Current version of TC does not boot (Realtek drivers?)

[tomsam]

 A few days ago, I downloaded the latest versions of TC,
and tried to boot them on my computer as usual.
However, my systems got stuck.

I already know the most likely reason for that:
The current TC has kernel 5.4.6 and I have several
computers with an onboard Realtek GBE RTL8111/8168/8411
ethernet adapter.

In the older kernels (4.*), the r8169 driver (either
compiled into the kernel or provided as a module) was
used with that card, but now a dedicated r8168 module
is needed (+blacklist r8169).
But even that new 8168 driver is not fully working, and
it needs to be fixed by the kernel module maintainer
(Arch-lts and Mint-20, both with the same kernel version
and driver, do not work either)

Meanwhile, my question for TC:

• Is the r8169 module compiled into the TC kernel or is it provided as a module?
• Is the r8168 module (version 8.048.03) provided in the iso, or is it downloadable somewhere from the TC site?
• Can you give me a hint or link to what I would have to do to have that module (and the blacklist) present at TC boot time?

    I have something in mind like

• (loop) mounting the iso
• adding the r8168.ko module or a "r8168.tgz" somewhere, and
• creating a blacklist.conf entry
• unmounting and burning the image to a new cd

The final image should be served by my already existing PXE server.

Thanks

[aus9]

Hi

I am on TC64 tower using ethernet with following details ---internet works fine for me

Code: [Select]

lspci -vvv (with SNIP)
22:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7b86
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 32
Region 0: I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
Region 2: Memory at fcd04000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Region 4: Memory at fcd00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: r8169
# plus
uname -r
5.4.3-tinycore64

There is no module called r8168.ko.gz in TC64

[Juanito]

The driver is found at /lib/modules/5.4.3-tinycore/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169.ko.gz

As far as I can see tinycore does not have an r6168 driver, so you'd have to compile it.

[tomsam]

@aus9 My cards have a rev 04, and they definitely do not work with the given r8169 driver (or let's say it that way: The system doesnt come up. I don't know, whether or not the driver problem is the reason. But for me, it's most likely). Yes, indeed, it's 5.4.3 not 5.4.6.

@Juanito Yep, that is the path in the final filesystem. But since the part of the wiki that explains how to create tcz extensions is not available right now, I don't know where to put the r8168.ko.gz file in the iso image? Most probably, a tcz must be created, added to the optional dir, and an entry has to be added to onboot.lst. Is that correct?

[tomsam]

Add on:
See the attached image. The booting of the kernel (even only for the command line stucks after "Booting the kernel")

And: The same CD is working very fine with qemu or virtualbox!

[Juanito]

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:creating_extensions

If you make an extension, you'll only get your ethernet after boot - maybe better to add the driver to modules.gz?

[Juanito]

To blacklist the module add the boot code blacklist=r8169