Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

djp · Joined: 26 Jan 2009 Posts: 1

I've been playing with Puppy (4.1.2 official) for the first time in earnest over the last few days trying to get it going on my Samsung NC10 netbook. The first major snag has been getting the internal wifi card to work - you guessed it - Atheros AR5007EG!

The first try was using the updated madwifi driver posted by tempestuous. This worked provided I turned off encryption, but no go with my usual WPA_PSK setup or WEP. Sad

I couldn't find any other clue in the forums, so, not being faint hearted, it was time to build new drivers from source. I decided to give the compat-wireless source a go (wireless.kernel.org). Managed to set up and build okay after a few false steps, and low and behold I can now connect wireless without problem with encryption using the ath5k driver instead of ath-pci. Smile

Even better, it fixed the oddity of having both wifi0 and ath5 "blinkies" in the system area - now just a single wlan0. Very Happy

I have now also figured out how to package the new driver as a .pet which is attached in the hopes it may helps others struggling with AR5007EG problems on Samsung or similar kit.

For me it works fine with install followed by reboot.

Hope this helps David

omnidecay · Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1

I have been having problems getting puppy linux installed on my NC10 and was hoping you could give me some assistance. Right now I am just using the live cd retro 4.2.1 because the other live cd (with the new kernel) was kid of glitchy...I downloaded your ar500 wifi fix but when I clicked on it inside puppy. It still doesnt recognize ethernet or wifi. However, the same version live cd minus the retro picks up ethernet right away. Since you seem to have this nailed down. Could you maybe help a newbie out getting this to work Smile

??

gtbrusil · Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 1

As a linux newbie, I have been trying to use some linux distributions in order to get better acquainted with them. Little did I realize when I bought my Toshiba A205-S5825 (with the dreaded AR5007EG wireless card) that I would have so much trouble connecting. Finally, I saw your pet, loaded it, and now everything is working great. Many, many thanks djp.

tempestuous · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 4944 Location: Australia

jockjunior · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 143 Location: Lancashire,U.K.

HI all,
have just installed djp's dot.pet on a Fujitsu laptop using Puppy 4.2.1. This is the first time I have been able to get the wireless card to work. A big thank you. Now I can avoid using Vista on this laptop. No problems installing and after reboot connected first time to my VM connection thru our dlink router.

Fujitsu Semens Esprimo V5515

thanks again

jock

aarf · Joined: 30 Aug 2007 Posts: 3620 Location: around the bend

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Langly · Joined: 01 Sep 2009 Posts: 4

Yay.

Another satisfied customer. Great pet.

tempestuous · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 4944 Location: Australia

Some clarification about this ath5k driver is necessary.
Puppy versions with the 2.6.25.16 kernel: v4.1 / v4.2 / v4.3-retro
already contain the ath5k kernel module, but it's unreliable.

djp has provided an updated/improved version of this driver in this thread, which clearly works better.
But strictly speaking, the ath5k driver is not really necessary, because Puppy already supports Atheros G-mode wifi devices with the ath_pci driver from the MADWiFi project.
And in the cases where this standard version of the ath_pci driver fails to support Atheros variants such as the AR5007EG chipset, there's a modified ath_pci driver version here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=237740#237740
Newer kernels such as 2.6.30 in the upcoming Puppy 4.3 are a whole different story. Read about it here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=46339