problems with 3Com NIC/6500

[David Tisdell]

Hi all,
This raises a general issue around the install kernel.
I have, on several occasions, done different installs
with different PPC distributions and run into problems
with hardware that is supported but not compiled into
the install kernel. Sometimes I have swapped hardware
out or removed it altogether so I could get an install
to work. Maybe I am lacking in understanding but it
would seem to me that the various distributions should
use a kernel with the maximum amount of hardware
support compiled in as the install kernel. If you need
to recompile a kernel to get an install to work and
you don't have a working box to compile a kernel on,
what do you do? I have been a big fan of PPC hardware
but I have to say that I have never run into this
problem on PCI based Intel/Intel cloned hardware
except when the hardware was so new that it wasn't yet
supported in Linux. 
The issue seems to be especially true for PPC around
nic, scsi, usb and firewire cards. I would love to see
all of the distributions move to install kernels with
broader hardware support compiled in. PPC linux will
not catch on if one has to go through so many trials
and tribulations to get it installed and working. I
don't consider myself a newbie anymore but get
enormously frustrated with PPC Linux installs when the
hardware in the machine is different from what
originally shipped. For example, if you install on a
stock imac, things usually go pretty smoothly. If you
attempt an install on an old world machine that has a
firewire or usb card in it, forget about it until you
remove the card, get the install done, and recompile
the kernel with support for your card. Way to much
work if you want to try and put a large number of
boxes into a production environment. Just my $.02.
Dave
> Allan,
> I have a 3com card (3c905) and works great. There
> are no drivers for any
> 3com cards for the MacOS. The stock kernel for YDL
> 2.3 doesn=B9t have the 3co=
> m
> drivers complied in or set as modules. So, you=B9ll
> have to compile a new
> kernel with the drivers.
> 
> Michael


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