I have just succeeded in connecting to the internet via an ethernet port
and router. I hope my experience will help others who, like me, have no
experience of Linux command line.
I have a Gigabyte motherboard with a built in Marvell 8001 Ethernet Port.
The problem was that the Ethernet Port driver for Linux required entering a
lot of commands via Linux Terminal, which I do not yet have the skills to do.
I have found out, by trail and error, how to get the Marvell 8001 ethernet
port, on the Gigabyte motherboard, working on Novell SuSE Linux 10.1
without installing a driver. In fact I am using it to send this post.

In Suse Linux 10.1, on the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen click on
Desktop, then Control Center, then Network Card.
Enter the Administrator password and Continue.
At the next window, select 'User Controlled with NetworkManager' and hit Next.
A list is displayed. 'Gigabyte Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet
Controller', or whatever your port is called, should be listed.
Select this entry and hit Next.
The connection symbol should appear at the right hand end of the taskbar.
Right click on this symbol. On the context menu that appears, if Enable
Networking is not ticked then click on it.
If the Ethernet is plugged in to the Gigabyte port and is connected to a
working line, then after a few seconds the connection should be established
and a Connection Established message should appear above the Taskbar.
Can't guarantee it will work on any other Linux distribution.
Regards,
Mike