Extra drivers for Fluppy013 with 2.6.35.7 kernel

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tempestuous
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Extra drivers for Fluppy013 with 2.6.35.7 kernel

#1 Post by tempestuous »

At the time of writing, April 2011, Fluppy013 has the highest kernel version of any Puppy available, and there are a few extra drivers compatible with this kernel, which are otherwise not available.

Let me be very clear: the drivers in this forum thread are only compatible with Fluppy013.
Fluppy013 is available here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=56156

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#2 Post by tempestuous »

Atheros USB wifi devices

The Atheros AR9170 USB chipset is already supported in recent Puppy versions, including Fluppy013, by the ar9170usb driver.
A complete list of supported devices is here -
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drive ... le_devices

But the Atheros AR9271/AR7010 USB wifi chipsets require a very new driver; ath9k_htc
and this driver is available for Fluppy013, but it was not included.

UPDATE Aug 7 2011:
ath9k_htc driver now upgraded to support the FULL range (almost) of compatible devices, as listed here -
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drive ... tc/devices
See the 6th post in this forum thread for details.

BIG FAT WARNING: since this driver has been backported from a later kernel version, the other Atheros wifi drivers contained in Fluppy 013 (ath5k/ath9k/ar9170usb) will be broken once this driver is installed.
Last edited by tempestuous on Sun 07 Aug 2011, 08:26, edited 1 time in total.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#3 Post by tempestuous »

There is also another Atheros USB wifi chipset; AR5523 (AR5005UG/AR5005UX)
which requires the ar5523 third-party driver, which is now available for Puppy 5.1/5.2.x here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 414#513414

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#4 Post by tempestuous »

An Xorg solution for the Intel Poulsbo graphics device, as typically found in recent netbooks, is the fbdev/uvesafb drivers, now available for Fluppy 013 here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 966#518966

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#5 Post by tempestuous »

Argh. I just learned that the ath9k_htc wifi driver for Fluppy013's kernel (as supplied in the 2nd post in this thread) supports only 2 out of a possible 18 compatible wifi devices.

It's strange that after 195 downloads, no one bothered to report this.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#6 Post by tempestuous »

UPDATE Aug 7 2011:

ath9k_htc wifi driver now upgraded to support the full range (almost) of compatible devices, as listed here -
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drive ... tc/devices
Driver dotpet attached to the 2nd post in this forum thread.
I used source code from the 2.6.36 kernel, which is one version up from Fluppy013's 2.6.35 kernel.
The devices now supported are:

0cf3:7010 Atheros generic
0cf3:7015 TP-Link TL-WN821Nv3
0cf3:9271 TP-Link TL-WN721N/WN722N & Unex DNUA-93F
0cf3:1006 TP-Link TL-WN322G v3/TL-WN422G v2
0cf3:b003 Ubiquiti WifiStation Ext
0846:9030 Netgear WNA1100
0846:9018 Netgear WNDA3200
07D1:3A10 Dlink Wireless 150
083A:A704 SMC Networks
13D3:3327 Azurewave
13D3:3328 Azurewave
13D3:3346 IMC Networks
13D3:3348 Azurewave
13D3:3349 Azurewave
13D3:3350 Azurewave
04CA:4605 Liteon
040D:3801 VIA
1668:1200 Verizon

Puppeteer
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun 05 Sep 2010, 06:39

#7 Post by Puppeteer »

Hi Tempestuous,

Thanks for your work on supporting WiFi in puppy land. Right now, I'm trying out "Three-Headed Dog" (Lucid 529 which uses the 2.6.37.6 kernel).

My TP-Link TL-WN821Nv3 USB dongle isn't being detected, although the ath9k_htc driver is already loaded by default. The dongle isn't active as can be seen by the absence of green LED activity.

So instead, I'm using my internal D-Link WiFi card (it uses the ath5k driver).

I saw that there was a problem with the ath9k_htc driver you provided for Fluppy in that it didn't support more than two USB dongles on the hardware list, a problem that you have since fixed by using the code from the 2.6.36 kernel, if I understood you correctly.

My (ignorant?) belief is that the 2.6.37.6 kernel has the same extended support for the newer hardware as the older kernels (from 2.6.36 onwards), so that no extra work need be done... Is that correct? Therefore there ought to be some other issue with my USB dongle not working in "Three-Headed Dog"? Please excuse my ignorance on these matters...

Regards,

Puppeteer

tempestuous
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Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#8 Post by tempestuous »

Puppeteer wrote:My (ignorant?) belief is that the 2.6.37.6 kernel has the same extended support for the newer hardware as the older kernels (from 2.6.36 onwards), so that no extra work need be done
Yes, that's correct in theory, although I can't confirm.
I think that all you need to get the driver working is the relevant firmware, which I have just now posted here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 425#555425

If your device still doesn't work, please run the "dmesg" command and report any/all lines relating to the ath9k_htc driver.

Puppeteer
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun 05 Sep 2010, 06:39

#9 Post by Puppeteer »

Thanks a mill Tempestuous, that solved it!

Weird thing is that the wireless status says I'm connected at 1 Mbit/s, but it's definitely more than that since I max out my 10 Mbit line when running an external broadband test - it gives me about 11.5 Mbit/s down and 13 Mbit/s up (to an external site), so that's my absolute minimum. I wonder what the true internal connection speed is? May test that later.

Thanks yet again Tempestuous!

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