[linux-help] Re: 3com503 Network Interface Card

[Jonathan Hall <jonhall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You're going to have to recompile your own kernel.  If you're using a 386
his will be painful at best.  I remember the days when I recompiled kernel
1.2.13 on my 40Mhz 386 with 8mb RAM... and it took me a good 4 hours. 
2.0.36 will take longer.

And if you're using muLinux, it probably complicates things further. 
muLinux isn't a full Linux distribution, IIRC... you'd probably have to
recompile the kernel (or at least the appropriate modules) on another PC
(which would be preferable to doing it on the 386 anyway).

Now for a bit of my own personal opinion... As a learning project for a
first-time Linux user (you haven't said that you're a first-time Linux user,
but I'm assuming as much), muLinux is probably NOT the best way to go....
especially if you're not using hardware that's supported out of the box.

I would suggest getting a 486 or low-0end Pentium with 1-2gb of HD space and
16mb-32mb of RAM and play with a 'full' distribution (whether it be Red Hat,
Debian, Slackare, or whatever).  The learning curve on many (if not all) of
these scaled-down Linux distros can be very high in comparison with a
'standard' distribution.


On Thu, Apr 05, 2001 at 01:11:55PM -0400, Thomas E. Lenon wrote:
>  Hello,  (y'all) 
> 
> A friend sent me your mailing list address and said that you were smart,
> qualified, professional and might have a solution to my problem....... 
> 
> so... 
> 
> I've downloaded and installed on an old '386 desktop a minimal version of
> linux from http://sunsite.dk/mulinux/[1] for the purpose of: 
>     a. learning something 
>     b. making the old hardware do something useful, i.e. router/firewall 
> 
> but these kernels don't have support for 3com 3c503 ethernet cards. 
> 
> So.. 
> 
> hitting the search engines I've found... 
>  on ZDnet[2] a description of the driver, but no URL for the driver. 
> 
> other searches turned up source code for a driver update, but I can't
> compilethe update, discarded the URL and can't find it again. 
> 
>  What I hope to find is a load able module that will work with muLinux
> kernelversion 2.0.36. I have sent an inquiry to the author/team
> leader/project manager 
> Michele Andveoli, but he has a job, and a life, and I'm asking for free
> help.
> 
> Of course, I could just go purchase some new hardware, but that would defeat
> the purpose of this exercise... 
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?? 
>  3com corp tech support[3] appears to have drivers for AT &T, SCO, and Sun
> Solairs. nothing linux and nothing that old 
> 
> thanks.. 
> 
> --- Links ---
>    1 http://sunsite.dk/mulinux/
>    2 http://lhd.datapower.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP?10
>    3 http://support.3com.com/infodeli/inotes/techtran/cs_3c503.htm
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