SWLPR-5400 wireless pci card problems

[hushpuppy]

Just pruchased a safecom wireless pci card, model swlpr-5400, it shows a penguin on the box, so linux compatible, yeah, right.

Fitted card, booted puppy, new interface available, wlan0.

Wizard couldnt find an ip by dhcp, but did find "an alive network".

with iwconfig i can essid etc, but cannot get it to register the ap

The module used is the r8180. The linux driver on the shipped cd is for fedora only (lots of fedora specific stuff i suppose, and the instructuons have been poorly written).

dmesg just returns (many lies of)

IEEE802.11: Sending authentication request
IEEE802.11: Received authentication response


Anyone suggest what to try next (loads of googling doesnt help much)

Edit :- A lspci (after copying the latest pci.ids to /usr/share shows the card to be the following

Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20)

[Flash]

I'm no expert but I'd say that if Puppy can see a wireless network then the driver Puppy found for the wireless card must be the right one. Don't waste your time trying to make a driver work, Puppy has already done it.

However, just because Puppy found a driver for your wireless card doesn't mean you'll be able to connect to the network. Finding the right driver is only the first step in getting connected, but don't get discouraged. Keep plugging away and we'll help.

[tempestuous]

The Realtek wifi driver is one that Barry did not include in Puppy's "zdrv" module collection, because the Realtek source code would not compile at the time.
But since then, we have been able to compile the Realtek wifi modules; r8180 and r8187 -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 192#139192
Note the special requirement to delete any old modules in /lib/modules/2.6.21.5/kernel/net/ieee80211/

[hushpuppy]

The Realtek wifi driver is one that Barry did not include in Puppy's "zdrv" module collection, because the Realtek source code would not compile at the time.

I've been having problems compiling the driver from the manufacturere myself, compiles fine on other linux system though, maybe puppy specific ?

The .pet you mention is no good for me, I'm running 2.16 kernel is 2.6.18.1, the modules from the pet wont load , i get the following
insmod: error inserting './r8180.ko': -1 Invalid module format

[hushpuppy]

I just tried compiling the source in the post you mentioned, and got lots of errors.

/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:6: error: redefinition of 'crypto_digest_init'
include/linux/crypto.h:320: error: previous definition of 'crypto_digest_init' was here
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c: In function `crypto_digest_init':
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:7: warning: implicit declaration of function `crypto_hash_cast'
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:7: warning: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: error: variable `desc' has initializer but incomplete type
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: error: unknown field `tfm' specified in initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: warning: (near initialization for `desc')
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: error: unknown field `flags' specified in initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: warning: (near initialization for `desc')
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: error: storage size of 'desc' isn't known
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:10: warning: implicit declaration of function `crypto_hash_init'
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:8: warning: unused variable `desc'
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c: At top level:
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:15: error: redefinition of 'crypto_digest_update'
include/linux/crypto.h:328: error: previous definition of 'crypto_digest_update' was here
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c: In function `crypto_digest_update':
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:16: warning: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: error: variable `desc' has initializer but incomplete type
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: error: unknown field `tfm' specified in initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: warning: (near initialization for `desc')
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: error: unknown field `flags' specified in initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: warning: (near initialization for `desc')
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: error: storage size of 'desc' isn't known
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:24: warning: implicit declaration of function `crypto_hash_update'
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:17: warning: unused variable `desc'
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c: At top level:
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:28: error: redefinition of 'crypto_digest_final'
include/linux/crypto.h:334: error: previous definition of 'crypto_digest_final' was here
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c: In function `crypto_digest_final':
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:29: warning: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: error: variable `desc' has initializer but incomplete type
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: error: unknown field `tfm' specified in initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: warning: (near initialization for `desc')
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: error: unknown field `flags' specified in initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: warning: (near initialization for `desc')
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: error: storage size of 'desc' isn't known
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:32: warning: implicit declaration of function `crypto_hash_final'
/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.c:30: warning: unused variable `desc'
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/linux/rtl8180-0.22_pre20070726/crypto_compat.o] Error 1


Is this just a problem with the kernel for 2.16 and not 2.17 ?

[tempestuous]

There are Realtek wifi drivers for Puppy 2.16 (2.6.18.1 kernel) here -
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/Wifi/drivers- ... 2-to-2.14/

... or just upgrade to 2.17.

[hushpuppy]

here are Realtek wifi drivers for Puppy 2.16 (2.6.18.1 kernel) here -

Thanks for the link.

I had just about managed to get the source compiled by the time i was able to read your message, and shortly after got it compiled, and the nic working.

I had to make minor changes to the source code and symlink (in the r8180 directory) the Modules.symvers file to the one in ../ieee80211 directory.

The network wizard still wont configure the nic, it cant see an active network, but i can do it by hand.

Ill write a short howto if it would be beneficial to anyone.

I've reverted back to the one you pointed me to (it's an earlier version), just because it's in a .pet, and saved me time by not having to create one.

Thanks again for the link.