help w/ Dell PowerEdge sc420

From: Tom Lord (lord_at_emf.net)
Date: 04/29/05

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    Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 11:33:59 -0700 (PDT)
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org

    I'm trying to bring FreeBSD up on a Dell PowerEdge sc420.

    The machine has a built-in (on the motherboard) Ethernet engine
    described as "Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor". The
    BIOS screens accessible during booting don't provide much by
    way of additional useful information, afaict.

    I am bringing up a slightly old FreeBSD -- 5.2 -- with hopes of
    getting ethernet support up, plugging into a DSL line, and upgrading
    over the net.

    Alas, 5.2 does not seem to detect the Ethernet engine. There is no
    "/dev/bge", for example. Thus, I can't even get to the "upgrade"
    step short of busting out an old modem :-)

    Help? I'm unfamiliar with:

        (i) how FreeBSD autodetects this kind of hardware
        (ii) how to brute-force install a driver by hand and try to help
             it find this hardware

    I am competent to rebuild the kernel if there is some config file
    I ought to tweak although it's been a few years since I've done so --
    so hints about that process, if necessary, would be appreciated.

    Alternatively (but less desirably): if I scrape up my pennies and buy
    a more recent distro will I have better results?

    Thanks,
    -t

    p.s.: the *next* problem is about configuring X11 for:

        (a) The "Intel Copper River Graphics Controller" on this board.
            The X configurators on the 5.2 disk crash and burn here.
            I've been assuming that this *might* be easier to solve
            after successfully upgrading.

        (b) I've never had much luck getting `moused' to understand
            my Kensington ExpertMouse trackball as a four-button
            device. On this new box, the situation is at this stage
            slightly worse --- it seems not to grok this device at all.

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