# I need some help with Linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678 "2003-11-22T14:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/21 "2003-11-23T19:06:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Xan \* > \*\*Thanks for the suggestion! I’m downloading Mandrake as we speak. \*\* Your welcome , now when you have it downloaded and installed , be aware that there are a few hardware issues , there always is , but get your self over to [www.mandrakeusers.org](http://www.mandrakeusers.org) ,and get an account and read the previous entrys , what may ail you , has probably been discussed already. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/22 "2003-11-23T23:08:47Z")
I tried Mandrake and it wouldn’t work. It didn’t load right. The background was red and there was no tool bar. The window manager was called twm. So I uninstalled it and reinstalled libranet. Both my sound card and network card are compatible with Linux. But neither of them will work. I have been told that I will need to rebuild the drivers for these devices but having no linux experience beforehand I have no clue how to do this. So my question is how do I rebuild these drivers for my linux platform. Keep in mind I have no programming experience and very little experience with linux. Again, thank you all for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/23 "2003-11-23T23:40:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Xan \* > \*\*I tried Mandrake and it wouldn’t work. It didn’t load right. The background was red and there was no tool bar. The window manager was called twm. So I uninstalled it and reinstalled libranet. \*\* Your mandrake actually installed right , problem was that your \Video Card\ is either one of the older ones , or its an onboard that Mandrake is not preconfigured for. That screen that you seen in Mandrake was the default setting for run level 6 , minimum X display. Or its possible that you selected Twm instead of KDE or Gnome as your window manager , I remeber there was about ten thousand items to check out ,when I first installed it. Anyways , if you decide to re-install it , check to make sure that where you log in , there is no drop down menu that would bring up all other window managers installed , and that you want to run XFdrake , which lets you config your video card and monitor and resolution. But in the mean time , good luck with libra Declan ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/24 "2003-11-24T03:40:22Z")
When I start Gnome I get this message “Couldn’t open device dev/sound/driver” I’m not exactly sure how to fix this and would like to know how to treat this problem. Also, I can’t get my ethernet card to work. It’s Netgear FA311 and the auto detect detects it as something completely else. The Linux drivers for this card seem to only work with Red Hat and someone told me I’d have to rebuild them. Problem is, I don’t know how to do it. The drivers are available [here](http://www.netgear.com/support/support_details.asp?dnldID=53) So if anyone knows how to make them work for Libranet that would be great! It’s based on Debian just so you know. ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/25 "2003-11-24T20:36:05Z")
I’ve fixed the problem with the sound but I don’t know how to get my ethernet card to work. I really have no clue what to do. ---
**Author:** ![zwede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ac91a4/32.png) [@zwede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwede)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/26 "2003-11-25T00:33:20Z")
Best advice I can give is to go into windows device manager and write down the exact product name of the devices you have problems with. Then go to a search engine and type in the device and “linux”. You also need to know the version of your linux kernel. When I set up my machine I had tons of problems with the 2.2 kernel. The 2.4 kernel had much better HW support. I also had problems with my network card and only way I solved it was through several hours of searching the net until I found a driver and instructions on how to build it and install. /Markus ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/27 "2003-11-25T01:08:22Z")
To compile those drivers, download the zipped file, then unzip it: unzip 311lin71.zip These drivers work with kernel 2.4, so if you are not running that, then this probably won’t work. Also, this is a beta driver, which means that it may be buggy even if it compiles and installs perfectly. Then cd to that directory: cd “fa311 beta driver for Linux7.1” Everything else should be done as root user. In the directory, compile the module: make clean make You need make, gcc, and a few other “developer tools” in order to do this successfully. There is a compiled module included with the zip file, compiled for 2.4.2. If you want to use it because you haven’t installed the tools to compile it or compilation fails, do not type the two make lines. Then copy it to the modules directory: cp -i natsemi.o /lib/modules/(kernel-number)/libkernel/drivers/net/natsemi.o This will prompt if it is overwriting an older driver module. I would be a little conflicted about doing this. Replace the (kernel-number) with your appropriate kernel. In a clean installation, there should only be one kernel-number modules directory (since you only have one kernel installed). Next, try to insert the module: /sbin/modprobe natsemi And hopefully it won’t give any errors. If it does, then try something else. Inserting it should hopefully allow you to configure the network on that interface, which should be found at /dev/eth0. I am not familiar with libranet, but hopefully it gives you some network configuration tool to make this simpler. I know RedHat does, I know Debian does, I know Slackware does. Also, libranet probably has some features to automatically insert modules into the kernel at bootup. You obviously want to do this before it tries to configure the network. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678/28 "2003-11-25T02:06:42Z")
Maybe you could try [this.](http://mslinux.org/)😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-help-with-linux/214678.md?page=1)