[LBo] Getting Connected

[Douglas Orchard]

>    The thought occurred to me that logically my computer did not have to know
>    anything about my ISP insofar as IP addresses and such are concerned -
>    That should be the router's job.
You are correct. In more detail your computer always needs to know where
your DHCP server is and your gateway (which are in the router).
     
>    I'm now beginning to think that I am not even getting out onto my ethernet
>    LAN. First of all, pinging never returns anything.
Run (at the root prompt #) ifconfig
and look for the following keywords
	eth0 inet addr:192.168.something.something
	     UP RUNNING

	lo   inet addr:127.0.0.1
	     UP RUNNING

The lo is the loopback device.
Now try pinging the loopback device
	ping -c 5 127.0.0.1

The default is forever so a count of 5 is enuff.

Then ping your Network card at the address shown at eth0 (ethzero not
ethoh)
	ping -c 5 192.168.123.100

If it is up and running

>    I went onto the internet and confirmed what I have always believed - My
>    network card, a CNET Model PRO200WL, is indeed Linux approved. What is
>    more, Linux itself seems to like it, it reports the network card as
>    "Davicom 21x4 DED-Tulip Compatible 10/100 Ethernet" IP Address: "DHCP"
Your network card uses a (probably) Tulip module/driver, so try this.
	lsmod |grep tulip

This gives a list of all running modules and the grep only displays
lines containing the word tulip.


>    Maybe SUSE 10.0 doesn't have the latest driver software for my network
>    card or something like that. So, my question is, does anyone know of a way
>    to do a loopback test of my internet card? (That's what we used to do in
>    the oooooold days.) Or some other simple minded way of confirming that it
>    works (a flashlight bulb?). Even though it would be a great pain in my
>    pocketbook, I could even buy a different network-card if you folks could
>    half-way agree on one that was a sure-fire winner.
I am guessing the problem is in DHCP or the module for the nic. 
I dont use Yast so my help is confined to the Command line. I use rxvt
but any of the virtual terminals would work for these commands.
If the "ifconfig" command cant be found, then su to root and
you will find it.
If you want to issue one command with root priveliges and then return to
your users priveliges, then try this.
$  su -c 'ifconfig'


-- 
Douglas Orchard

Registered Linux User
# 206698

"If it aint broke, you aint trying hard enuff"