Kernel upgrade and yum managed nforce network drivers

[Kevin J. Cummings]

Nick Pierpoint wrote:
> Hello all.
> 
> I have an onboard network port on my athlon and use the nvidia nforce
> drivers to handle network connections.
> 
> I download the drivers from http://www.nvidia.com/linux and manually
> compile them against my current kernel.
> 
> This is a pain so I tend to exclude kernel updates from my standard yum
> updates which probably isn't a brilliant idea.
> 
> Can I just "make this work" using yum?

You should be able to use the forcedeth ethernet driver for your nForce 
ethernet connection.  I do.  That's one less dependancy on the nVidia 
proprietary kernel module.  I only use the nVidia module for 3D graphics 
on my GeForce MX video card since snd-intel8x0 handles the onboard sound 
support!  And its not so bad, when I boot the new kernel for the first 
time, I boot to init level 3, install the new module using the 
nvidia-install program (checking for updates too), and then boot to init 
level 5.  Only takes a few extra minutes....

> I've noticed kernel-module-nvidia-2.6.8-1.521 on the livna yum
> repository and some detail on fedoraforum but am a bit nervous about
> getting going down this road.
> 
> How does the process work?

I dunno, I'm happy rebuilding my own from the nVidia package....

> If I go ahead and allow kernel updates in my standard yum update script
> will this nvidia module keep my network card (and me) happy?

forcedeth comes prebuilt with every new kernel....
So does snd-intel8x0....

> Thanks for any help.

-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at rcn.com
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us