From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Apr 29 18:33:59 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC82F16A4CE for ; Fri, 29 Apr 2005 18:33:59 +0000 (GMT) Received: from emf.net (emf.emf.net [205.149.0.19]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83A9143D31 for ; Fri, 29 Apr 2005 18:33:59 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from lord@emf.net) Received: (from lord@localhost) by emf.net (K/K) id LAA26255; Fri, 29 Apr 2005 11:33:59 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 11:33:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Lord Message-Id: <200504291833.LAA26255@emf.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: help w/ Dell PowerEdge sc420 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 18:33:59 -0000 I'm trying to bring FreeBSD up on a Dell PowerEdge sc420. The machine has a built-in (on the motherboard) Ethernet engine described as "Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor". The BIOS screens accessible during booting don't provide much by way of additional useful information, afaict. I am bringing up a slightly old FreeBSD -- 5.2 -- with hopes of getting ethernet support up, plugging into a DSL line, and upgrading over the net. Alas, 5.2 does not seem to detect the Ethernet engine. There is no "/dev/bge", for example. Thus, I can't even get to the "upgrade" step short of busting out an old modem :-) Help? I'm unfamiliar with: (i) how FreeBSD autodetects this kind of hardware (ii) how to brute-force install a driver by hand and try to help it find this hardware I am competent to rebuild the kernel if there is some config file I ought to tweak although it's been a few years since I've done so -- so hints about that process, if necessary, would be appreciated. Alternatively (but less desirably): if I scrape up my pennies and buy a more recent distro will I have better results? Thanks, -t p.s.: the *next* problem is about configuring X11 for: (a) The "Intel Copper River Graphics Controller" on this board. The X configurators on the 5.2 disk crash and burn here. I've been assuming that this *might* be easier to solve after successfully upgrading. (b) I've never had much luck getting `moused' to understand my Kensington ExpertMouse trackball as a four-button device. On this new box, the situation is at this stage slightly worse --- it seems not to grok this device at all.