3c574 NIC support with recent 2.6 kernels.

[cga2000]

On Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 09:01:21PM EST, Peter Stuge wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 09, 2007 at 02:21:23PM -0500, cga2000 wrote:
> > Since I wasn't sure where to look for the correct version of
> > 3CCFEM556.dat
> 
> I don't think the CIS files have changed a lot over time. They're
> bound to the hardware so they either work with a card or not.

Yes. The sarge and etch files are identical.
 
> >, I told the installer that I didn't have a network card, rebooted
> >into the new system .. found a 3CCFEM556.dat file in the /etc tree ..
> >pcmcia Version 3.2.8, IIRC, copied/renamed it to /lib/firmware as
> >3CCFEM556.cis .. rebooted .. and sure enough "ifconfig -a" and other
> >tell-tale signs such as boot-up messages and the light on the NIC's
> >dongle coming on .. showed that the card had been recognized. 

> Right. This means that the kernel PCMCIA configuration is in order..

Yes.  I was having problems with my other PC card and that made it more
difficult to think clearly.  The correct way to work around the problem
with the "etch" installer is obviously to switch to a console and fix
the problem before the installer attempts to detect your NIC.  That way,
the network is configured automatically and your box goes online after
you boot into the new system.  Hopefully, you saw my attempt to update
my old bug report and you are already aware of this.

> > After that it was just a matter of running dhclient to bring up eth0.
> > 
> > I needed to add the magical "auto eth0" and "iface eth0 inet dhcp"
> > to /etc/network/interfaces to ensure that all this is done
> > automatically when I reboot .. and that was it.
> 
> ..and this part depends on the particular distribution.

Yes. 

And as explained above where debian etch is concerned this is not really
necessary.

> > I could kick myself for wasting so much time over what turns out to
> > be a trivial problem.  Once you know the solution of course.
> 
> It was documented though. Whoever created the netinstall system
> should have taken more care to make PCMCIA work right. Also it shows
> that reading docs helps if one is stuck. :)

mea culpa ..

I think that the reason I missed the relevance of the 2.6 kernel pcmcia
doc was that I never expected this not to work in the first place since
I had done many installs on this system .. starting with RedHat 6.2 or
thereabout some seven years ago and never experienced a problem with
this card.  

Hence, I am pretty sure that I initially read through the "mini HOWTO"
but I didn't pay too much attention to the "hard cases" thinking this
was probably not worth looking into.  

I may also have approached this with the wrong mental attitude .. put
too much trust in the sacrosanct debian installer and its maintainers ..
or worse, maybe I was a little frustrated with my inability to address
the issue and somewhere deep down I blamed other folks and expected
someone to fix it for me. 

Thank goodness I still have a golden opportunity to make amends.  

:-)

I still need that KME/SCSI card and the "turtle ninja" driver to work so
I have some means to back up my system before it goes into "production".

It should be easier as far as "mental attitude" goes .. since I don't
expect this one to work out of the box .. but I do expect it to  be a
bit harder "technically".

Thanks again for your help.

cga.