Hello,


I've posted something similar (a reply, actually) on the slackware forums, but i think this is the right place to discuss about this.

I am not a linux expecienced user. I used it a few times on my life, with simple issues like installing servers in already-running linux setups.

But, except for vey heavy distros like Mandrake, Suse and all those user-friendly ones, I never managed to successfully complete an installation. Something is missing, ever. One time is alsa, other time is video and so on.

But my hopes arent dead. I need to persist. So, i present you my problem:

I have an old laptop, described as follows:

Toshiba Satellite 335CDS
Processor: Intel PentiumMMX 266Mhz
Memory: Factory 32MB. Installed +32MB for a total of 64MB
HD 4GB.
One USB port.
Two PCMCIA ports.
Serial, Parallel, VGA-out, FIR, PS/2

ALL the hardware above works perfectly. sound is working. video is smooth, embeeded mouse points correctly, usb mice too.

I am using a slackware-based distro: VectorLinux.
I choosed this because of its "lightness". A good use for this old equipment.

But, here is the deal: I cannot use my PCMCIA card.

Encore Ethernet PCMCIA adapter
10/100 Base-TX Ethernet PC CARD
Model: ENP832-TX-PC

1) It doesnt turns on;
2) It doesnt gets detected by vasm auto-detect feature;

So, i searched some forums (including this very linuxquestions.org) and some said to try commands like

cardctl ident

3) I used the command, but it says "no pcmcia driver in /proc/devices".

Hmmm, no driver. or module ? (modules and drivers are the same thing in linux?)

4) Then i tryed to type other random things to see what happened.

lspcmcia

output:
So.. im stuck!
I dont know the purpose of these commands, dont know if i am doing the right thing.

I would like some help from you to fix this issue. if the information isnt sufficient, i can provide more. And, of course, i want to learn how to fix these things.

Thanks in advance!

Well,

I quit VectorLinux, it was melting my nerves. Mainly because of the total lack of support. Installed Debian.

Debian detected automatically my PCMCIA , but wont let me access the Ethernet controller inside it. I've tried seveal times to get the eth0 up but nothing.

Tried:
ifconfig eth0 up

Returns:
Resource is busy


There is a particular issue in this laptop concerning pcmcia/cardbus access mode.

BIOS default is "Automatic" or "Auto" (dont remember exactly). Change it to "16-bit mode" or "16-bit access". The "Auto" mode works differently with IRQs, producing this 90's style message ("Resource is busy"). AFAIK, setting it to 16-bit solves the problem and prevents irq conflicts on it.

Tried:
ifconfig eth0 up

Returns
A blinky pcmcia card, hungry for data. Just configured it for DHCP and it was ready for use.

I've STFWd and found that the Encore ENP832-TX-PC is a real problem in the linux environment. This card, together with the YAMAHA OPL, must suffer some kind of curse. Auto detection failures, conflicts and similar problems.

Before getting into this solution, i tried slack, rh and suse. All of them too heavy for my laptop, but i need internet on that. Slack detected, the others dont. But some other issues with slack made me switch to debian (the aptitude thing is really nice).

I think i can consider this problem SOLVED
Adding this tag in topic title.

Hope this can help.