Task 6: Configuring Driver Modules

Upon successful completion of the kernel and modules installation, the following main menu is presented:

Main Menu: Configure Device Driver Modules Configuring device drivers can be a crucial step in the installation. If the hardware includes either a modem useful for connecting to an Internet Service Provider, or a CD-ROM drive supported by the current kernel but not already installed in the kernel, here is where those drivers are installed. If the connection is through an Ethernet card, drivers for that card are installed during this phase as well. Many other specialty devices have their drivers provided here, so look over the list carefully to find your particular needs. Serial and parallel drivers are found in the mis section. Even if you do configure all of the necessary modules at this time, it may be desirable to edit /etc/modules and activate the ``auto'' line by removing the leading '#' character. This will allow modules to be loaded as needed and earlier in the boot up process than when kerneld is normally running. Modules explicitly declared after the auto will be loaded at boot-up and never unloaded by kerneld until shutdown. This is useful in maintaining start-up configuration on some drivers, most notably a serial driver with nonstandard interrupts.

In addition to the option to configure device drivers, there is an alternate selection that allows the PCMCIA support to be configured as well. This is of primary interest to laptop machines with removable devices like modems, Ethernet cards, and even CD-ROM drives and other SCSI devices.

Choosing the PCMCIA configuration option will present the options to configure: a PCMCIA controller, Serial, and CD-ROM devices. Configuration now will make the rest of the installation possible via these devices. When the modules configuration option is chosen, the following screen will be presented.

Additional Modules If you have any modules not provided by the distribution, this is your chance add them to the modules directory on your new system. These modules must be provided on a floppy disk. Normally you will wish to choose No on this screen. After this screen has been exited, the program modconf will display the following screen:

modconf Main Menu Work through the menu selecting and installing those modules that will be useful to the new system, as well as those that may aid in the installation process. Once all necessary modules have been added to the system, choose Exit and return to the main menu. If you have had no trouble getting to the CD, i.e. you don't need a driver for your CD-ROM drive, you can postpone the rest of your module configuration until after the installation process.