Before my blog gets added to the long list of dead blogs, here is a long overdue entry and guess what, Silan drivers *are* somewhere in this worldwide hyperspace. They are here! I have not tested them and all the standard disclaimers apply :) Happy compiling!

"Linux Kernel in a Nutshell" by Greg Kroah-Hartman is now available for free downoad. Check it out here.
Happy hacking!

Intex's NIC cards are not RealTek 8139 but rather Silan sc92031. See this and this. Also, Check out geektalkin and lspci listing after inserting the card.
Need some data on this chip set (and device driver knowledge too :) ) to write the driver.
Shree Ganesha with Rubini's book now...

OK, so now I am on to the net using Intex's NIC card. Installed Debian 3.1 R3 which had kernel 2.4.  The Intex NIC has drivers for 2.4/2.5 but not 2.6.

Steps followed -
1> Needed the headers of the running kernel (uname -r) to compile the driver. Best way was -
           apt-get install kernel-headers-2.4.27-2-386

2> Copied the unzipped folder containing the driver source code to a local directory.
Note that I took the 8139D RTC (not RTD) from Intex

3> Compiled the driver source using the Makefile provided. Compilation gave a warning and compiled without any error.

*****************************
 sc92031.o built for 2.4.27-2-386
   SMP Disabled
*****************************

In file included from /lib/modules/2.4.27-2-386/build/include/linux/spinlock.h:6,
                 from /lib/modules/2.4.27-2-386/build/include/linux/module.h:12,
                 from sc92031.c:15:
/lib/modules/2.4.27-2-386/build/include/asm/system.h: In function `__set_64bit_var':
/lib/modules/2.4.27-2-386/build/include/asm/system.h:190: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules
/lib/modules/2.4.27-2-386/build/include/asm/system.h:190: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules

4> Inserted the module created "sc92031.o" using
           insmod ./sc92031.o

5> Setup NIC interface
           ifconfig eth0 inet up 192.168.1.100
Local network was setup after this step. Checked by pinging the ADSL router/modem.

6> Added gateway
           route add default gw 192.168.1.1
ping to system outside the local network successful.

So, here I am, on the net, using the NIC card and posting to lj!

Unfortunately, this card may not work on 2.6 going by the discussions here, here and so many other google search tails.
Ndiswrapper can be the solution - http://www.geocities.com/rohitksethi/

BTW this not RealTek chipset but rather Silan SC92031 chipset, see it if you understand chinese :) (One task added for me - search a online translation site :))

So till I understand how to write a device driver and specifically for 2.6, its a dead end for making this NIC work. Otherwise, I will have to wait for somebody/Silan to write the driver.

Successfully installed Debian 3.1 R3 on MB4. I had never installed Debian before and most of my experience in installing Linux was in Red Hat. Recently, I did try Damn Small LInux, Knoppix 5.0.1 and SLES10, but none of these prepared me for the moment of truth that Debian presented.
Take this -
If you are installing from CD-ROM in any of the other distros, you select all the package needed and go on popping the CDs, 1 to n. If everything goes fine, you have a brand new black screen staring at you (don't tell me X configuration went fine, it can't be :) ). So simple. Now, what if one of the CD is gone bad or downloaded incorrectly or if you don't need the 99% of a CD content (most likely scenario, in which case why waste precious bandwidth on the 99%, the last 1% can be later downloaded if need be)?
Debian solves this in a true Linux way. The installer asks for the CDs that you have and prepares a database of what *you* have. In this way it knows the dependency of selection made by user (which other distros also know) as well as whether the dependency is satisfied by the CD set you are holding! This is profound power!! This way if you have just the first CD, Debian can be up and running in no time with just that. You can later download (or beg, buy, borrow, steal!) the remaining CDs. Or if you can do oodles of downloads, do a network install. Exhilarating! Now I know why Debian has such a staunch following and what was missing from my Linux life!
Cool, so now I have a SLES10 on MB0 and Debian 3.1 R3 on MB4.
Now back to making Intex NIC card work.

Tried compiling the drivers (downloaded from Intex site as well as sent by the Intex support person) using procedure posted by posmanet in Knoppix forum. No success. The procedure is for different problem -  I used a part of it, for getting the kernel headers and sources. I am doing all the procedures blindly without giving much thought to it. Looks like I will have to do a full fledged Debian install, understand the sources (maybe) and give it a try again.
The first step is a mile long :)

Got a new source code base for Intex's NIC drivers from them. I will resume my attempt to use Intex's NIC in Linux kernel 2.6.17 again.

4 gruelling hours and SLES10 is installed on my Dell Optiplex GX1! Needed a rock solid system to concurrently work on Linux as I set up NIC on MB4 (http://kernelyogi.livejournal.com/2006/09/05/). Greedly, I have installed everything that was in the CD set (web server, mail server, file server, AppArmour and what not!), so the system is crawling initially (RAM is peanuts - just 128 MB :( ). Anyway, I am up, running and enjoying the whiff of freedom!

Intex's NIC (RTL 8139D) driver source code is available here. Tried to compile them but no luck. Both of the code bases are giving compile errors. My journey of Linux Kernel learning is started :)

I am not able to configure the Intex RTL8139D card yet. The card doesn't get detected in "netcardconfig" and "modprobe 8139too" inserts the driver but 'ifup'ping throws out errors saying "No such device". I am now thinking that, I should have thoroughly checked the compatibility before buying...But it was just a impulse buy you see! :)
This is what I tried -
1> dmesg | grep -i eth
Nothing seen
2> lspci
Ethernet Controller: Unknown device 1904:2031 (rev 01)
3> modprobe 8139too
No errors
(8139too is supposed to be the driver for RTL8139 family)
4> dmesg | grep -i eth
8139too: Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.27
So the driver is installed.
Next if I try "ifconfig eth0 up 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0", error is shown -
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags : No such device
SIOCSIFADDR : No such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags : No such device

Checked this out on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, Knoppix v5.0.1, DSL and Gentoo (all as LiveCDs). No luck.

Now I have following options -
1> Try on another distro (SLES10?), if it works - get the drivers from that.
2> Try NDISwrapper
3> Compile driver on my own (provided I get source somewhere)
4> Change the card.

Hooking up to internet till then is far away :(