Connecting TinyCore to the internet

[andreami]

Hi everyone,

i'm a new TinyCore user and i'm trying to install it on an old NEC Versa Note VX.

I find problems when trying to connect to the internet because this notebook has only a RJ11 network port, so it's not the common Ethernet cable. TinyCore doesn't automatically recognize the connection so i must set it manually but i don't know how to do it... and my ISP is Fastweb.

Thanks for the help!

[gerald_clark]

You will need to check the output of 'lspci' to see if that notebook was shipped with a modem or a minici ethernet adapter.
If it is a modem you will need to use either a CardBus or a USB ethernet adapter.

[andreami]

This is my ~lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82440MX Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:00.1 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 8244oMX AC'97 Audio Controller
00:03.0 CardBus Bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)
00:03.1 CardBus Bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M (rev 64)
00:06.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82440MX ISA bridge (rev 01)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82440MX EIDE Controller
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82440MX USB Universal Host Controller
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82440MX Power Management Controller

[gerald_clark]

You have a winmodem, not an ethernet controller.
You will need a cardbus ethernet controller and will need to use the 'laptop' boot option to enable cardbus.
The USB ports appear to be USB 1, so don't count on using them for network or storage.

[tinypoodle]

You will need a cardbus ethernet controller and will need to use the 'laptop' boot option to enable cardbus.

While the 'laptop' boot option could not harm, cardbus support is builtin with 5.x.

[andreami]

Thank you for the reply.

So I need a cardbus to add the support for wifi connection.. but how to make it recognizable by TinyCore then? I'm not sure it will be automatic..

However, when I buy the cardbus i need i will tell you in this thread. Can you advise me which one i should buy?

[gerald_clark]

In the past, I have used Linksys WPC11

[tinypoodle]

Or a cardbus to USB 2.0 adapter plus a USB wireless radio.
Of course you could also use a USB wireless radio connected to your builtin USB port, just that speed would be limited to 12Mbps.
In case you don't have an internet connection faster than that, there would be no difference regarding internet speed.

[andreami]

Ok.. I'll buy one

But there's another problem: I would like to install vlc though now I do not have an internet connection.
How can I do this?

[gerald_clark]

VLC is not available for V5.
You will need to run V4.
The easiest way is to install Core on a thumb drive with a machine that has an internet connection.
Install the packages you want. Then you can copy the tce directory to your notebook.

[andreami]

Thank you!

P.S. what do you mean by V4 and V5?

[Rich]

Hi andreami
He is referring to which version of Tinycore you are running. The current version is 5.1. Older versions such as
4.7.7 can be found here:
http://tinycorelinux.net/4.x/x86/archive/

[andreami]

How can I install the driver of the cardbus?

[curaga]

It will depend on which card you got. When you have the card attached, the "lspcmcia" command will tell you the chipset.