Loading modules into compiled kernel

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Mon, Jun 27, 2005 at 05:19:40PM -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Bob McClure Jr wrote:
> >On Mon, Jun 27, 2005 at 10:20:45AM +0300, vputhen at cc.hut.fi wrote:
> >
> >>Hello,
> >>
> >>I am doing some work on 2.4.18 kernel. I got bcm5700 driver for a 3com 
> >>Gigabit ethernet card which I bought 2 years ago. My problem is that when 
> >>I compile a new kernel (with the same version but with other changes), I 
> >>have to always insmod it after the new kernel has booted up. Is there 
> >>someway to load this module in the kernel after compilation and before it 
> >>is booted? I cannot find  broadcom in the list of vendors while 
> >>configuring (make xconfig or make menuconfig). 
> 
> The "tg3" driver works for Broadcom (albeit not the "best" driver).
> 
> >You should be able to make an entry in your /etc/modules.conf to the
> >effect of
> >
> >  alias eth0 bcm5700
> >
> >and it should get loaded as soon as it's needed.
> 
> Ah, only if the driver is in the appropriate "/lib/modules/`uname -r`"
> directory, Bobster.  And the "tg3" driver is the default for Broadcom.
> The bcm5700 driver is much better, but tg3 is the default.

Hey, someone had to stand in the gap and offer _something_ to the OP
until you got off your tin can and showed up here. ;-)

I'm not accustomed to the rarified air of gigabit ethernet.  Only last
week did I spring for a dual-speed (10/100Base-T) hub for my LAN.
Woo!

> >Have you considered upgrading to FC2, 3, or 4?  One of those probably
> >already has support for the bcm5700.
> 
> Again, it's the "tg3" driver.  Just why Fedora/RH continue to use this
> "pretty sad" driver is beyond me (probably some copyright BS), the "tg3"
> driver continues to be the default.
> 
> Why is tg3 sad?  It has major issues autonegotiating with some switches
> (Extreme and Cisco to name two), it's unreliable at speeds >10Mb and you
> get lots of buffer overruns.  The bcm5700 driver is much better, but
> you do have to build it yourself.

Perhaps, like Micro$oft, a triumph of marketing over technical
excellence.

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
> -                                                                    -
> -             To iterate is human, to recurse, divine.               -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure at earthlink.net  http://www.bobcatos.com
God doesn't have (or need) a Plan B.