3Com 3c905C not recognized in Debian install

[Alan DuBoff]

My first problem with my new job is that they use DHCP for all the client
workstations attached to their network. Yeah, this sucks, IMO, but the reason
they do it is because they can handle Mac and Intel boxes and don't have to
worry about changing IPs on the machines...

After some strugglin' with my Thinkpad (which doesn't have sound drivers for
it as I have MWave...although there are hacks to get it working), I was
finally able to get it setup for my home LAN as well as being able to take it
into work and have DHCP working by executing the client. This will serve as my
mobile development machine and is currently running Frozen.

I just got a desktop machine at work which I wasn't as fortunate with as it
has hardware that I wouldn't have personally picked (so I'm not really happy
about it...). Worse, the company uses Red Hat as the standard Linux distro,
and I had to kick and scream with several people until the CTO gave me his
blessing that I may use Debian.

Naturally Debian doesn't recognize the braindead 3Com card, but Red Hat
does...:-/

I'm using the slink-and-a-half CD that Joey and Sean created, and was also
trying to get a 3Com linux driver (was I suprised to see that 3Com supports
that driver somehow and help Becker with them (donations????? pay????). None
the less, it's good to see companies working to help Linux.

I tried to fake it out by copying the 3Com 905x module to
/lib/modules/2.2.12/net/ as well as modifying the modules.dep in
/lib/modules/2.2.12 but it tells me that the module was compiled with
2.2.12-20.1 and 2.2.12 is on the machine.

I need to configure the machine to use the 3Com card and hook up to their DHCP
automatically.

Any tips on doing this?

I normally always have a static IP address, do a minimal install and get the
base system on and apt-get everything after that (with dist-upgrade to frozen
of course). I've got into a habit that if I find myself in dselect, I take a
couple deep breathes and then wack my head against the wall...REALLY
HARD!!!!!!! That usually keeps me out of there for 6 months longer...

"apt-get is the $#!T"...(why didn't Debian make shirts like that?;-). As an
example, my laptop had gcc 2.95.2 on it after doing the dist-upgrade. My Red
Hat machine was a cluster f#@$ getting the new compiler on there, which is
needed for the RealAudio player.

I just got a new shirt from copyleft (when code counts more than commercials)
and they donated a few bucks to Debian...I'll be looking for "apt-get is the
$#!T" t-shirts in the future!<roar!>

Any thoughts on the ethernet and/or configuring DHCP from the install? I have
the dhcpcd .deb package I can use after and get that working if I need to (it
works find on my laptop.

--

Alan DuBoff
Software Orchestration, Inc.