Intro and please help!

[paddy84]

Having just completed the open university course 'Open University:T155 Linux, An Introduction' I am keen to get on with making real use of Linux, and gradually getting away from dependence on windows.

My first major project with this in mind, is to replace my recently bricked NAS (IcyBox NAS4220B) using an old PC, rigged up to run silently as a Linux based file-server, print-server and bit-torrent client among other things.
Contained within the old NAS, was a 750GB 3.5" SATA disk, which the NAS had formatted as ext2 (I think) and which contains a considerable volume of my data which I'd like to regain access to. I've run a Ubuntu live CD with the disk connected inside my pc and verified that the disk and it's data are all intact.
I've now brought the old box back to life and installed Ubuntu 10_04 LTS 64-bit on the 160GB PATA disk which was already in there (previously hosting a Windows XP partition - now wiped). Hardware-wise, I have 1GB RAM, an AMD athlon64-3700+ processor, an nVidia geForce MX420 GPU(in AGP slot), on-board gigabit network and a PCI wireless card listed by lspci as:

00:0b.0 Network Controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)
00:0d.0 Ethernet Controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)

These are what I need help with. The local network has DHCP over both wired and wireless LAN connections. Ubuntu seems completely unable to establish a connection to either of them. I tried several other distros, each with the same result, eventually having some success with Puppy Linux. The network set up tool in puppy linux worked perfectly. It detected each of the adapters, set them up with dhcp and got me online again in seconds. That's all great except I'm not sure how I'll be able to get puppy linux able to replicate the functionality of the old NAS box (including having different user accounts and groups with controlled access to shared directories and quotas for storage in private directories), operation as a print server, and a bit-torrent client etc. I am pretty confident I can do all these things from ubuntu. I just wish I knew how to get it to connect to my network in the first place.

If it might help, I could install an old PCI NIC (Netgear FA311, 10/100Mbps IIRC) which has the realtek RTL8139D controller onboard. Does anyone think I might have more luck using that, than the onboard adapter?
I still wonder why it all just works with Puppy Linux and not with any of the others.

I know it's a lot to ask all at once and as a first post, perhaps a bit overwhelming, but I'd appreciate any help/advice/tips you all can offer. TIA
Paddy

[Roxoff]

Hi Paddy, welcome to the forums.

I used to keep RTL8129 and RTL8139 network cards to hand to help resolve networking problems, they're just about as plain vanilla as they come - drivers were always built into the kernel of all the main distros and I've never had one not work.

As you're setting up a server, stick to the server versions of Linux - CentOS/Debian/SLED, etc. We have a thread around here somewhere where people's choice of server OS was available as a vote to show what the experts here recommended.

That's how it used to be, but time moves on - I've not used an RTL8139 network card for a couple of years, but I expect that they'll still work the same way they always did. Give it a go.

[reed9]

The broadcom card just needs firmware. Info here.

The ethernet card should work out of the box. Can you post a new thread for that problem in an appropriate section and include the output of

sudo lshw -C network
lsmod
dmesg | grep eth0

[elija]

Having just completed the open university course 'Open University:T155 Linux, An Introduction'

Welcome paddy

I'm thinking of doing that as a start towards some Linux certs. I understand it doesn't take to long so will help me get back into the studying habit. Was it worth it?

[MASONTX]

Welcome to the forum. Please keep us posted on how your server project is going.

[whych]

@Paddy
Before trying something ambitious like your custom NAS, why not try using linux for a while to get the feel of how it works.
With most distros having a live version now, you can easily copy it to a usb stick or cd and try it to get the feel of how things are done.
Since you say that you want to ultimately use linux for your nas, I would suggest, whatever distro you choose for the nas, that you set it up with a local dns server and dhcp for your network.
This simplifies everything as having one master for your network settings which is picked up by all machines that you are running. It is also mor configurable than any modem/router you may have.
I am sure if you did a search though, you will find there are distros that are specifically aimed at creating a nas server.

[paddy84]

Welcome paddy

I'm thinking of doing that as a start towards some Linux certs. I understand it doesn't take to long so will help me get back into the studying habit. Was it worth it?

As someone who had only dabbled in using Linux before I found it very worthwhile. If you're an existing user with a decent amount of experience then it may be a bit too basic. I think it leaves quite a bit of room for further study before I'll be confident to take Linux+, which is why I'm planning to use the project outlined above as a practise machine while I work through my CompTIA Linux+ complete study guide ready for my exam in September.

[paddy84]

Hi Paddy, welcome to the forums.

I used to keep RTL8129 and RTL8139 network cards to hand to help resolve networking problems, they're just about as plain vanilla as they come - drivers were always built into the kernel of all the main distros and I've never had one not work.

As you're setting up a server, stick to the server versions of Linux - CentOS/Debian/SLED, etc. We have a thread around here somewhere where people's choice of server OS was available as a vote to show what the experts here recommended.

That's how it used to be, but time moves on - I've not used an RTL8139 network card for a couple of years, but I expect that they'll still work the same way they always did. Give it a go.

It turns out I was wrong (I had to go back to my parents place to dig out the old card from my box of spares yesterday). The old card is in fact
'Ethernet controller: National Semiconductor Corporation DP83815 (MacPhyter) Ethernet Controller'
based, but it works .
I'm typing this (and the previous post) from the machine in question. Next up is to work out why the on board card isn't working, which I'll do on another thread.

[paddy84]

@Paddy
Before trying something ambitious like your custom NAS, why not try using linux for a while to get the feel of how it works.
With most distros having a live version now, you can easily copy it to a usb stick or cd and try it to get the feel of how things are done.
Since you say that you want to ultimately use linux for your nas, I would suggest, whatever distro you choose for the nas, that you set it up with a local dns server and dhcp for your network.
This simplifies everything as having one master for your network settings which is picked up by all machines that you are running. It is also mor configurable than any modem/router you may have.
I am sure if you did a search though, you will find there are distros that are specifically aimed at creating a nas server.

The prospect of having a more configurable and centralised master for network settings based in my server box certainly appeals to me. However, I am merely a guest on the network (which belongs to my landlady) and as this system is very much experimental at least while I get to grips with it, I wouldn't want to be relying on it for the operation of the network as a whole, just yet. When I get more confident with what I'm doing, and more confident in the reliability of the machine running continuously for long/indefinite periods, I'll be more prepared to take that step. In the meantime, and certainly while I'm not really the network owner, this server will remain a guest on the network, rather than the master of it.
I appreciate the suggestion though, and when I eventually get my own place, I'll almost certainly move that way.

Re: NAS specific distros, I had a look at FreeNAS, which is based on BSD, but (I might be wrong here) I don't think it could support the filesystem on my old disk, which I really would prefer to resurrect un-modified if I can. I also looked into finding a server oriented variant of Puppy Linux(in order to get around the annoying NIC problems from earlier), but came to a dead end when I eventually tried to download the ISO (would post URL here but I'm not allowed yet) so instead, Google Muppy Linux Server.

[previso]

First, look at the network card settings. Try to match your Linux box network settings to that of the network. For example: if the network router address is 192.168.2.1, set the Linux box network card to a free address within the router's range. (example: 192.168.2.100).
Setting the Linux box address to a static simplyfies reaching it from other machines, as DHCP routers often lease for a limited time before reassigning an address.