Network help Linux Slackware 9.0

I am new with linux, just installed it today, and when I went to setup my network, my internet still dosen't work.. now when I go into netconfig to set up my network i enter my ip address, my netmask, my gateway and then when if asks if I will be using a nameserver, well my dsl uses 2 so I click yes, then I enter then one.. So now I need to enter the second one for it to work.. So I did some research on the net, and I found if you type /ect/resolv.conf that you can enter more nameservers. The thing is that I get an error saying that there is no such file or directory.. This same error comes up for everything I found to try about network.. So as of now I am stuck, I know I am new, and I also know that this is probably an easy question, but I would appreciate any help that I can get.. I don't know if the net card isn't installed or what is going on.. I know that if I try to set the network up in a DHCP it finds the Net card.. But it dosen't ask me anything about it when I set up the static IP.. I guess what I am getting at is someone please help me..

Actually, you only need one DNS (nameserver) server specified for your internet connection to function properly. You need to login as root and open up the /etc/resolv.conf file. Then be sure there are entries in there that look like this....


That should be all. Then restart the networking services and you'll be on your way.

I have already tried this and when I do it I receive and error saying that there is no such file or directory/ect/resolv.conf. I am not sure what it is that I am doing wrong, because like I said I am new with linux. maybe I am just typing something wrong.. Or typing it in the wrong place.. Again I appreciate all your help

Assuming you're in a GUI environment like KDE or GNOME, open up a command line terminal and switch to the root user using su. Then type vi /etc/resolv.conf at the prompt to open up resolv.conf for editing. If you want to edit it then press i to go into insert mode. Make your changes. Then press the escape (ESC) key to exit insert mode. Type :wq (colon then w and q) to save the file and quit.

I believe that should be all you need to do.

Alright forgive me for not being more specific before I am using a GUI environment, KDE. Here is my exact problem, I am going to try and explain it the best that I can.. I do understand what you are saying, but it seems like my bash commands are not working.. I am positive that it is installed proper, so I don't know what the problem is.. Maybe I was just not ment to have this os on my machine.. Well thanks for all your help..

Are you logged in as root?

What are the exact steps you are taking?

Alright here is what I am doing from the beginning to the end. When I power on my PC , I am running a dual boot system with Windows XP Pro, and Linux Slackware 9.0.0. I then come to the LILO Boot Menu and select the option to boot up Linux. When Linux loads, it then comes to a prompt that says: Welcome to Linux 2.4.20, and then it says joe login:. I then enter the name root, and then enter my password, which then lets me into Linux. I then come to the prompt that says root@joe:`#, so here I type in startx, which starts my KDE desktop. While in the KDE desktop, I click on the Konsole, try to enter, all the scripts that people have been telling me to use, and I get the error which states. well as I just did it I am getting a different message.. It tells me that permission is denied. The thing is that I am logged in as the root user, so well now I can acess it but now I do not have the permission to do it.. It still lets me get into netconfig, but my netconfig never stays the way that I type it in. But my usual error is that there is no such file or directory. I know for a fact that the install was right, I even went back reinstalled with all the components, because I thought that I might have left something important out.. I just find it funny that I can install it without a problem, set everything up under the expert user tab like LILO for ex. And I can not get this to work.. So basically I have an OS that I can do nothing with at this point.. I have been reading alot about Linux lately cause I am very interested in learning about it.. I am basically all windows out for the time being. I was hoping to enjoy a new OS (well to me anyhow). Is there something at login that I am doing wrong?? Because before I enterned my netconfig, that prompt for login was different. I assume that it is says joelogin, because the network named the computer.. I am just stuck here. Again thanks for any help.

Don't start the X server by running startx and type vi /etc/resolv.conf to edit the nameservers file like I stated earlier. It is not very safe to run X using root. You need to create a regular user account and use it as your regular user and only use root when doing administration things. Also, I probably wouldn't suggest using Slack as your beginning Linux distro. I suggest something like Mandrake or Red Hat.

Still it come up that permission is denied. Like I said before I wonder if it has something to do with the way that I am logged on.. Like I stated earlier when I first installed it said slackware login and now it states joe login.. I am not sure I understand but I will see about installing red hat. thanks again for all of your help

Alright, well I finally figured out how to change the DNS.. But still I have no net.. Now with windows here is what I do.. I enter a gateway and just the 2 DNS numbers. The Ip and submask obtain auto.. Now when I go into netconfig I have to enter an IP and submask. I tried even just making them 0.0.0.0 knowing that it wasnt going to work, so my question I guess is. Is there a way to make the obtain auto, or somewhere where I can go in and edit or delete them thus just leaving the gateway? If you could help I would appreciate

Does Slack's netconfig utility give you the option to use DHCP? Most distros have different utils and I'm not familiar with Slack's. Normally you just tell it to use DHCP and it obtains the IP address, net mask, gateway, and DNS settings.

Yes id does use DHCP, but like I was saying I need to use DNS and gateway.. I know that I can later change the DNS like you have showed me how to do earlier, but how can I change the gateway??

If you're using DHCP then why do you want to manually change the gateway? It should be auto assigned via DHCP.

On my Red Hat machine there's a file called network in the /etc/sysconfig directory and there's a line GATEWAY=192.168.123.254 on mine. Not sure if Slack is the same though.

Well I got everything taken care of, thanks again for all your help..

Message to Bottle. what was the resolution to your problem? I'm experiencing the same issues.