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I'm in a bit of bind in that I need a second ethernet RJ-45 (the port
looks like a fat telephone port) ASAP and yet am financially strapped.
Once a second NIC is installed, what's the easiest way to test whether
everything working correctly? being mechanically "challenged" I'm
looking at $20 canadian for a SMC brand, including install, however,
that's pushing my budget. I've heard to stay away from RealTek
chipsets (usually RTL-8139) because "These are the winmodems of the
network world. Most of their processing is done by software, not in
hardware," but I haven't looked at this particular SMC NIC yet to
determine its ethernet chipset.

I want to do this ASAP. at the store I could boot knoppix with a
connection to the internet through the new NIC and expect the internet
to "just work." is that a reasonable litmus test, or do I need to run
ipconfig and whatnot? I could ping google.com, I'm just thinking of
what I know.

so, any advice on how to test the NIC with knoppix?


thanks,

Thufir

hawat.thufir@gmail.com wrote:
> I'm in a bit of bind in that I need a second ethernet RJ-45 (the port
> looks like a fat telephone port)

RJ-45 *what* ? a socket? a connector ?

> ASAP and yet am financially strapped.
> Once a second NIC is installed,

Ah.. an Ethernet NIC ! You shoulda said so...

> what's the easiest way to test whether
> everything working correctly?

Erm.. try to achieve positive networking, I would think ?
What exactly do you want to test, when you buy a brand new one ?
I would assume it simply works, and if it doesn't, you can exchange it,
yesno ?

> being mechanically "challenged" I'm
> looking at $20 canadian for a SMC brand, including install,

Are we talking plain PCI here ?
If so, installing it would take even my *mom* only half an hour.

www.pcguide.com for tons of advice on anything hardware.

> however,
> that's pushing my budget. I've heard to stay away from RealTek
> chipsets (usually RTL-8139) because "These are the winmodems of the
> network world. Most of their processing is done by software, not in
> hardware,"

That's true, but who cares ?
RTL cards always *work*, albeit less efficiently than a $50 3com card.

There are virtually no mass-produced Ethernet cards that don't work.

> but I haven't looked at this particular SMC NIC yet to
> determine its ethernet chipset.

SMC makes the chipset.
But they're not much better than the Realtek ones, believe me.

Here's a link: http://www.fefe.de/linuxeth/

That is some solid Linux Ethernet advice right there - you can pick a
cheap-ish one from the list.

> I want to do this ASAP. at the store I could boot knoppix with a
> connection to the internet through the new NIC and expect the internet
> to "just work." is that a reasonable litmus test, or do I need to run
> ipconfig and whatnot? I could ping google.com, I'm just thinking of
> what I know.

IF the store offers you, the customer, a DHCP address + a connection to
the Internet, yes.

But I ask again: what do you need to test ?
Check how well the card is supported under Linux, and buy it - it will work.
They *sold* it to you, no ? That means you have guarantees.

> so, any advice on how to test the NIC with knoppix?

My answer: you really don't need to test it.


--
J

www.gentoo.org - not just for geeks anymore.

Jeroen Geilman wrote:
....
> > what's the easiest way to test whether
> > everything working correctly?
>
> Erm.. try to achieve positive networking, I would think ?
> What exactly do you want to test, when you buy a brand new one ?
> I would assume it simply works, and if it doesn't, you can exchange it,
> yesno ?
....


here's what I went with:

<http://www.dlink.ca/product.php?PID=124>
from
<http://www.eglobalonline.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=342>

for $9.98 canadian (plus tax).

once you open the box there's a restocking fee, usually, or some sort
of hassle, which I wanted to avoid. anyhow, it has "compatible drivers
include: Linux 2.2/2.4" written on the box, and it worked, quite
literally, right out of the box

I hope to get the VOIP adapter plugged into it tomorrow


-Thufir

hawat.thufir@gmail.com wrote:

> once you open the box there's a restocking fee, usually, or some sort
> of hassle, which I wanted to avoid.

Then don't ever buy anything from them, ever again.
If they dare to charge you money for taking back a product that *does
not work* then they are seriously demented and also breaking about a
dozen fair trade laws.
"Restocking" is always complete and utter crap.

There are plenty of good online delivery stores that charge virtually no
delivery fee.

> include: Linux 2.2/2.4" written on the box, and it worked, quite
> literally, right out of the box

Good on yer!

> I hope to get the VOIP adapter plugged into it tomorrow

Ohboy.


--
J

www.gentoo.org - not just for geeks anymore.

Jeroen Geilman wrote:
....
> > I hope to get the VOIP adapter plugged into it tomorrow
>
> Ohboy.
....

heh. I forgot that last time I did this I was running windows. so,
right now I'm googling on the linux driver. in the meantime, I'm
having trouble with my VOIP providers website, at
<http://www.telnetphone.ca/> in that it keeps reloading; mozilla would
appear to be caught in some sort of endless loop.

speaking of windows, windows2000 won't boot, for whatever reason. I
believe I tried re-installing windows (which gums up GRUB, naturally),
but the re-install didn't work. I might take another look at what
happened with regards to installing a windows partition.

while the NIC was "magically" recognized and easily configured (I'm
using eth1 at the moment for the internet connection) the VOIP
telephone adapter isn't, which I should've looked into yesterday. on
reboot eth0 gave a "failed--no link present," if I recall correctly, so
the adapter needs a driver. will that require a kernel re-compile?

the telephone adapter:
<http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=651&scid=38>



-Thufir

Jeroen Geilman wrote:
....
> > I hope to get the VOIP adapter plugged into it tomorrow
>
> Ohboy.
....

heh. I forgot that last time I did this I was running windows. so,
right now I'm googling on the linux driver. in the meantime, I'm
having trouble with my VOIP providers website, at
<http://www.telnetphone.ca/> in that it keeps reloading; mozilla would
appear to be caught in some sort of endless loop.

speaking of windows, windows2000 won't boot, for whatever reason. I
believe I tried re-installing windows (which gums up GRUB, naturally),
but the re-install didn't work (this was months ago). I might take
another look at what happened with regards to installing windows on its
partition.

while the NIC was "magically" recognized and easily configured (I'm
using eth1 at the moment for the internet connection, which is what I
just purchased) the VOIP telephone adapter isn't, which I should've
looked into yesterday. on reboot eth0 gave a "IP identification..," if
I recall correctly, so the adapter needs a driver. will that require a
kernel re-compile?

or, do I just use <http://www.asterisk.org/>? I have a PAP2, not a
mic/speakers setup.

the telephone adapter:
<http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=651&scid=38>



-Thufir

hawat.thufir@gmail.com wrote:
> Jeroen Geilman wrote:
> ...
> > > I hope to get the VOIP adapter plugged into it tomorrow
> >
> > Ohboy.
> ...
>
> heh. I forgot that last time I did this I was running windows. so,
> right now I'm googling on the linux driver. in the meantime, I'm
> having trouble with my VOIP providers website, at
> <http://www.telnetphone.ca/> in that it keeps reloading; mozilla would
> appear to be caught in some sort of endless loop.
>
> speaking of windows, windows2000 won't boot, for whatever reason. I
> believe I tried re-installing windows (which gums up GRUB, naturally),
> but the re-install didn't work (this was months ago). I might take
> another look at what happened with regards to installing windows on its
> partition.
>
> while the NIC was "magically" recognized and easily configured (I'm
> using eth1 at the moment for the internet connection, which is what I
> just purchased) the VOIP telephone adapter isn't, which I should've
> looked into yesterday. on reboot eth0 gave a "IP identification..," if
> I recall correctly, so the adapter needs a driver. will that require a
> kernel re-compile?
>
> or, do I just use <http://www.asterisk.org/>? I have a PAP2, not a
> mic/speakers setup.
>
> the telephone adapter:
> <http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=651&scid=38>
>
>
>
> -Thufir




ah, I forgot about last time I did this, in windows 2000. I had to
enable ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) and buy a crosscable, IIRC.

setup is:

internet -> 802.11b router -> 802.11b network adapter -> eth1 ->
Computer -> eth0 -> PAP2

if that makes sense. the router is not accesible to me, it's my
landlord's.


-Thufir