Thanks for your help in advance. I have recently installed Slackware 9.1 and this is my first time installing Linux - so please bear with me.

I am having trouble establishing an internet connection through a cable modem provided by my ISP. Here is the extent of my knowledge:

upon boot-up the kernel auto detects my network card as an ISA plug & play card (I don't know why I have a PnP card?). Here is what I get with dmesg:

isapnp: Card 'D-Link DE-220P PnP ISA Card'

At least the card is detected. From here I have tried netconfig. I am still not sure if I should specify a static IP or DCHP. My ISP is RoadRunner, and I understand that they use DCHP for their cable service (at least in some communities). DCHP did not seem to work. For a static IP, I am using a Linksys router to share the network connection so I am having trouble determining my IP address and Gateway.

I guess what I am looking for right now is some guidance to get started down the right path. Then maybe I can start asking some specific questions.

Thanks

Your router should have DHCP turned on by default. If it isn't you should enable it. Then run netconfig and you should get an IP address like 192.168.1.x. As for RoadRunner, their DHCP server should be giving an IP address to your router. If it isn't make sure DHCP is enabled for that too.

Thanks bluntman. That clears up some confusion about static IP vs. DHCP. Is there a standard way of enabling DHCP on my router?

My next question is also regarding netconfig. More specifically, Slackware auto detects my network card as isapnp: not eth0:, so what exactly do I need to specify in netconfig to setup my interface? Is this uncommon? Based on the reading I have done, I was expecting my network card to show up as eth0.

Thanks in advance.

Check your router manual. The default gateway IP address is 192.168.1.1 and it uses a web server to configure its settings. From the configuration page you can configure DHCP for the internal as well as the WAN (external). It is also possible to see the WAN IP address being assigned to the router.

Your network card should be eth0. isapnp is a configuration tool for ISA cards. http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools/
Its been awhile since I've played with ISA cards. This might provide some usefull info: http://archive.lug.boulder.co.us/bym.../msg00209.html