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I am a newbie...and I am trying to install a network card from scratch that is not listed in the list supplied during the installation of Linux. Nor is it listed when I try to install it later. I have a disk with drivers on it but I haven't a clue how to go about "installing" the drivers. Now I AM a computer geek, just not a Linux guy. So, everything that I have read seems to be pretty high level for me because I have NEVER used linux or unix. But hey, you gotta start somewhere! So anyway, I need help from scratch at a lamens level.
Thanks
what kind of nic is it? And what about those drivers, you might want to check with the manufacturer to see if they ship their products with linux drivers. Also, what flavor of linux are you using, most of the time if it doesn't detect your card there are no drivers for it, depending on what distro you are using.
The NIC is a Netgear FA311 and I have a disk with linux drivers on it, I just don't know how to get them "into" the linux environment and then use them. Its a PCI card and Linux did not detect it in the setup. I am using Red Hat 6.0
I have some links of where to get updated drivers if I need to, my biggest problem is getting linux to use something other than what it already has.
Most likely, if you can get the drivers for it, they are going to be in a c format, you will then have to compile them into the kernel to get them working. you can find more info about compiling drivers from http://www.linuxdoc.org .
I do believe though if you get RedHat 6.2, I do think they have the drivers already. someone correct me if I am wrong. But I am aware that there are drivers for this card, goto to manufacture's website, most likely they have directions or instructions on how to compile the drivers in linux.
The files on the disk are:
fa311.c, fa311.o, fa311.h, and makefile
Thanks for your help. Also, is there an easy place to get an upgrade to 6.2? I can burn a disk, but of course I cannot directly upgrade because I cannot connect to the internet via the linux box. Thanks for your help again.
Looks like the fa311.c is the driver in c mode that you would have to compile, the fa311.o is the module, already compiled. If you have a fast connection, like cable or dsl, you can download a cd image iso file from http://www.linuxiso.org , its free and they have about any distribution you want. Jsut downlaod in Windows even, make the image with adaptec or any other softwre you might use to make an cd image from a iso file.
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