[ale] Linux Installation Q: RTL8029 Network card & Kernel 2.2pre1

[David Dagon]

Hi,
  I'm helping a friend install Linux via e-mail, and have run into a
jam.  Kernel 2.2pre1 boots just fine, but does not recognize the RealTek
RTL8029 network card.  The manufacturer's drivers evidently do not
help.  (RH 5.1 could not even probe the PCI card.)  The card works
otherwise (under Win98).

I grep'd the HOWTOs and found a passing reference to the need to pass
LILO boot args for other RTL models.  (The manufacturer does not think
is necessary for the 8029, however).

I'm now ruling out other possible problems.  I now suspect 2.2pre1,
which I gather is just 2.1.132 with assorted Cox/Linus patches and a
frozen lib, right?  Has anyone had any experience with 2.2pre1 and
RTL8029s?   Perhaps I should back off to 2.0.36 until 2.2 evens out?
(I'm not using 2.2pre1 one myself because of reported problems with SMP
PII machines.)  Other suggestions?

There's some urgency about this installation; if it's not up and running
in a few days, my friend has no choice but to set up some kind of
FTP/HTTP server using Win 98 and what's available at stroud.com.  If
you'd like to contribute to this e-mail installation effort, let me
know.

Cheers,

David Dagon
dagon at cc.gatech.edu