should have

#! /bin/bash
dhclient

and any other commands you wish to run at startup. Then make it executable:

chmod +x /etc/init.d/local

Then link the new file by running:

update-rc.d local defaults 60

You can change the last variable 60 to a lower number if you wish. The lower the number the sooner it will execute. I say 60 becuase at that point the rest of the system will be up and running. If you choose to low of a number some critical processes may not be started and dhclient wont run.
Now reboot. Whatever is in this file now will execute during bootup.

More info look at http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-customizing.en.html
Section 10.6

thanks that fixed it

Just noticed I messed up that first line for that script.
Should be

#! /bin/bash

Didnt catch the typo.