After the module is inserted, you may want to inspect the file /proc/modules to see if the module is indeed loaded (or run lsmod as root). The module configuration file is /etc/modules.conf so if you encounter difficulties (for example, I had difficulty removing modules inserted by mistake), just edit and adjust this file manually, e.g., using pico.
Network configuration. After setting up the network cards and connecting the network cable, set up the network by running (as root):
netconf
This program has help! netconf can also be run under GUI, but I did not really try it. If you need more understanding of how networking works, you may want to read the previously mentioned nag. Also, reading this material may be of help: http://ieee.uow.edu.au/~mjp16/wylug-netlinux/notes.html.
It also contains very clear examples on how to set up a small office network that, like our home setup, has only part-time connection to the outside world.
How and what to fill up in netconf depends on your network. You surely want to fill up "Basic Host Information" (enable the first ethernet interface, eth0, fill in the name, aliases and IP number of your local computer) and the "Information About Other Hosts" (names, aliases and IPs of other computers on your home network). This information goes to the files: /etc/hosts and /etc/sysconfig/network, so you may want to inspect these files and adjust them manually.
When setting up the network, don't mess up with the "loopback driver" which has the IP 127.0.0.1. It is always there--it is the IP through which the computer talks to itself.
If you don't have an IP address (as will typically be the case for a home network with no permanent connection to the outside world), you may want to invent one. It does not matter very much what it is since when connecting to the outside world by your modem, you will be dynamically allocated an IP address (a machine can have many IP addresses at the same time). Your invented IP must be formally correct and the net mask must match the class of the network (class A, B or C). See the chapter on IP addresses in the already mentioned Network Administrator Guide (nag) (file /usr/doc/LPD/nag on your system, or if you don't have it, download it now from http://metalab.unc.edu/mdw/index.html#guide.
For a home network, you might want to invent a class C network (up to 254 machines, the smallest) IP number which has the first three digits between 192 to 223. The last three digits identify the machine on your class C network and must be between 1 and 254 (don't use 0, it means "whole network" or 255 which is the "broadcast address"). The middle two sets of digits can be anything from 0 to 255. Thus 223.223.223.1 is the first machine on the class C network 223.223.223.0 (the last zero signifies the whole network), with the broadcast address 223.223.223.255. The network mask for a class C network is always 255.255.255.0 (unless you subdivide your network into smaller "subnet", which is not discussed here).
Rather than completely inventing an IP number, it might be safer/better to use one of the numbers reserved for "private networks". For me, the IP number 192.168.1.1 works just fine. This way, your "invented" IP address is guaranteed never to interfere with any IP that may exist in the world.
Typically, the first machine on a network is the one that is expected to have the connection to the outside world (since it was connected first, but there is no standard for that). So, I filled up the GATEWAY to xxx.xxx.xxx.1 (my first machine) on all machines, except for the machine xxx.xxx.xxx.1, where I left this field blank. Actually, although I left the field blank, netconf inserted the gateway 0.0.0.0 into the /etc/sysconf file. This was a source of an annoying error message during the loading of the network card on the bootup. To get rid of the message, I edited /etc/sysconfig/network and set it to something like this:
GATEWAYDEV=
GATEWAY=
[You don't want a gateway on your ethernet interface on this machine if it does
