TP-Link wn722n USB with ath9k_htc on Puppy 5.2.8

[lex71x]

hello,
i've been searching extensively on this forum but i can't for the life of me figure out how to get the ath9k_htc driver working on my puppy 5.2.8.

i got puppy running perfectly on my 256mb pIII, the only thing not working is my tp-link wn722n wireless usb adapter. it is supported with ath9k_htc but the only distributions with a kernel already supporting it are either unstable (alpha) or optimized for multicore and specifically say they will not run well at all on a 256mb machine.

i love my puppy, but compiling anything myself is way beyond my scope and i don't want to resort to something inferior (in my case) like xubuntu. i have already tried using a windows driver but connect will still not detect my device (only the ethernet shows up) is there anywhere i could find a .pet for it or possibly another solution and still keep puppy?

[tempestuous]

i can't for the life of me figure out how to get the ath9k_htc driver working on my puppy 5.2.8.

In ordinary circumstances (short of re-compiling the entire mac80211 wifi subsystem) you can't.

Your answer is here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 778#567778

you need one of the latest Puppy versions, as listed above (Fluppy013, Luci-529, or Dpup Exprimo).

[lex71x]

thanks, tempestuous. i have seen that thread before and as i understand fluppy 013 came out around 2010 and i was assuming 5.2.8 from the puppy website was the most recent stable version.

i could not find much info on dpup exprimo or luci-529, but both of those as well as well as fluppy013 already have the ath9k_htc module ready to go as a connect option right?

i am currently enjoying puppy because it's the fastest box in the house (on a pentium III compared to a mint box running at 3ghz, my xp 2.8ghz and a win7 core2duo; puppy is fast as all f#&%), the only limitation being no internet due to lack of a compatible driver.

i will probably load one of those three puppy distros instead of 5.2.8 to make it work, but my question is which is the most stable and will it run as fast as my puppy does now on this machine (p3 256mb 4mb video)?

my secondary option was xubuntu but as i understand it is not as lightning fast as puppy, so i am reluctant to install it unless i can find something both faster and more compatible with my wifi driver.

thank you for your time.

[tempestuous]

which is the most stable and will it run as fast as my puppy does now on this machine (p3 256mb 4mb video)?

I have a similar low-spec P3, and I can say that the somewhat heavyweight window manager components in Fluppy make things feel a little sluggish compared to other Puppy versions.

So I think luci-529 is best for you. It's a continuation of the 5.1/5.2.x series, but with an updated kernel.
Yes, it contains the ath9k_htc driver ... but the current release is missing the necessary firmware. Install the firmware from here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 425#555425

The latest release of luci-529 (at Sep 30 2011) is this one -
http://diddywahdiddy.net/Puppy500/luci-001.iso

[lex71x]

so i loaded up luci-529 and installed the firmware, but internet connection wizard still shows eth0 as my only interface...

what else exactly do i have to do to get my wireless running?

i made sure the ath9k_htc was already loaded but it said it had not detected any new devices even after a reboot.

[tempestuous]

At this point we need to know the exact device ID of your wifi dongle.
Plug it in, wait a couple of seconds, then run this command

Code: Select all

cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

then please report the "Vendor" and "ProdID" values you see for the wifi device.

[lex71x]

Vendor=0cf3 ProdID=9271 Rev=1.08

anyway after forcefully shutting down my computer (pulling the plug) it is now detecting my wireless lan and i am online with firewall configured.

the odd consequence (or actually the reason i had to unplug it) is that my computer no longer turns off; shutdown simply restarts it, and holding the power button re-restarts it again. weird.

also, although opera is probably more compatible (standards wise) is seamonkey a faster browser?

[tempestuous]

Clearly you had some hardware issues with your computer, and it sounds like they're not fully resolved.
I suggest some basic "house cleaning":

i) Reset the motherboard CMOS. Sometimes you can do this from the bios menu, but usually you need to temporarily move a 3-pin header on the motherboard itself. Download a manual for your motherboard if necessary.
Next time you power up, check all bios settings...

ii) ... and see if there's a setting for "PnP OS = YES/NO".
If so, set it for "NO". The Linux kernel will interact better with the motherboard this way.

iii) Boot fully to Puppy, then run the "dmesg" command. Look for anything relating to "ACPI" and make sure it looks healthy.
If you see something like this - "failed to set ACPI routines, ACPI will be disabled"
you should use "acpi=force" as a boot parameter. This is done by adding it to the line that starts with "kernel ..." in your /boot/grub/menu.lst file.
Or if you see errors along the lines of not being able to allocate IRQ resources, ACPI should be disabled altogether, by using "acpi=off" as a boot parameter.

[lex71x]

damnit! i was listening to pandora, enjoying my vegemite, an hour later when i restarted-- boom! no longer detecting my wireless adapter at all. tried installing some games through the package installer, none of them will run. even worse when i restarted, the loading kernel modules phase took like 15 minutes to complete, every time.

restarted again, it won't even load puppy anymore. something is very wrong.