Linux PCMCIA Support

[TECsBrain]

I just bought a Sandisk PCMCIA CompactFlash adapter, y'all know what those are I guess...well I figured that buying that would make things easier in Linux since my camera isn't supported natively, but now I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I gotta do to get PCMCIA stuff going.

Redhat 8.0 installed WITHOUT DEVELOPMENT TOOLS (boy that's biting me in the arse now...any suggestions on how to install that, RPM keeps fussing about dependencies on packages that don't exist because they've been upgraded), dual-boot with Windows (ugh), desktop computer with Texas Instruments PCI-4410 Cardbus Controller

[l_Kriss]

Ok.. long time since i have used redhat, so dont shoot me if this is wrong.

cant you just simply mount the cdrom and do a rpm -Uvh gcc* --nodeps --force?

and for the pcmcia stuff, just enable hotplug and pcmcia support in your kernel and you should be fine.

good luck

[TECsBrain]

Should've added that I am a beginner, a little guidance on how to do that?

I have seen things in the OS itself about PCMCIA...like there's this /usr/$something/pcmcia folder on the system, and I think the system is detecting the card to an extent, it just doesn't know what to do with it I'm assuming.

[frieza]

well, first you need the development tools as this will require a recompile of the kernel, which is easier than it sounds if you know what you are doing, and of course the kernel souce which can be obained from http://www.kernel.org, unbzip it (tar -xjf file.tar.bz2) then cd into that directory, enter 'make menuconfig (for console) or make xconfig (for X), you will have to enable the following
descend into 'general setup'
from there descend into 'PCMCIA/CardBus support'
enable the option either as part of the kernel or as a modual
enable 'cardbus support'
enable any other options as necessary
return to the main menu
<exit> <exit>
descend into "ATA/IDE/MFM/RLL support'
make sure the option is enabled, it should per default
from there, descend into 'ATA/IDE/MFM/RLL support'
find the option 'PCMCIA IDE support'
make sure it is enabled as either a module or as a built in option
<exit> <exit>
take the time now to make sure any other options within the kernel configuration are what you want (if unsure, leave it alone), return to main menu
<exit>
<yes>
follwed by prompt# make dep clean bzImage modules
follwoed by prompt# make install modules_install
then edit your /etc/lilo.conf (or /etc/grub.conf) to include the newly compiled kernel as a separate option (so if it didn't work you can revert to your old kernel)
reboot with your new kernel
if it works run 'dmesg | less' to find the ide device assignment the card is given and fdisk it if necesary, if not you should be able to create a mount point for it and then mount it