NIC's, 486's and a whole lot of frustration.
Hey folks... Ok, I have a beat up Compaq ProLinea 486/50MHz, 16MB RAM, 120MB hard drive, a D-Link 220 NIC and a spare IP addres from my DSL provider. I just installed a fresh Slackware 3.5 install of the "A" and "N" disks. My goal is to set it up as a webserver to host a few web pages I've been working on. Now, I've used Linux before, in my other computer using a Win98/RH6 dual boot system, so I've got a basic understanding of what's going on. However, I was using a modem to get online at that time and everything was all well and good for what I was doing. Now, I'm clueless about setting up this sh-tbox for what I want to do with it. Here are my questions: 1) Is it worth it/can it be done? (This would defintely affect the rest of the questions...) 2) How the hell do I set up my NIC for DSL? I have tried to setup my NIC per some FAQ's, O'Reilly's Running Linux (2nd Edition), Usenet posts and a lame HOWTO from my DSL provider. They all seem to advocate different steps which is confusing and doesn't seem to work.
I'd suggest using something newer then slackware 3.5. Espeically since you want this to act as your web server. There have been an amazing number of secuirty holes found since 3.5 was current. If you put that up on the net, it will get r00ted. Scott
Scott Venier <scottven@umich.edu> writes:
I'd suggest using something newer then slackware 3.5. Espeically since you want this to act as your web server. There have been an amazing number of secuirty holes found since 3.5 was current. If you put that up on the net, it will get r00ted.
Yeah, I highly recommend Debian. It works well for low-ram systems, and you should have enough space on that disk to put what you need on it. -- Josh Huber
Tim> Ok, I have a beat up Compaq ProLinea 486/50MHz, 16MB RAM, 120MB Tim> hard drive, a D-Link 220 NIC and a spare IP addres from my DSL Tim> provider. I just installed a fresh Slackware 3.5 install of the Tim> "A" and "N" disks. My goal is to set it up as a webserver to Tim> host a few web pages I've been working on. I think the memory is going to be the big limitation here. And as other have said, Slackware 3.5 is ancient. You should run something more recent. Tim> 1) Is it worth it/can it be done? (This would defintely affect Tim> the rest of the questions...) Sure, with more memory it's definitely doable. And doable with only 16mb as well, but tighter, esp since Apache can be a memory hog. If you are only going to server static pages, thttpd might be a better fit. Tim> 2) How the hell do I set up my NIC for DSL? Tim> I have tried to setup my NIC per some FAQ's, O'Reilly's Running Tim> Linux (2nd Edition), Usenet posts and a lame HOWTO from my DSL Tim> provider. They all seem to advocate different steps which is Tim> confusing and doesn't seem to work. Tim> From what I gather, I needed to remove the PnP settings on the Tim> card, which I did with a DOS utility supplied by D-Link. I then Tim> insmod'd the ne.o module for my card. I ran ifconfig eth0 Tim> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and got no errors. Then, things get wonky... I Tim> can't seem to get the gateway set up per the instructions I've Tim> been reading. What output do you get when you do 'ifconfig -a' on the box? What errors are you getting when you try to setup the gateway? Have you got the right networking cable setup? What is your network setup like? I suspect it's either a cabling issue, or something a little more involved. Did you insmod the ne.o modules with the proper parameters for the base address, IRQ, etc? I'm not really familiar with ISA network cards, I use PCI only, since it's much better. Tim> I'd happily post the result of any diagnostics I could run, but Tim> since I'm not online I'd have to retype them from a hard copy or Tim> something. I'm not even sure which ones would help. Ifconfig? Tim> Route? Others? Ifconfig and route would be good ones to see. Tim> Is there a definitive methodology for getting a NIC setup? Or Tim> are things so different based on distro, kernel, NIC that it's Tim> useless to follow generic "instructions"? The big thing is to get the NIC setup. From the sound of it, it's a pure ISA card, which really sucks in alot of ways, since ISA is a pain to deal with. Good luck, John
Hi I'm not sure I'm an expert here, but nobody else seems to have jumped in so let's try a blind-leading-blind approach :-)
2) How the hell do I set up my NIC for DSL?
From what I gather, I needed to remove the PnP settings on the card, which I did with a DOS utility supplied by D-Link. I then insmod'd the ne.o module for my card. I ran ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and got no errors.
You do not say what is connected to what. Two main cases come to mind: This 486 is part of a personal network (192.16.n.m) in-house or it is directly connected to the DSL modem (then you would give it the IP number from the ISP). I realize this is not a very profound distinction, but bring it up as a trivial explanation of why you might not be able to ping anything through this NIC.
Then, things get wonky... I can't seem to get the gateway set up per the instructions I've been reading.
Again I would need more information. What gateway (again is the 486 talking to the DSL modem through a second box --- a gateway or is the 486 connected directly to the modem --- in which case the sense in which "gateway" is used is not clear.
I'd happily post the result of any diagnostics I could run, but since I'm not online I'd have to retype them from a hard copy or something. I'm not even sure which ones would help. Ifconfig? Route? Others?
As you may have gathered by now :-) , I'd be more interested in knowing what is connected to what first.
Is there a definitive methodology for getting a NIC setup? Or are things so different based on distro, kernel, NIC that it's useless to follow generic "instructions"?
My experience has been that it is, in fact, better to take the generic route; you become less dependent upon the vagaries of distro admin tools. When the latter work life is good; when not, then you have to fall back on basics. :-) Do you have a second box with an ethernet card in it? If so, you can break down the problem and exclude the DSL issue temporarily by connecting the two boxes (crossover cable if no hub, regular cables if you have a hub), assigning IP numbers in the 192.168.0.n range and seeing if they can ping each other. If they can, then you know the NIC card is up and running. (I guess this is a good example of a generic approach; indeed I was using it several times just last night helping a chap set up a local network.) One more thing comes to mind. When I was setting up my daughter's cable connection that particular cable modem required a crossover cable (!) between it and a router box I had. I discovered this by going to the cable modem manufacturer's site and reading manuals. This is a last resort I suspect. Lastly, my experience has been that the DSL/Cable people come in and want a Windows box to set things up and then, after they leave, you switch over to penguins. Am I correct in assuming that you did get something working originally over the DSL connection? doug
participants (5)
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doug waud -
John Stoffel -
Josh Huber -
Scott Venier -
Tim Trachimowicz