No subject

------------------------------------------------------------------------
3c509/3c579 support
CONFIG_EL3
  If you have a network (Ethernet) card belonging to the 3Com
  EtherLinkIII series, say Y and read the Ethernet-HOWTO, available
  via FTP (user: anonymous) in
  ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.

  If your card is not working you may need to use the DOS
  setup disk to disable Plug & Play mode, and to select the default
  media type.

  If you want to compile this as a module ( = code which can be
  inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want),
  say M here and read Documentation/modules.txt as well as
  Documentation/networking/net-modules.txt. The module will be called
  3c509.o.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, at least they have the metalab URL and not sunsite! But it changed
again, right!

You're not the only one w/3Com + Mandrake problems, why don't you check out
http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/lists/slug/2000/July/msg00562.html
and see if that situation pertains to you; I didn't follow it very far.

I use and love 3c509 cards; I don't use the driver as a module anymore.
Generally, the scheme for handling kernel modules, feeding them their
options, auto-detecting and disabling them, etc. is one of the big things
that differ between distributions. What I am saying is that your research
should go first in the direction of "how the hell does Mandrake auto-detect
hardware, remember the results, pass parameters to kernel modules, and (most
important) what system log file reports the errors/problems that might
occur during this process?" before proceeding in the direction of "why can't
I use my 3Com card?"

I don't use Mandrake, but I can offer some tips ("theory").
All of this is done as root. -----------------

 # dmesg

Should show hardware detected during kernel initialization; in my case, that's
where the 3c509 is detected. I have lines like this:

eth0: 3c509 at 0x300 tag 1, 10baseT port, address  00 60 de ad be ef, IRQ 10.
3c509.c:1.16 (2.2) 2/3/98 becker at cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.

 # lsmod

Should show modules loaded right now, you might see something like this:

Module                  Size  Used by
3c509                   5804   0

If you see this, there should be some tell-tale evidence in a log file 
of the successful module load (perhaps /var/log/syslog, if that exists).
Or you can try to find the relevant logfile yourelf by unloading and
loading the module yourself:

 # rmmod 3c509
 # insmod 3c509

and then

 # ls -alt /var/log | head

to see which log file(s) changed most recently.

If there's nothing in dmesg about a 3c509 (or there's ANOTHER ethernet
card mentioned there as eth0), you might do this before you try the advice
found above in the kernel help file fragment. Show free/used interrupts:

 # cat /proc/interrupts

looks like this for me:
           CPU0
  0:     401139          XT-PIC  timer
  1:      14754          XT-PIC  keyboard
  2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade
  8:          1          XT-PIC  rtc
 10:      10660          XT-PIC  eth0
 12:       2493          XT-PIC  PS/2 Mouse
 13:          1          XT-PIC  fpu
 14:        434          XT-PIC  ide0
 15:      32186          XT-PIC  ide1
NMI:          0

So yes indeed, my eth0 is using IRQ 10 and my IRQ 3, 4, and 5 MIGHT be free
(they're not, because my dmesg also says:

Serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

but the point is that /proc/interrupts is Your Friend when searching for
free interrupts to use for manual config).

 # cat /proc/ioports

Contains some lines like this:

02f8-02ff : serial(set)
0300-030f : 3c509
0376-0376 : ide1

Again, just make sure any port addresses you have in might are not already
taken by some other device.

#---------------------------------
Summary: 3c509 cards may require configuration with their companion DOS
utility (I have downloaded it from 3Com before). Distributions differ widely
in their handling of module configuration/loading--read docs. Often files
like "/etc/modules.conf" or "/etc/conf.modules" are involved. This exposition
brought to you by the commands dmesg, lsmod, rmmod, and insmod, and the
pseudo-files /proc/interrupts and /proc/ioports. Oh, and the -t switch of ls!
#---------------------------------
Chris Bopp