ASUS Eee 1000HE & 1002H/HA wifi HowTo

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tempestuous
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ASUS Eee 1000HE & 1002H/HA wifi HowTo

#1 Post by tempestuous »

Eee owners will be aware of the confusion surrounding ASUS's varying choice of wifi device in the different Eee models, and the specialised nature of the necessary wifi drivers.

Now adding to that confusion, ASUS's recent models 1000HE, 1002H, and 1002HA have a very new Atheros N-mode wifi chipset. This chipset is supported in recent Linux kernels by the ath9k driver, but it's very difficult to compile this driver for older kernels such as we have in the current Puppy 4.1/4.2.

So to get this wifi device working I suggest owners use one of the Puppy variants with a recent kernel such as:

uPup (Puppy5) alpha -
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... -417alpha/

or Puppy 4.3 beta with 2.6.29.6 kernel
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... inux/test/

or wow's "Unnamed pupplet (puppy411 kernel-2.6.27.5 Xorg-7.4 LXDE)"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=36592

or MU's Newyearspup 02
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=37960

or kirk's "Fatdog 112"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=41102

These should all have the new ath9k driver.
Last edited by tempestuous on Sat 01 Aug 2009, 09:09, edited 3 times in total.

tempestuous
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#2 Post by tempestuous »

I just discovered that these two Puppy derivatives don't have the latest Network Wizard, so I now attach it as a dotpet.
This will enable the ath9k driver to be recognised as compatible with WPA encryption.

This package was originally available in Dougal's "Improved Network Wizard" forum thread.
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network-wizard-apr-1st.pet
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Dpup
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Joined: Tue 05 Aug 2008, 23:26

ASUS Eee PC 1000HE USB flash boot on Puppy 4.2.1rc3

#3 Post by Dpup »

Being curious, I set up Puppy 4.2.1rc3 on USB boot on a new ASUS 1000HE with the new B/G/N,BT wifi expecting it to not work but out of the box, with no changes or additions, it detected the internal wifi as ra0, a rt2860 which I have not seen in any other ASUS Netbook... thinking it was a false detect, I proceeded to connect to a Airlink secure WPA2 AES router. To my surprise it works, so did the video and audio... Also surprising, it auto reconnect on boot.

The 1000HE was new, in a sealed box.marked as AS 1000HE N280/160D/1G/US. and the XP on the hard drive has never been booted or set up.

So I think something strange is going on about the 1000HE internal wifi, or is has ASUS put in yet another internal wifi ?

Curious if anyone has comments on what is happening here.

Another interesting thing about the new 1000HE wifi is that it is far more sensitive than any of the half dozen netbooks I have tested. It is showing a pwidget relative 100% signal three floors and 100 feet away from the wireless router when I expect to see a weak signal of around 20%. !!!

Dpup

tempestuous
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#4 Post by tempestuous »

Dpup wrote:I set up Puppy 4.2.1rc3 on USB boot on a new ASUS 1000HE with the new B/G/N,BT wifi ...
... it detected the internal wifi as ra0, a rt2860 which I have not seen in any other ASUS Netbook
Well there's nothing new about the Ralink RT2860 miniPCI device. It can be also be found in the Eee 901, 1000, and 1000H models.
There are quite a few forum members who have successfully used it.

But it's news that the RT2860 is found in the 1000HE model. This bears investigation.

tempestuous
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#5 Post by tempestuous »

Well there are some models of 1000HE which definitely have the Atheros AR928X (N-mode) wifi device. See the lspci results here -
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Asus_Eee_PC_1000HE

Maybe it's just the 1000HE models with WindowsXP that have the Ralink wifi device?

Dpup
Posts: 83
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ASUS Eee 1000HE

#6 Post by Dpup »

Thanks T. for the info. and reference.

I was concerned that the popular and highly rated ASUS 1000HE would not be able to use official releases of Puppy with its internal wifi because of the older kernel and was aware of some retailers advertising ASUS 1000HE netbooks that were "stripped down" missing or had reduced capability, such as no bluetooth, no wifi N capability, older and slower CPU, smaller battery etc... but was not aware of the "real" ASUS 1000HE having a different wifi, which in this case actually works better for Puppy.

Did try to connect using Fat112 Pup which works well on 1000HA, but have not been able to get the new 1000HE to detect any wireless with Fat112... just another twist.... So will just use Puppy 4.2.1rc3 for now which continues to work well with secure WPA2 AES wireless.

tempestuous
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#7 Post by tempestuous »

Dpup wrote:Did try to connect using Fat112 Pup which works well on 1000HA
Yes, the 1000HA's Atheros AR5007EG chipset is supported by the new ath5k driver, which comes standard in the 2.6.28 kernel as found in Fatdog 112.
Dpup wrote:I have not been able to get the new 1000HE to detect any wireless with Fat112
That's because the Ralink RT2860 requires a third-party driver from here
http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/S ... Linux.html
We lobbied Barry to include this driver (rt2860sta) in the official release of Puppy 4.1, but obvioulsy the developer of Fatdog, kirk, did not include it with his customised kernel.

You could ask kirk to compile the rt2860sta driver for his 2.6.28.6 kernel, and provide it as a dotpet. Since he already has a development environment set up for this kernel it shouldn't take much effort.

Dpup
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ASUS 1000HE WPA2 TKIP

#8 Post by Dpup »

Thanks T. have FatDog112 running with new rt2860 driver using ndiswrapper and most recent XP driver

Also doing more tests using ASUS 1000HE on Puppy 4.2.1rc3 and notice that the current rt2860sta does not work with WPA2 TKIP. However, if I unload and blacklist it, then use ndiswrapper to install the newest XP version of the rt2860 for XP, then the WPA2 TKIP works fine.

Something changed in the 1000HE rt2860?

Notice that the drivers for Linux and Windows have very recent updates on the support site you referenced.

Thanks again for the help.

Dpup

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timcriger
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can't connect 1000he to secure wireless connection

#9 Post by timcriger »

Hey guys,

Despite not posting in a long time, I've been consistently using puppy for the past four years... well, that was until I got my cool little 1000he. Unfortunately, despite tempestuous's terrific efforts, I've not been able to get my machine connected wirelessly in puppy.

In Puppy 4.2, 4.2.1, and Pupeee 4.2, my 1000he's ralink card is identified and the rt2860sta driver is correctly loaded. I get great connection
!!... as long as it is an open, un-secured access point. I can scan available networks great, but when I try to connect to my WEP secured access point... no dice.

Tempestuous, I've tried running the modprobe's you recommend in another thread regarding secured connections with the rt2860, with no luck.

So, here's my plea.... Please help me get my 1000he's ralink card working in puppy... i really miss using puppy.

Thanks,
Tim

tempestuous
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#10 Post by tempestuous »

WEP encryption with the Puppy 4-series generally works fine. And I don't think your problem will be due to a problem with the rt2860 driver.

- Determine the hex value of your WEP password, and enter this instead of an ASCII password.
Newbies are constantly moaning about how confusing the password/hex key situation is, but the fact remains that WEP connection is ALWAYS more reliable when you use the true hex key.

- Load all encryption-related kernel modules prior to attempting a connection.
See "PART 4: Troubleshooting, encryption problems"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 339#159339
Not all of these modules are related to WEP encryption, but they won't hurt.

- Try setting your wifi router for both 64bit and 128bit WEP encryption.
Sometimes one works, and the other doesn't.

- Don't cross-post your query in unrelated forum threads. The forum contains too much informational litter already.

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timcriger
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#11 Post by timcriger »

Tempestuous,

Thanks for your response.
To your four pieces of advice.

-I've been using the hex key, not a passphrase.

-As I mentioned in my post here, I've already tried loading encryption related modules as in your linked post... but I'll see if anything new has been added since I tried it last time.

-I haven NOT tried switching between 64 and 128 encryption; my hex key is 128; i'll try a different one to see if it makes a difference.

-Sorry my cross-post seemed unrelated to you, but your first four posts in that thread specifically deal with both eeepc models and rt2860 drivers. Anyone following that thread will likely have experience that could help in the situation.

Thanks. I'll let you know what I find out.

mawebb88
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Location: France nr Lyon

WiFi

#12 Post by mawebb88 »

I use Puppy 4.1.2 (mostly) with WPA on a EeePC901 which I think has the same wifi adapter. So see my posts:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewt ... p?p=249390

and for WEP
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewt ... p?p=242532

Rgds Mike

tempestuous
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#13 Post by tempestuous »

mawebb88
Your configuration scripts are significant in that you run this command right at the end of the sequence -

Code: Select all

iwconfig ra0 key open
which is quite different to the "conventional" approach of setting open authentication by including this as part of the same command as contains the WEP password, like this -

Code: Select all

iwconfig ra0 key open MY_PASSWORD
It would be interesting to know if your script still works by removing the last command, and using the "conventional" approach.
... or if this fails it would also be interesting to know if you could successfully remove the last command, and replace it immediately before

Code: Select all

iwconfig ra0 key MY_PASSWORD

tempestuous
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#14 Post by tempestuous »

Ah, and I see that you use the same final command even with WPA configuration!
This is definitely unconventional, because the wpa_supplicant utility should (in theory) deal with all necessary wifi configuration parameters, and it's very strange that an iwconfig command should be necessary in addition.

It makes me realise that we have a missing configuration line in the wpa_supplicant configuration file;
auth_alg=OPEN/SHARED/LEAP
apparently the default mode is OPEN, but maybe we should be explicitly adding this line

Code: Select all

auth_alg=OPEN
to Puppy's wpa_supplicant configuration file?
Maybe you could test this?

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edoc
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#15 Post by edoc »

tempestuous wrote:I just discovered that these two Puppy derivatives don't have the latest Network Wizard, so I now attach it as a dotpet.
This will enable the ath9k driver to be recognised as compatible with WPA encryption.

This package was originally available in Dougal's "Improved Network Wizard" forum thread.
Is this the one in 4.2.1?

The newer Wizard seems to have disappeared when I went from 4.2 to 4.2.1
[b]Thanks! David[/b]
[i]Home page: [/i][url]http://nevils-station.com[/url]
[i]Don't google[/i] [b]Search![/b] [url]http://duckduckgo.com[/url]
TahrPup64 & Lighthouse64-b602 & JL64-603

tempestuous
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#16 Post by tempestuous »

July 31 2009
I just updated the first post to mention the most recent Puppy alpha versions with a suitably modern kernel.

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edoc
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#17 Post by edoc »

This is like the airline joke "Coffee, tea, or juice?" to which the passenger replies "Yes." ;-)

You list 5 versions of Puppy then say that "both" contain the ath9k driver. Is that because your list was initially only 2 versions and "both" didn't get edited to "all"?

Since this thread is primarily about Netbooks, would any of these also be good on a regular notebook or are one or two of them better suited to a notebook than the others, please?

I sure appreciate all that y'all do and will report back for the benefit ot others what I learn about Puppy and ath9k on the Acer Aspire 5535.
So to get this wifi device working I suggest owners use one of the Puppy variants with a recent kernel such as:

uPup (Puppy5) alpha -
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... -417alpha/

or Puppy 4.3 beta with 2.6.29.6 kernel
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... inux/test/

or wow's "Unnamed pupplet (puppy411 kernel-2.6.27.5 Xorg-7.4 LXDE)"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=36592

or MU's Newyearspup 02
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=37960

or kirk's "Fatdog 112"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=41102
These should both have the new ath9k driver.
[b]Thanks! David[/b]
[i]Home page: [/i][url]http://nevils-station.com[/url]
[i]Don't google[/i] [b]Search![/b] [url]http://duckduckgo.com[/url]
TahrPup64 & Lighthouse64-b602 & JL64-603

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edoc
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#18 Post by edoc »

OK, went ahead and tried Fatdog 112 and it handles the Atheros wireless-n with ath9k.

The Acer Aspire 5535 is working OK under Puppy.
[b]Thanks! David[/b]
[i]Home page: [/i][url]http://nevils-station.com[/url]
[i]Don't google[/i] [b]Search![/b] [url]http://duckduckgo.com[/url]
TahrPup64 & Lighthouse64-b602 & JL64-603

luther349
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#19 Post by luther349 »

my 900a has a wireless-n and a gigabit Ethernet card and both work with madwifi.

tempestuous
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#20 Post by tempestuous »

luther349 wrote:my 900a has a wireless-n ... and works with madwifi.
Well the first 900A models definitely did not have wireless-N.
They had the Atheros AR5007EG chipset which is mode A/B/G, supported under the 2.6.25.16 kernel in Puppy 4.1/4.2 by the modified (not standard) MADWiFi driver.

ASUS have been known to change chipsets, so it's possible that recent 900A models now have an Atheros N-mode device, but if so, this cannot be supported by the MADWiFi driver. The MADWiFi (ath_pci) driver does not support N-mode.
luther349 wrote:my 900a has ... gigabit Ethernet card and works with madwifi.
No, your gigabit ethernet device is supported by Puppy's atl2 driver.

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