[realtek] rtl8139

[Weston Sewell]

You shouldn't have to compile/install the rtl8139 driver
since it comes with RedHat 7.0.  After installing the
distribution, the driver is located at:

/lib/modules/2.2.16-22/net/rtl8139.o

The only thing (in theory) that you should have to do
is put the following line into your /etc/modules.conf
file (note that this file is called /etc/conf.modules in
older versions of RedHat and in other distributions, just
FYI):

alias eth0 rtl8139

This of course assumes that you only have one ethernet
card in the computer  (eth0 is the first ether. card, eth1
is the second, eth2 the third, etc...).

Once you insert this line you should be able to run RedHat's
`netcfg` application that will allow you to configure your
network.  Including configuring your eth0 device with IP
address or some dynamic protocol for IP allocation (like
DHCP) and whether you want the device to be activated
at boot time - which you probably do  :)

There are other applications that do this, and you can do
it all manually (though I wouldn't suggest it).  But I've
found the RedHat app fairly easy to use and there should
be instructions for using it in the RedHat manual - If you
didn't get a copy you should be able to download it from
their site or from a mirror.

If you are brand new to *nix I would suggest using the
'pico' text editor, it's very simple and easy to use.
Just about everyone ends up using vi or emacs though, cause
once you get the hang of them they do a lot more.

As a side note, yes gcc is what you would want to use if you
needed to compile the driver (gcc is the GNU C compiler).  
The gcc in the original RedHat 7.0 was in fact riddled with
bugs (actually I think they decided to put their "own" stuff
in and messed it up - very Micro$oft'ish).  I'm not sure if
the 'respin' has a corrected version or not, but all the ftp
sites have an updates directory with a newer gcc (and some
other packages).  Assuming the respin is just the original
CD with these packages updated then you're probably OK.

If I remember correctly there is a "compile command" at the
bottom of the rtl8139.c file that should work fine if you
just execute it.  In case you don't know, *.c files are C
source code and are just plain text files so you could
take a look at it with your favorite text viewer/editor
(like cat/more/less/pico/emacs/vi).  But again you should
NOT have to compile it as this driver comes pre-compiled
with RedHat 7.0.


weston
> Hi:
> 
> I am new to Linux and installed Red Hat 7.0 Respin from CD
and rtl8139
> on two Pentium PCI computers with a 10/100 hub. I am
attempting to
> install the driver for the rtl8139 but I keep running into
problems.
> 
> First is I have not compiled anything and don't know how
to and I'm not
> familiar with C or C++. Can someone direct me to the
relevant procedure?
> 
> Second is the gcc/kgcc thing. I understand the original RH
7.0 release
> was very buggy but the second release, Respin, was
supposed to correct
> most of that. Does anyone know if the Respin release
included the
> correct gcc and header files?
> 
> Third, where do I go from here? How can I verify I have
the correct
> software in place and correct method to proceed?
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> 
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