OneAndOneIs2

Wed, Jul 11, 2007

I've forgotten more than you'll ever know

So goes a popular boast. I can't really understand why it's seen as a good thing, tho: I suffered from it yesterday. Or at least, that's what it felt like when I booted into Slackware for the first time. How many times did I think . o O ( There's a simple way to do this, I used to know what it was... erm... )

Being busy with DVDs, I didn't spend much time on it. The only major problem is that the network doesn't work, and that makes it a bit awkward to Google for solutions...

I know exactly what the problem is: My mobo has TWO ethernet ports, a 3COM and an NVIDIA. Because 3COM support was far better at the time I bought the mobo, I've always used that one.

But the "forcedeth" NVIDIA driver has improved a lot over the years, apparently. To the point that Slackware's configured IT as eth0, which is awkward because there's nothing plugged in to that port.

Should be as simple a matter as stopping it loading up the forcedeth driver at boot and the 3COM will then be assigned as eth0.

There's a simple way to do that. I used to know what it was...

6 comments • Categories: Omni, FOSS, My Life

Comments:

Comment from: hari [Member]

· http://hari.literaryforums.org

why don't you simply exchange the ports.

Or better still, just edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf file and set the internet IP address to the other ethernet device eth1.

I'm not totally sure of the filename, but doesn't that file control the configuration for the networks?

Permalink 11/07/07 @ 10:15

Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/

Because that might confuse my other distros which are already using the 3Com...

For some odd reason, it doesn't seem to have set up an eth1 - just eth0. Hence the desire to disable the NVIDIA port so the 3COM should be assigned to eth0

Permalink 11/07/07 @ 10:40

Comment from: hari [Visitor]

· http://hari.literaryforums.org

Why don't you manually try to add the configuration for eth1? does that work? Or try loading the required kernel modules manually?

You can keep swapping the internet cable between the ports too. That's what I do when I work with my desktop and laptop anyway.

Sometimes it's better to go with a natural solution than seek out the best method and waste more time...

Permalink 11/07/07 @ 15:33

Comment from: hari [Member]

· http://hari.literaryforums.org

Hmm... I posted that comment without logging in...

Permalink 11/07/07 @ 15:34

Comment from: tuxdev [Member]

check out /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Now, if you really want to just make the eth0 device go with the 3COM and eth1 go with forcedeth, I think you need to add

alias eth0 <3c module>
alias eth1 forcedeth

to a modprobe file. I'm not entirely sure of that, though.

Permalink 11/07/07 @ 18:09

Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/

Why don't you manually try to add the configuration for eth1? does that work? Or try loading the required kernel modules manually?

You can keep swapping the internet cable between the ports too.

Mostly because I only have one ethernet cable so it seems kind of pointless to set it up to have both ethernet ports working...

I don't want to mess around with swapping the cable around because it's hard to get at the back of my PC - I have to drag the whole box out of the desk. Not really ideal..

>check out /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

That sounds about right, next time I reboot to Slack I'll check it out, ta.

May look into aliasing the modules if all else fails.. but as above, I'm really not too worried about getting both ports working when there's only one cable..

Permalink 11/07/07 @ 21:25