Re: re Laptop Does Not See eth0

On Sun, 18 Mar 2012, Robby Workman wrote:

> Re the SlackBuild script, there's no magic involved in it, nor does it do
> your kernel config for you.  The best thing for you to do (if you are
> running 13.37 and only want/need a newer kernel) is to go here and grab
> the config you want:
>  http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware64-current/source/k/

   Thank you, Robbie.

   Let me recap. I bought my friend a Sony Vaio (build date of November 2011)
that uses the Atheros Communications Device 1083 (rev0) Ethernet controller.
The default 13.37 kernel (2.6.37.6) does not support this controller. This
lack of support is not limited to Slackware; Google searces show many users
with a Ubuntu or Arch installation on brand-new hardware have the same lack
of suitable driver.

   Any newer kernel, from 2.6.38 up, apparently has support for this newer
Atheros chip.

   I now have the -current/source/k/config-generic-3.2.7.x64 and the
kernel-source-3.2.7-noarch-1.txz.

   I assume that I install the source on the Sony, copy the config-generic to
/usr/source/.config, then run 'make config.old; make; make install; make
modules install' then adjust the soft links in /boot for config, vmlinuz,
and SyatemMap. Finally, I check that /etc/lilo.conf has the proper stanzas
then run /sbin/lilo before rebooting and testing whether the host sees the
Ethernet and can ping locally and externally.

   My goal is to make the system aware of the local network so it can get to
the 'Net via our router and put this whole issue behind me. 

Rich