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hi all,

i have installed gentoo the first time a few weeks ago and
it's working ok so far. but i still have some problems with
my hardware.

after compiling my kernel with the default genkernel config
file i got a set of kernel modules, but how do i know which
module is for which hardware component, or even better, which
module do i need to load to run a specific hardware.

is there a easy way to get some information about the
hardware <--> module relationship?

thanks in advance

--
hot_rage

hot_rage enlightened us with:
> is there a easy way to get some information about the hardware <-->
> module relationship?

Configure the kernel yourself with 'make menuconfig', instead of using
genkernel.

Sybren
--
The problem with the world is stupidity. Not saying there should be a
capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the
safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

So anyway, it was like, 10:19 CEST Oct 20 2004, you know? Oh, and, yeah,
Sybren Stuvel was all like, "Dude,
> hot_rage enlightened us with:

>> is there a easy way to get some information about the hardware <-->
>> module relationship?
>
> Configure the kernel yourself with 'make menuconfig', instead of
> using genkernel.

Yeah, what he said.

You can use for instance lspci and dmesg to figure out what hardware
you have. The gentoo livecd might give some hints too, if you look at
which modules were successfully loaded during the boot sequence. Or a
knoppix livecd.

Even if it takes a couple of attempts to figure out which stuff you
need, and also which stuff you might set up as modules and which you
need to compile directly into the kernel, you'll probably have a more
appropriately tuned kernel for your particular system and peripherals
if you do it yourself.

--
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. Perth ---> *
11:00:10 up 42 days, 20:28, 12 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Linux 2.6.8 x86_64 GNU/Linux Registered Linux user #261729

Sybren Stuvel wrote:
> hot_rage enlightened us with:
>
>>is there a easy way to get some information about the hardware <-->
>>module relationship?
>
>
> Configure the kernel yourself with 'make menuconfig', instead of using
> genkernel.

or better yet:

genkernel --menuconfig all

A good tip would be to save the .config for later upgrades.

--
/ray

PERL - Linux' Swiss Army Chainsaw

hot_rage wrote:
>is there a easy way to get some information about the
>hardware <--> module relationship?

The bottom line is to know the hardware you have. What Chipset, what CPU,
what Ethernet etc.
Then try to compile kernel manually (make menuconfig) and read help for each
option. It takes time but gives you an excellent overview of the stuff you
have in kernel.

I prefer not to use genkernel. IMO better way is to emerge
gentoo-dev-sources (currently 2.6.8-r10) and then compile it by hand.

You can expeiment a lot, but remember to read and follow instructions of
how to make multiple entries in lilo/grub to have one operational
configuration to have the possibility to boot the system in case your new
compilation will not work.

m.s.w

In alt.os.linux.gentoo, m.s.w uttered the immortal words:

>>is there a easy way to get some information about the
>>hardware <--> module relationship?
>
> The bottom line is to know the hardware you have. What Chipset, what CPU,
> what Ethernet etc.
> Then try to compile kernel manually (make menuconfig) and read help for
> each option. It takes time but gives you an excellent overview of the
> stuff you have in kernel.

Yep. That's how I worked out what I needed. When I was looking for my
network adapter I saw "Reverse Engineered nForce Ethernet support
(EXPERIMENTAL)" in the "Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)" section. The last line in
the help was "The module will be called forcedeth".

> I prefer not to use genkernel. IMO better way is to emerge
> gentoo-dev-sources (currently 2.6.8-r10) and then compile it by hand.

What's changed from r3 (the last gentoo-dev-sources ebuild I tried) to r10?
Is there a way to get changelog info without having to emerge
gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8-r10?

--
Andy.

> What's changed from r3 (the last gentoo-dev-sources ebuild I tried) to
r10?

Well, I don't know exactly becouse I updated from 2.6.7-r11.
For me it was a surprice thet there is no supermount patch anymore.

> Is there a way to get changelog info without having to emerge
> gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8-r10?

First of all you can directly "cat
/usr/portage/something_i_don't_remember/gentoo-dev-sources/Changelog
Another way is something like "emerge Changelog gentoo-dev-sources" but this
is only what I can recall at the moment and it could be unaccurate - please
consult "man emerge".
The third way is to go to
http://packages.gentoo.org/search/?s...oo-dev-sources (Online
package database) and check Changelog there.

Regards
m.s.w

In alt.os.linux.gentoo, m.s.w uttered the immortal words:

>> Is there a way to get changelog info without having to emerge
>> gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8-r10?
>
> First of all you can directly "cat
> /usr/portage/something_i_don't_remember/gentoo-dev-sources/Changelog

Doh! Of course. Note to self: think before posting.

> Another way is something like "emerge Changelog gentoo-dev-sources" but
> this is only what I can recall at the moment and it could be unaccurate -
> please consult "man emerge".

I found the --changelog switch but that only seems to work for ebuilds that
are actually installed.

> The third way is to go to
> http://packages.gentoo.org/search/?s...oo-dev-sources (Online
> package database) and check Changelog there.

And there's the one I completely forgot about. Thanks for the help.

I think this is what I was looking for:
+gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8-r5.ebuild:
Remove floppy patch. Fix megaraid, dl2k, acpi. Add dm-bbr from EVMS.

I couldn't get my floppy drive working with gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8-r3 (I
tried the floppy=no_acpi among other things and that didn't work) but my CD
writer worked as a user.

With development-sources-2.6.8.1 I had my floppy drive back but could only
burn CDs as root[0] and if I boot using framebuffer (vga=0x305 is my
setting of choice) the console corrupts when X starts (NVidia card and
nvidia-kernel and -glx emerged)[1]. This corruption occurs no matter what
number I use for vga= if it uses fb.

development-sources-2.6.7 has worked perfectly so I'm using that ATM and
2.6.9 has been released so I may wait for that to become stable and miss
2.6.8.1 altogether.

[0] I believe K3B at least has fixed this somehow in 0.11.16 or 0.11.17 but
that's not stable in Gentoo yet apparently and I'm trying not to use ~x86
ebuilds if I can help it.

[1] I've heard rumours that NVidia have fixed this in the 6111 release of
their driver but that's not stable in Gentoo either yet and I could've
misread the info on that fix anyway.

--
Andy.

"hot_rage" <elerk004egy@freenet.de> wrote in message
news:Xns95886497AEBF0hotragefreenetde@62.153.159.1 34...

>
> is there a easy way to get some information about the
> hardware <--> module relationship?
>

1) compile your kernel using the .config used for live cd /proc/config
2) emerge hotplug
3) look which modules are used with lsmod after reboot
3) put the modules you need in /etc/modules.autoload.d/YourKernelVersion
4) unmerge hotplug

> thanks in advance

hope it helps

>
> --
> hot_rage

Johan Lindquist <spam@smilfinken.net> wrote in
news:k8mh42-4b.ln1@news.smilfinken.net:

> So anyway, it was like, 10:19 CEST Oct 20 2004, you know? Oh, and,
> yeah,
>> Configure the kernel yourself with 'make menuconfig', instead of
>> using genkernel.

i used the "genkernel --menuconfig all" option - mainly to select the
correct processor type.

> You can use for instance lspci and dmesg to figure out what hardware
> you have. The gentoo livecd might give some hints too, if you look at
> which modules were successfully loaded during the boot sequence. Or a
> knoppix livecd.

i did a "lspci" of course, but never heard of dmesg before (it's nice to
learn a little bit more every day, thx).

the linux livecd uses a 2.4-kernel AFAIK but on my machine i use the
2.6.7-kernel from the gentoo-dev-sources provided by the livecd.
is there a difference in the modules that are used?


@m.s.w
> Then try to compile kernel manually (make menuconfig) and read help
> for each option. It takes time but gives you an excellent overview of
> the stuff you have in kernel.

yes, thanks. i didn't recognise before, that in the help the name of the
module is written in most cases.

--
hot_rage