How do I install Intel ethernet drivers?

Question

I just bought a Lenovo T420, I booted the live CD and couldn't connect to my wireless router so I figured I needed the drivers for it. I have the last version of Ubuntu(12.04).

It's a Intel® 82579 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

So I went on intel's website and downloaded the Drivers for Linux and compiled them with make install. Here's the tutorial I followed: Linux Driver Install

I have a few question though,

What are these doing :

modprobe e1000e
ifconfig eth0 up
dhclient eth0
ping intel.com

As far as what I've read, modprobe seems to add the driver to the list of drivers for the kernel, but is that operation only good for one session? The two other lines, I don't understand either what they are doing.

What does he mean at the end when he mentions :

Note: Whenever the kernel version is upgraded you will need rebuild this driver.

And are these steps permanent? Or do I have to add them to some boot.conf file for everytime I boot.

Anyways, the steps worked for me and I have established a connection with my router, I just need to know if I need to do additional steps to keep the driver permanently etc.

Solution

modprobe program to add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel. You can find more details using command man modprobe.

ifconfig eth0 up - It is same as enable a Ethernet device in windows.

dhclient eth0 is to get dynamic ip from your router.

ping intel.com to confirm that you can connect to intel.com i.e. Internet.

Now to do a modprobe automatically, edit rc.local file. rc.local file is special file that runs when you logon.

So run this command,

gksu gedit /etc/rc.local

at the end of this file before the line exit 0 enter a line like this

modprobe e1000e
exit 0

What the thing is kernel update and blah blah..

Kernel is the core of any operating system. So if the core changes all drivers must be compatible with it. Ubuntu provides update of kernels for stability and security. The kernel version is mentioned in grub menu like this text 3.2.0-25-generic . As you are building the driver yourself so any with any change in kernel you have to recompile the driver to make it compatible and include in this new kernel.basically you have to do the steps you did before modprobe. :)

Let me know if you need more clarification.

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Anyway, did you check Additional drivers (press Win and type it), Ubuntu community might provide the drivers. In that case you don't need to do anything. It will be updated and maintained automatically.

Comments

[Jorge Castro]

It looks like you're trying to install the ethernet drivers, not the wireless drivers, can you confirm which set you are trying to install?

[Patrick.SE]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, I've downloaded this:downloadcenter.intel.com/…

[Jorge Castro]

Right, those are for the ethernet wired adapter, not the wireless.

[Patrick.SE]

What exactly does this clarify to us in this context?

[Jorge Castro]

You say you can't connect to your wireless router, it's unclear if you're trying to connect wired or wirelessly, especially since ubuntu comes with an e1000 driver already so downloading and compiling the driver is unnecessary.

[Patrick.SE]

Well then why exactly did the compilation of the e1000e driver actually enable me to connect? Or is it one of the other commands that are called later?

[Jorge Castro]

I have no clue, I am just as confused as you are.

[Thomas Ward]

The Intel cards drivers for their gigabit ethernet are OOTB. I have a similar ethernet card in my Dell, and the drivers existed in 12.04 out of the box. As for Intel wireless, those cards (if they really are intel) also already exist OOTB.

[Patrick.SE]

I do not have access to my laptop right now, when I get it back I will look into it on a live cd.