How does Knoppix background dhcp?

When the Knoppix CD boots up and sets up networking, it starts dhcp and backgounds it; I realized this prevents the computer waiting around for a long time if there is no dhcpd available, as is true when someone is on dialup, yet makes dhcp configuration of ip possible when it's available. I'd like to be able to do the same on my RH6.1 workstation, as when dhcp is not available or not working, the system waits for an IP for a very long time before it continues bootng.

I would like to know just how this is done, i.e., what does a script to perform this function look like and where would it be placed?

Thanks in advance,
John

You can background any process by appending a & to it, e. g.

Code:

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pump -i eth0 &

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The & sends the process to the background.