Step by Step - Adding drivers to bootcd for SuSE
 

I understand that on occassions, special drivers are required to support a particular piece of hardware (e.g. SATA controllers, NIC cards, etc).

I have also read that people regularly do download the drivers and then add them to the bootcd used to install the O/S.

Could anyone enlighten me with steps by steps instructions on how to add a third-party driver so that a SuSE Linux Installation can take place?

Regards,

JB

I am not sure, but this may be what you are looking for:
http://suse.osuosl.org/people/hvogel...ml/id_dud.html

I don't know if this does the trick.

Imagine the following scenario:

You're setting up your first SuSE Linux (or NLD or SLES) workstation and you need a special driver from Adaptec or LSI for a SATA RAID controller (this is just an example). Assume that the driver in question is not part of the standard distribution, but that the vendor has provided the driver and is available via download.

1. How do I "boot" the first time around and instruct the Installer to load these additional drivers so that it can see the controller (and the disks attached to the controller).

2. Will the drivers then become part of the permanent installation? If not, do I need to do something special to make sure that they're installed?

Thanks.

JB

Let me see if I got this right: you want to add the drivers to the install CD, right? This is called (or is similar to an idea called) streamlining. It's a great idea and is done a lot in the windows world, it works well. I don't know that it's worth your time and effort though.

If the drivers are downloaded and burned to a separate CD, you can just hit either the F5 or F6 button at the boot CD menu. I don't remember perfectly which it is, but it is labeled "drivers" or something similar. Once the boot cd is finished and before it goes to look for the install files (I think it's that order, but it doesn't matter) it will prompt you for the driver CD, search it, tell you what it found, and ask you which drivers on it you want to use.

It is my opinion that they should be integrated into the system's drivers database, I don't see why not. If not, at least you have the driver CD.

On the original subject of streamlining the boot cd with the drivers: if you've got a LOT of computers to install to, I'd say it's woth the time to figure out. If it's just for a few computers and you didn't know how to supply the system with drivers on install, use a driver CD. it's easier and requires less effort.

This is what the forum exists for, and this is just my :twocents:. Hope it helped.