Need some help installing drivers

[BrickedBox]

I have a USB 2.0 to Gigabit LAN adapter I would like to add to my N4F server that is using an old laptop. The 100MB LAN of the laptop is the bottleneck in my set up and hopefully the adapter will fix that.

It comes with a set of drivers for Linux, which I assume means they are Generic. I have a question into the company, but they are quoting q 3-day response to emails. {sigh} It looks like this needs to be compiled into an executable but I know nothing of Linux, so some help is definitely needed here.

The CD that came with the adapter has this under the Linux driver section...
1. Platforms and kernel versions supported
- x86 (32 bit PC): Built & minor tested with 2.6.31 and 2.6.32
2. Device support
This release supports:
-LAN7500 (VID = 0x424, PID = 0x7500) USB to Ethernet 10/100/1000 device
3. Driver structure and file description
Driver module: smsc7500.ko: lan7500 driver.
Files:
smsc7500usbnet.h - usbnet header file
smsc7500usbnet.c - usbnet source file
smsclan7500.h - lan7500 hardware specific header file
smsclan7500.c - lan7500 hardware specific source file
ioctl_7500.h - ioctl header file definitions
smsc7500version.h - Driver version number header file.
Makefile - Makefile
readme.txt - This file

4. Building and installing the driver
The following instructions work fine for a PC build environment, embedded
platforms may need slight build modifications, consult your platform documentation.
a. Obtain the kernel source tree for the platform in use and build it.
b. run 'make' command to smsc7500.ko module
c. load the module:
insmod smsc7500.ko
d. Plug in the lan7500 device into the USB port.
e. Configure the ethernet interface eth<n> in the usual way for an ethernet device.

[b0ssman]

nas4free is using freebsd not linux.

so those drovers wont work.

[crowi]

before purchasing a device, you should check if it is supported by freeBSD, a list of supported devices on 9.2 can be found here http://www.freebsd.org/releases/9.2R/ha ... ml#support

[BrickedBox]

nas4free is using freebsd not linux.

Not necessarily so. To wit...
Compatibility modules enable FreeBSD to run binary programs built for other operating systems (e.g., Linux, SCO Unix, System V Release 4, etc.). Some run-time libraries (e.g., for Linux) might be required, but you can add them from the Ports collection. There is no noticeable difference in execution speed between a Linux application running on a Linux machine and a Linux application running on a FreeBSD machine of the same speed.

They are both very closely related to Unix, and the kernels must be, by design, compatible with Unix processing. That was the whole reason for being, a free version of Unix and both BSD and Linux have almost identical kernels. Around 99% of the differences are more philosophical than practical. In fact the thing the differentiates them the most is the licensing conditions.

[crowi]

Compatibility modules enable FreeBSD to run binary programs built for other operating systems

yes, but I am not sure if this also applies for system drivers

[apollo567]

Does you notebok have a free PC-Slot (PCMCIA) ?

[BrickedBox]

Does you notebok have a free PC-Slot (PCMCIA) ?

Yup, why do you ask?

Although, having just popped the eject button the plastic place-holder will not click back in. Not sure I have any old PCMCIA devices to try and lock it back in with either.

[apollo567]

Does you notebok have a free PC-Slot (PCMCIA) ?

Yup, why do you ask?

Although, having just popped the eject button the plastic place-holder will not click back in. Not sure I have any old PCMCIA devices to try and lock it back in with either.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to search and test such a Card as Network Card. You can't simply install drivers here, it is a monolithic system. To include drivers u need the source-code and compile it with the complete system.