> > > > thanks all of you for your moral support. for the first time i compiled a > > kernel! from the 2.6.16.4 sources. and then compiled the madwifi driver. > > everything worked exactly as described in various sources of documentation, > > until 'iwconfig': no 'ath0' or 'wifi0', only: > > > > lo no wireless extensions. > > eth0 no wireless extensions. > > sit0 no wireless extensions. > > > You need to compile wireless support into your kernel. > > i found next that under the new kernel there was no PCMCIA module loaded. > > digging into this situation i got the message (i've forgotten from exactly > > where) that in order to get a PCMCIA module loaded i would have to 'recompile > > the kernel with PCMCIA support enabled'. (this astounded me because i had > > pcmcia support under my previous kernel [stock from the debian stable > > installer] and had done the configuration for the new kernel with 'make > > oldconfig'.) fumbling around a bit more i did an 'apt-get install > > pcmcia-modules' which resulted in my new kernel getting toasted. when i tried > > to reboot with it i got: > > > > VFS: cannot open root device "hda1" or unknown block (0,0). > > Please append a correct root=boot option. Kernel panic ... > > VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown block(0,0) > > > This needn't be because of PCMCIA , it is because your new kernel > doesn't have the filesystem compiled in the kernel or root device > being wrong (sda1 instead of hda1 or something similar )and it is > unable to boot it. When i changed the kernel i had to change the > kernel command line from root=/dev/hda1 to root=/dev/sda1 in 2.6 > kernels . the new kernel booted fine (repeatedly) until i did the 'apt-get install pcmcia-modules'. doesn't this mean that it was the 'apt-get' that caused the problem? > > fortunately the old kernel booted properly. > > > It is good that you always have a backup. If you are using grub, you > can always access these files from command line. > > my questions: > > > > how do i make sure that PCMCIA support is enabled for my > > next shot at compiling the 2.6.16 kernel? (btw, i did > > 'make oldconfig' for the configuration.) > > > while doing a make menuconfig or make xconfig you select the PCMCIA > and other necessary things. Also you can verify it one make menuconfig > or make xconfig are completed. The options are stored in the file > .config (note : it is .config) in the directory /usr/src/linux or > whereever the linux-2.6.16 is unpacked. is there any way to get 'make menuconfig/xconfig' to use the old kernel's settings except where i change them? also, where is a good place to start reading about using kernel recompile to optimise my system, e.g., by selecting cpu type more precisely? also, at 'http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/' i found: IMPORTANT: The Linux pcmcia-cs package is officially deprecated. It can only be used with 2.4 and older kernels. Current information on PCMCIA support for recent 2.6 kernels is available >here<. and at >here< (http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/pcmcia.html): PCMCIAutils contains the initialization tools necessary to allow the PCMCIA subsystem to behave (almost) as every other hotpluggable bus system (e.g. USB, IEEE1394). This is made possible either by hotplug scripts or udev rules. Please note that the kernel support for this new feature is only present since 2.6.13-rc1. Also, you need sysfsutils 1.3.0 as well as module-init-tools 3.2-pre4 or later, and either hotplug or udev installed on your system. does this mean that there is a way to setup pcmcia support without having to enable the support when i configure for the kernel build? in any case, is there anything i should do to make sure that the new pcmcia support is enabled and not the pre-2.6.13? thanks, tom arnall north spit, ca
