Backgrounding Network Detection at Boot solved

**bryansmith** · 11-06-2005

Hey everyone,

Well, I have Debian on my laptop and it works great. The one thing that is bothering me is the fact that I have no idea how to background the network detection during boot. I use my laptop frequently away from a network connection and the detection greatly slows down startup time. The laptop will sit there trying to configure my connection with dhcp until I press ctrl-c (it might eventually end like in other distros but I don't have the patience). Does anyone have any idea how I can background detection during boot?

Thanks in advance,
Bryan

**alain_** · 11-06-2005

It's very easy

Open /etc/network/interfaces and comment the last 2 lines.

Code:

# The primary network interface
#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp

**alain_** · 11-06-2005

I wrote a script to select a network connection,
so i can choose between a static line (cabled), wireless or no connection.

Code:

#!/bin/sh

# global var to hold menu selection
MENU_CHOISE=""

function get_choise &#123;
##################################
# set the tty driver to raw mode #
# read a char #
# restore settings #
##################################
stty raw
MENU_CHOISE=`dd if=/dev/tty bs=1 count=1 2>/dev/null`
stty sane
echo $MENU_CHOISE
&#125;

# print the menu
echo "Menu&#58;"
echo " a&#41; Static network connection"
echo " b&#41; Wireless network connection"
echo " c&#41; No network connection"
printf " please enter your choise&#58; "

# read the menu selection
get_choise

# print the results.
case $MENU_CHOISE in

"a"&#41;
	ifconfig vr0 up
	dhclient vr0
	;;

"b"&#41;
	ifconfig wi0 up
	dhclient wi0
	;;

"c"&#41;
	echo ""
	echo "No network required, exiting..."
	;;
	
*&#41;
	echo ""
	echo "Enter a, b or c"
	/etc/init.d/netstart
	;;	
esac

Edit this script to your needs and put it in /etc/init.d/ and make a symlink to runlevel 2,

Code:

ln -s /etc/init.d/netstart /etc/rc2.d/S99netstart

Now you just enter a, b or c at boot.

**bryansmith** · 11-06-2005

Originally Posted by alain_

It's very easy

Open /etc/network/interfaces and comment the last 2 lines.

Code:

# The primary network interface
#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp

Unfourtunately, this disables it completely; if I want to plug in the cord later, I have no luck. Even if the cord is plugged in at boot, it still doesn't work. Any other ideas?

Bryan

**bryansmith** · 11-06-2005

I figured out what I need to do. Thanks for the suggestions.

For those who are wondering, follow the advice by GilGalad here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...=backgrounding. I am not sure about KDE advice though. I believe you can use knetworkconf (seperate download) to deactivate it when the computer starts.

Bryan

**borromini** · 11-06-2005

If your startup is BSD-style, you could add an & after the dhcpcd line in the rc.X script... Does Debian use sysvinit?

**alain_** · 11-06-2005

Originally Posted by bryansmith

Any other ideas?

yep, you can change the time it takes to look for a connection,
but i can't find a link atm.

**alain_** · 11-06-2005

check /etc/dhclient.conf and man dhclient.conf,
there is an option to increase/decrease the timeout.
from the manpage:

The timeout statement determines the amount of time that must pass between the time that the client begins to try to determine its address and the time that it decides that it's not going to be able to contact a server. By default, this timeout is sixty seconds.

good luck

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