how to start network connections from installation DVD
 

I want to restore backup from a network location to a fresh system booted from the installation DVD. ifconfig shows my NICs. There is no /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf. How do I connect to the network? Just doing `ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.3` doesn't work. Ideally, I'd like to solicit an IP from a LAN dhcp server. How?

Try running the command "network" after booting into the installer.

Thanks, but that doesn't do it. `network` allows me to probe for a card/driver and install the driver module, but it doesn't actually solicit an IP address from a DHCP server. I was already that far and had my NICs showing as configured. After finding and possibly loading the driver, the `network` script advises to then run the `setup` program, but that configures rc.inet1.conf on the to-be-installed hard drive.

That's not what I'm looking for. I don't want to actually INSTALL Slackware on the hard drive. I want to restore a backed-up system to the hard drive from the network, so I'd like to get a network connection when booted from the installation DVD.

Without a network connection, I have to copy the backup file to a USB and plug that into the DVD-booted computer. That is doable, and that's how I've always done it, but it's inconvenient.

Is there a way to connect to a network when booted from the installation DVD?

Well, after running "network" you should have a functional wired network interface (wireless is not supported in the installer), and all you need to do when the program ends is running "/sbin/dhcpcd $INTF" where $INTF would be the actual name of that interface.
After that, you will have network connectivity.

Doesn't this work?

YES!! That worked! Thanks a lot. That will save me a lot of time in the future.

You could also consider downloading one of the ISOs for my Slackware Live Edition. The XFCE variant is only 700 MB, fits on a CDROM and it boots you into a graphical environment with network connectivity, including wireless. It would allow you to multitask your backup activities into multiple graphical terminals.

In that case, other distributions such as System Restore CD or GParted CD would serve the same purpose and provide more functionality in that discipline.

I have tried out System Restore CD and found it not any better than a Slackware DVD. Alien Bob's live DVD has gparted installed and is great for a Slacker to use for data recovery as it has wifi.

EDIT - System Restore CD is really named System Rescue CD. I was not impressed with its usefulness for a Slackware system.

Thanks. That's good to know.