Upgrading Lnx4Win Mandrake 6.1

[Yook]

I was given a copy of "Linux-Mandrake 6.1 - Linux for Windows" for my birthday a year ago, and am only just now getting around to installing it on my Windows box. The installation has gone smoothly, thankfully, however I can't seem to get Mandrake 6.1 to recognize my network card.

I run it as a NE2000 Compatible in Windows. During installation of Mandrake 6.1, none of the given options during the network card configuration step will see the card on my computer.

So, I am wondering two things. Firstly, is this something that upgrading to a more recent version of Mandrake can help with?

And, more importantly, is it possible to upgrade to a more recent version of Mandrake, given that I used the Lnx4Win distribution, and Mandrake is currently sitting in a virtual partition on my Windows box? Can I just downloud the latest distribution and run it in Linux against my current Mandrake install? Or would that damage my Windows OS?

BTW, in case you're wondering, my NIC is about as generic as can be, and I have been unable to find any distinguishing marks on it to tell me what exactly it is. It's a bit old, and was bought from a friend a couple of years ago.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

-Yook

[ 02 August 2001: Message edited by: Yook ]

[andrzej]

I used that thing. You don't need to upgrade to have your card working, you don't even need to recompile the kernel. It probably takes the 'ne2k-pci.o' module.I'm almost sure there was a choice of "NE2K compatible" or similar.

You should upgrade for other reasons - from the time Mandrake 6.1 was released there were at least 20 remote exploits, one glibc r00t vulnerability and I think some a serious bug in the kernel. Your machine would be cracked 5 secs after going online.

As far as I remeber upgrading this version of Mandrake isn't as easy as for example upgrading Debian. I ended up doing fdisk, which had one more positive effect - I got rid of windows and now have the whole disk for linux.

[Yook]

*grins* Thanks. I figured I was completely out of date with 6.1, but I wanted to dip my toe in the water, so to speak. I'm an old DOS-head and Windows-boy, this is my first attempt to getting into a *nix environment.

Unfortunately, getting rid of Windows on this box is not an option, else I'd have jumped in and done that from the get go. I'm a big gamer, and unfortunately, Linux doesn't have the chops yet as a gaming platform (*crosses fingers in hopes for the future*). So, no fdisk for me.

During installation, I have a choice of a whole list of possible card types, one of which is the NE2000 Compatible, which I attempted to use. I tried all of them, and none worked (even with I/O and IRQ info manually entered). Just doesn't see the device on my computer.

So, I'm still curious. Is it possible to upgrade 6.1 to, say, 8.0 in a Lnx4Win environment? Eventually, I'm probably gonna scrap this if I can't get it working, and install the latest RedHat distro my girlfriend has, which apparently has a similar Windows/Virtual Partition setup option. She's really hyping it. I want to give it a go with what I've got, just to see what I can learn in the process. :)

Thanks for your help.

-Yook

[andrzej]

There is a program called MandrakeUpdate. But I think it requires an internet connection - small problem if you don't have a working network card. (btw look at /var/log/messages if there is any info about the card, and try ifconfig, maybe your card is seen, but not configured, see /proc/modules to see if the module is loaded, then you may try modprobe, have fun).

If you're going to upgrade without internet connection, than you'll need a cd. When you have a CD why upgrade? Just install the new version.
Unless you really want to learn how to upgrade Mandrake.

You may also try to upgrade single rpms. You'll have a lot of dependency problems then (new rpms need a new rpm, new rpm need new glibc, new glibc is packed with the new rpm, so you need new rpm first, a nightmare).

Just repartition (Partition Magic?) and install Debian...

[Yook]

Quick update:

I've tried editing conf.modules with the information for eth0. I even got rid of what looked like a superfluous call for a PCMCIA module, in case that was mucking things up. IFCONFIG just shows info on LO, and IFUP ETH0 gives me an error message of "no such device".

I feel like it just doesn't see my NIC card at all, and part of me wonders if this is because I'm in a virtual partition on a Windows box. Is there any known issue with that?

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, no matter how simple or silly it might seem to you, please post them and I'll try them out.

Thanks.

-Yook