I am running a Slackware linux box and have a linksys cable/dsl router, I cant get the internet to work but I cant do DHCP because I need port forwarding. Im trying to get static to work but I cant. Someone please help me with this problem. The Slackware is 8.1 and the computer is a Celeon 400 mhz 128 ram 8 gig hd.

You might find the DSL-HOWTO helpfull. Normally located in

/usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs/DSL-HOWTO

It covers using PPPoX and PPPoE, etc.

I have ADSL on POTS but it is static IP so it is just like any network connection. But the internet service has to be configured for static and the ISP has to assign your IP address for it to work. If they didn't assign you an IP and gateway address then you can't use static. Then it must be using DHCP for the assignment. Perhaps if you post the service provider name, someone may use the same or similar provider that could help more.

You might try this for setting up a static ip for eth0

make a file called /etc/rc.d/rc.eth0
ie.. (touch /etc/rc.d/rc.eth0)
edit it with this content

#! /bin/sh
eth0="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
NETMASK="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
NETWORK="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
BROADCAST="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
GATEWAY="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

echo "Configuring eth0 as ${eth0}..."
/sbin/ifconfig eth0 up
/sbin/ifconfig eth0 ${eth0} broadcast ${BROADCAST} netmask ${NETMASK}
echo "Setting up IP routes..."
/sbin/route add -net ${NETWORK} dev eth0
/sbin/route add -host ${eth0} eth0
/sbin/route add default gw ${GATEWAY}
#
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.forward-up ]; then
. /etc/rc.d/rc.forward-up
fi
#

This works for my dsl and I am static

Oh and make a file called /etc/rc.d/rc.forward-up

#!/bin/sh
IPV4_FORWARD=1
if [ -f /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward ]; then
if [ "$IPV4_FORWARD" = "1" ]; then
echo "Activating IPv4 packet forwarding..."
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
else
echo "Disabling IPv4 packet forwarding..."
echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
fi
fi

this will activate the ip_forward modual for you

Check to make sure its already activated in
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet2

Hope this helps