Changes

==Introduction==

==Introduction==

This HowTo describes how to get SME 7.x working properly on a [http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=34#j7f4 Jetway J7F4 Mini-ITX motherboard]. These motherboards are an extremely attractive option for builing a small, energy-efficient yet relatively fast server. The J7F4 series have two Realtek RTL8110SC Gigabit LAN adapters on board, and are powered by a VIA C7 (Ester) processor at 1.2 Ghz (with passive cooling), or at 1.5 or 2.0 Ghz with active cooling. In addition, it includes hardware AES and SHA encryption/decryption, hardware MPEG2/4 decoding and a number of other potentially useful features. Unfortunately however, most of its hardware is not very well supported by the 2.6.9 kernel that is supplied with SME and CentOS 4. This document describes the compilation and installation of a custom kernel. It can also be used as an example of how to get SME running on or with any hardware that requires a modified or newer linux kernel.

This HowTo describes how to get SME 7.x working properly on a [http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=34#j7f4 Jetway J7F4 Mini-ITX motherboard] (or other Mini-ITX boards based on the VIA CN700 chipset). These motherboards are an extremely attractive option for builing a small, energy-efficient yet relatively fast server. The J7F4 series have two Realtek RTL8110SC Gigabit LAN adapters on board, and are powered by a VIA C7 (Ester) processor at 1.2 Ghz (with passive cooling), or at 1.5 or 2.0 Ghz with active cooling. In addition, the chipset includes hardware AES and SHA encryption/decryption, hardware MPEG2/4 decoding and a number of other potentially useful features. Unfortunately however, this hardware is not very well supported by the 2.6.9 kernel that is supplied with SME and CentOS 4. This document describes the compilation and installation of a custom kernel. It can also be used as an example of how to get SME running on or with any hardware that requires a modified or newer linux kernel.

===Before you start===

===Before you start===

It is always a good idea to make a backup, in case things get messed up. Furthermore, as the standard SME 7.x kernel doesn't support the on-board RTL8110SC network controllers, you might want to perform at least steps 1 through 4 on a different machine, and switch the harddisk to the Jetway machine after the new kernel is installed. If you follow the instructions below, the new kernel should run on most machines with a 686-compatible CPU (i.e. a Pentium II or higher).  

It is always a good idea to make a backup, in case things get messed up. Furthermore, as the standard SME 7.x kernel doesn't support the RTL8110SC network controllers on board the J7F4, you might want to perform at least steps 1 through 4 on a different machine, and switch the harddisk to the Jetway machine after the new kernel is installed. If you follow the instructions below, the new kernel should run on most machines with a 686-compatible CPU (i.e. a Pentium II or higher).  

Alternatively you could install a temporary network-card in the PCI slot on the Jetway-board, or [http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=35435.0 temporarily install the r1000 kernel module from Realtek]. The r1000 driver works with all RTL8169 and RTL8110 gigabit ethernet controllers. However, many people have found it to be buggy and unstable, so as soon as you have installed the new kernel you should switch to the r8169 kernel module. Recent versions of this driver have support for the RTL8110.

Alternatively you could install a temporary network-card in the PCI slot on the Jetway-board, or [http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=35435.0 temporarily install the r1000 kernel module from Realtek]. The r1000 driver works with all RTL8169 and RTL8110 gigabit ethernet controllers. However, many people have found it to be buggy and unstable, so as soon as you have installed the new kernel you should switch to the r8169 kernel module. Recent versions of this driver have support for the RTL8110.

Finally you should make sure that all necessary modules are built for

Finally you should make sure that all necessary modules are built for

the hardware that you have. The default settings are quite reasonable,

the hardware that you have. The default settings are quite reasonable,

but for the Jetway board, I would select at least the following additional options (when available):

but for Jetway or VIA Epia boards, I would select at least the following additional options (when available):

  Processor type and features  --->

  Processor type and features  --->

                 <*>        VIA82CXXX chipset support

                 <*>        VIA82CXXX chipset support

         Network device support  --->

         Network device support  --->

                 Ethernet (1000 Mbit)  --->

                 Ethernet (1000 Mbit)  --->

                         <M> Realtek 8169 gigabit ethernet support

                         <M> Realtek 8169 gigabit ethernet support

         Character devices  --->

         Character devices  --->

                 <M> Hardware Random Number Generator Core support

                 <M> Hardware Random Number Generator Core support

         initrd /initrd-2.6.21-rc5-git1-custom-via.img

         initrd /initrd-2.6.21-rc5-git1-custom-via.img

Before rebooting, you should tell SME that wou want to use the r8169 driver for the on-board ethernet controllers:

Before rebooting, you should tell SME what driver you want to use for the on-board ethernet controllers.

 

If your board has RealTek RTL8169 or RTL8110 gigabit ethernet controllers (e.g. the Jetway J7F4 or the [http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=34#modules 3x Gigabit LAN extension module] for the [http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=34#j7f2 Jetway J7F2]), you'll want to use the r8169 driver:

  /sbin/e-smith/config set EthernetDriver1 r8169

  /sbin/e-smith/config set EthernetDriver1 r8169

  /sbin/e-smith/config set EthernetDriver2 r8169

  /sbin/e-smith/config set EthernetDriver2 r8169