OK, let's install it then.
First off, you have to prepare your Fedora. You will be "compiling" the driver and that requires that certain packages are already installed. I think you'll be OK by just installing the kernel-devel package. Just search your CD/DVD; you should make sure you install the RIGHT one because there are multiple versions: the one that matches your kernel. If you look in your /boot partition, you will find out just which kernel is installed. The kernel-devel needs to have the same numbers. Then install it by simply double-clicking the proper 'kernel-devel rpm' on the DVD. Mind, the package may already be installed; if you get a message to this effect, there clearly isn't any need to install it again.
Next: import the REALTEK driver into Fedora. I assume you downloaded to a different computer or operating system. You will have to use a floppy or something similar. If you use a floppy, just pop it in and left-click on floppy (driver) under Places/Computer. Select "mount" and the floppy should appear on your desktop after which you can drag the driver onto Fedora; put it on your desktop - you could as well put it elsewhere but then you'd have trouble following the rest of the instructions.
Unzip it by right-clicking and selecting Extract Here. Then move the extracted folder to /usr/src like this:
- launch a terminal from Applications/Accessories.
- type su - (into the terminal of course, pressing ENTER after each command)
- type your root password when requested
- type cp /home/Desktop/[your username]/r1000_v1.05 /usr/src (note: I assume you have the r1000_v1.05 driver; earlier versions aren't any good in my experience so make sure you've got at least v1.05)
- then type: cd /usr/src/r1000_v1.05
- then the following commands (wait until each one completes its job):
make clean modules
make install
depmod -a
Quit the terminal by typing exit (twice).
There, the driver is installed!
Now you still need to configure your network settings by selecting System/Administration/Networking. Choose new ethernet (or something like that, I don't remember the exact words); if you only see "other" on the list and not your NIC (which is what I expect to be the case), you need to reboot before proceeding with the rest. After a reboot (if required), go back to Networking and set up a new ethernet connection by selecting your NIC and indicating whether you use DHCP (automatic IP configuration) or whether you need to do manual configuration. If you get your address from DHCP, you're basically done; you may be able to get internet straight away - if not, you need to reboot first (or at least log out).
Next: do the update - if that doesn't terrify you
Fedora is constantly on the move and packages get updated very very quickly. Bear in mind that you're late in coming to FC6 and that you've missed several months' worth of these updates - so they will ALL be installed at once. I reinstalled FC6 three weeks ago and I had 800MB(!) of updates... Just be patient and a box will pop up to warn you that a number of updates are available. You could accept it but I usually prefer just killing the pop-up and launching a terminal and then typing:
su -
root password
yum check-update
This will produce a long list of all updates; you accept by simply typing y at the end. And the rest is patience... I have a fast connection (1200kbps at top speed) and it took well over an hour. It's something you may want to do overnight if you have a slow connection.
Btw, I advise against doing any individual updates before you've done this massive update first
- even if you're a bit impatient: it could cause conflicts that you may never be able to get rid of again.
ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI Motherboard
