I'm trying setup a simple network.
I'm able to ping both nic cards but unable
to make connection or ping to the other computer.
I'm using a netgear e-net s/w.
I tried switching cables no luck unless I have 2 bad cables.
Green lights are on NIC cards and E-net s/w
I appears to work the same way with the other ugly OS win98.
I'm using a Network starter from netgear.
Although I could never get kernel to compile
for Netgear nic cards (FA311) so I bought cheap o nic cards (real tek) that was in the list of nic cards kernel in linuxconf. The Cables were the ones that came with kit. I bought different cable for that was for a e-net s/w. As far as I can tell they aren't crossover cable. It appears that linuxconf won't accept a incorrect subnet address I tried it once and it let me know.
Problem seems simple but .... I'm lost.

If you have a hub and using standard cables it should work, if you are connecting nic to nic you need a crossover cable. You stated it works on win98 and the lights are lit, so whatever you have we will assume it is correct.

You must first set them up on the same network.

Computers nic connected to linux computers nic -- ip address

example

10.0.0.2

netmask

255.255.255.0
-----------------------------------------------
linux computers nic

10.0.0.3

netmask

255.255.255.0

------------------------------------------------

how to set ip --- assume it is eth0

ifconfig eth0 10.0.0.3 netmask 255.255.255.0

------------------------------------------------

when using ifconfig to configure the eth 0 nic board I get SIOCSIFFLAGS resoucre unavialable.
massage whatever that means ?
I got this after I re-installed Redhat 7.0.

That message usually indicates a resource (IRQ) conflict, although from your post, it sounds like you had it working before, so I'm not sure what else may have changed.

Here are some basic "canned answers" to those kind of problems (I'm using RH 6.2, but the basics should apply):

1. Check the screen output at bootup. If the NIC is being properly initialized, you should see a line that says: "Bringing up eth0- O.K.". If you see "failed" or "delaying" instead, you've got problems.

- If you get a failure on bootup, you may have a resource conflict with another device. Try turning off Plug-N-Play support in your BIOS, it can cause conflicts with some cards.

- Log in as root, go to the command line or terminal window, and type "cat /proc/pci" and verify that your NIC is being recognized.

- Type "cat /proc/interrupts" and make sure your NIC's IRQ isn't conflicting with another device. Type "cat /proc/ioports" and check the address ranges for conflicts. If you have resource conflicts, you can try rearranging the slot order of your PCI cards.

- You can also verify the IRQ/address info by typing "ifconfig". There should be stats for the loopback device (lo) and eth0.

- If you get card recognized, but the module isn't loading, try to load it manually by typing "insmod <your_module_name>" or "modprobe <your_module_name>". After that, type "lsmod" to list all loaded modules; your module should show up there.

- You can then manually configure the NIC by typing "ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx up", where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is your IP address.

- Last, type "alias eth0 <your_module_name>".

Thanks to DMR, now it works.
The problem turned out to be the Plug N Play OS was on in the BIOS that was hosing me.
I'm still little confused on how I could ping nic card own address if the IRQ's dorked up.