Like most interesting things you can do with a computer, attaching it to a
network involves some specialized hardware. You'll need a NIC (Network
Interface Card) to connect to a LAN, perhaps a modem to connect to an Internet
provider, or perhaps both (or several of each, or none).
For the purposes of configuration, we can divide said hardware into PCMCIA (for
laptops) and non-PCMCIA categories. The reason for this somewhat lopsided
division is that currently PCMCIA hardware is not supported by the kernel
distribution, but by a separate package which includes the necessary drivers
(as kernel modules) and some software for configuration and management of
PCMCIA devices. Everything else, of course, is handled by the standard kernel
distribution.
The drivers for network devices that the kernel supports are included in the
netmods package (slakware/n3/netmods.tgz). If you haven't
installed netmods yet, you'll need to do so now. (See
Chapter 16 for help with installing packages.)
Kernel modules that are to be loaded on boot-up are loaded from the
rc.modules file in
/etc/rc.d. The default
rc.modules file includes a “Network device
support” section. If you open rc.modules and look
for that section, you'll notice that it first checks for an executable
rc.netdevice file in
/etc/rc.d;
rc.netdevice is created if setup
successfully autoprobes for your network device during installation.
If it did, you're probably not reading this (ooh, paradox); if it didn't, read
on.
Below that “if” block is a list of network devices and modprobe
lines, each commented out. Find your device and uncomment the corresponding
modprobe line, then save the file. Running rc.modules
as root should now load your network device driver (as well as any other
modules that are listed and uncommented). Note that some modules (such as
the ne2000 driver) require parameters; make sure you select the correct line.
PCMCIA network devices should be even easier than others. Make sure you have
the pcmcia package (slakware/a11/pcmcia.tgz) installed.
(see Chapter 16 for details on package installation.)
Upon installation, the pcmcia package will create an
rc.pcmcia file in
/etc/rc.d and an
/etc/pcmcia directory, and will install
drivers to /lib/modules/<kernel
version>/pcmcia. The cool thing about the pcmcia
package is that it will attempt to autodetect the insertion and removal of
supported pcmcia devices; you should be able to simply insert your pcmcia
network adapter and listen for the beep it gives when loading the necessary
modules. If you remove the card, its driver modules should be automatically
removed.
Unfortunately, if you compile a newer kernel version you will probably have
to recompile pcmcia-cs to get the drivers updated. Of course, the source is
included; check the source/a/pcmcia
directory for source, scripts, and any documentation we have to help you with
that.