Howdy. I have had a bit of an adventure getting Linux onto this laptop. The sticking point has been getting the installation to see the Internet. I have a connection through a router, which has DHCP, and PPPoE over fiber after the router out to the world. Ethernet in here, not wireless. My first step was to fetch live CDs. I tried SuSE, XoL, Knoppix, Mandriva, and Slax. Only the Slax was able to detect my Internet connection. I tried lots of configuration patterns, and even found a willing soul in Ireland, a network operator, who was willing to help me out. I sent him snapshots and details and we couldn't crack the puzzle. So I went with Slackware. And not for the first time: I used it in the mid-90s. Glad to be back. But here's the thing. I have tried to upgrade the kernel to 2.3.6.15. It goes, and reboots, but it can't find the network. I'm pretty sure I had the networking odds and ends checked in the .config file. They are probably defaults anyway--who wouldn't want the Internet? And I moved the System.map, config, and image files into the right place, had them all symlinked into place. Then I tried to put the old files back into place but the problem persisted; probably one of the make install's caused other changes too. I also tried just recompiling the 2.4 kernel, and likewise, it lost the Internet on the reboot. I notice that Slax has 2.3 something. I don't suppose I should just copy that kernel over.

The thing that troubles me is that a Linux user who can't upgrade his kernel is going to have problems. And actually there's no sound coming out of the laptop, except when I boot Slax. So if I want to get multimedia aspects, I'm going to have to get with the plan here. Any ideas? Why is the Internet so hard for the different Linux packages to pick up?

Oh by the way, I solved my Internet access problem each time by re-installing Slackware from CD, razing the root filesystem with format. But that leaves me with the older kernel.

2.3.6.15? I'm assuming that you mean 2.6.15.3 (or a similar 2.6 series kernel?)? It would help to have more complete specs for your laptop, although I can find a couple of links for the laptop on linux-laptops, such as this one, which seem to indicate that this laptop can run slack quite happily.

When you do an ifconfig, does it show you an IP? Can you ping anything by IP? Can you ping by FQDN (www.google.com)?

slight

Right, sorry I meant 2.6.x. Yes, I've seen some documents like that, reporting success on the Dell laptops. The errors are two in flavor. First and most common, not even the router was ping-able. Network Unreachable. This continued to be the case even after ifconfig gave a correct-looking read-out for eth0; for example it had the correct inet addr. In one case, I think XoL, I was able to get it to ping the router but nothing beyond that, FQDN or IP Address. The only distros that worked right off of the CD were Slax and Slackware 10.1 obtained through linuxiso.org. After I compiled kernels 2.4.29 and 2.6.x, on boot-up the computer didn't find the Internet. I couldn't ping the router (Network Unreachable). I am pretty sure I had networking options checked during the 'make menuconfig' stage. Based on the symptom can you guess what option might be missing? The router is pretty modern, DI-624, and the connection is PPPoE over fiber, with DHCP enabled. In the end I only care about Slackware. It doesn't matter to me if I can't get the SuSE live CD to work. I should be able to update the kernel though.

I'd like to describe my next steps in getting to the bottom of this matter. First, the reason to bother: Not infrequently on the forum, I read that the resolution to a problem involves compiling into the kernel support for a feature. For example, someone had no DMA on their CD apparatus, and after re-compiling, presto, it worked. The problem I'm having, again, is that any recompiling of the kernel has thus far meant loss of Internet. I have to get past this problem in order to face any future challenges regarding the kernel.

Okay. I've put 10.2 on the / partition. It's running, I have Internet. No problems. I have decided first to see if I can re-compile the exact kernel that worked, from install-d1.iso, ( /kernels/bare.i/bzImage ). In other words, I want to duplicate the functionality 2.4.31 apparently already has, to ensure that I can go through a kernel compilation and still have Internet access. The config in that CD directory is identical (diff) to the one I found in /usr/src/linux-2.4.31. After running make dep, make clean, and make bzImage, the resulting kernel file (1256434 bytes) is within about 130 bytes of the one on the CD (1256566) and the one in /boot (also 1256566). Now I'm running make modules and will shortly run make modules_install. Then I'll put the config, system.map, and kernel into /boot.

If at that point it reboots without giving me Internet, can we assume that it has something to do with the modules, since the configs were identical and the kernels are almost identical in size?

Hm, okay it rebooted with success and I have Internet. So the next step will be to try to remove unnecessary services from the kernel. Anyway, I was just worried that it would be a repeat of my previous experience. I re-compiled last time (with 10.1 and 2.4.?) and the network became unreachable. I guess no reply is needed.