(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Typically, updated modules/applications/scripts are contributed in response to requests for help on the forum.
Finding these contributions later then becomes difficult. So I created this new thread specifically for updates/improvements for Puppy 2.17.
Feel free to add attachments, but please don't hijack this thread with requests for help about unrelated subjects.

Puppy 2.17's new 2.6.21x kernel has a new version of Wireless Extensions which has created compatibility issues with wifi modules/utilities.
Barry has already upgraded the Wireless Tools (iwconfig, iwlist etc) but it appears to go further.
There is an issue where some wifi modules will truncate the ESSID so that the last digit/character is missing. A workaround is to deliberately add one extra digit, but the only true fix is when the wifi module is re-written to deal with the newer Wireless Extensions.

This problem appears to affect the earlier Ralink modules, rt2400, rt2500, rt2570, so here are the latest CVS Ralink modules which should fix the problem.

And in some cases, Puppy's existing version of dhcpcd may fail with the newer Wireless Extensions. In one case, the whole computer froze.

UPDATE Aug 25 2007 - get the latest dhcpcd version here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 873#136873

UPDATE Aug 25 2007 - get the latest Network Wizard here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 872#136872

Very glad my E-TechPCMIA wireless card is now behaving properly! I've installed the new RT2500 package and all of a sudden the activity and link signals are on, right after Puppy 2.17.1 is echoing: " testing if RA0 is alive"

Furthermore I like the new dhcpcd package. It now store my settings. Before i had to run the network wizard after each reboot.

Thanks very much Tempestuous!

UPDATE Aug 25 2007 - WPA2 is now supported in the Network Wizard.
See earlier post.

Tempestuous, situation normal! I will put this new Wizard into 2.17.1 and then we will find the bugs.

V2.17.1... yes, will bring out a pre-release in a few days I think.

Barry, I just remembered that a forum member reported missing firmware for the zd1201 module (not the newer zd1211) -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 633#123633

The link for this firmware is here -
http://linux-lc100020.sourceforge.net/

tempestuous wrote:Time is moving on, so here is the latest version of the full Network Wizard, which contains many enhancements by Dougal:

Thanks tempestuous, and Dougal. Tried out this new wizard and it works great on my personal laptop. I'll give it a trial on some much older hardware later on next week.

Cheers

The Universal Installer seems to be fixed too. Link here to get it:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1&start=30

BarryK wrote:The Universal Installer seems to be fixed too. Link here to get it:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1&start=30

Thanks, Barry. I have downloaded this too and will include in boat anchor testing Thursday-Friday this week.

Cheers

tempestuous wrote:Barry, I just remembered that a forum member reported missing firmware for the zd1201 module (not the newer zd1211) -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 633#123633

The link for this firmware is here -
http://linux-lc100020.sourceforge.net/

Puppy 2.17 has this firmware already, in /lib/firmware. Two files zd1201-ap.fw zd1201.fw.

S**t, I thought that I had got 2.17.1 all ready to ship, but then I checked the Network Wizard (July 28th, posted above) and found that the very first window is unusable.

The first time that I looked at it, the first window was okay, on a PC with two network interfaces.
But, I booted up on a PC with just one ethernet wired interface, and the 'tree' display in the first window cannot be read. There is inadequate height. I delved in and found a <height>55</height> which when increased to 65 was then okay.

I see in the comments at beginning of script that this problem was fixed, but it isn't. Could you guys please fix it.

I don't like the tree display anyway, I think it's confusing. A user might think that by highlighting one of the entries, they are making a selection, but that is not the case. Instead, a button has to be clicked.
Shouldn't it just be a text display, not an embedded tree box?

The radical rewrite of the Network Wizard worries me considering thatI 2.17.1 is a minor bugfix release from 2.17.

Therefore, I'm disinclined to use it right now.

Tempestuous, could you please put the fixes that you have most recently done into the net_setup.sh script that was in 2.17? That script, with just the essential fixes, is what I will ship with 2.17.1.
The PET package used in 2.17 is on ibiblio and is 'net_setup-2.17.pet'.

A more thorough upgrade can be considered for 2.18.

I was going to upload 2.17.1 today, but will wait another day or two.

I am using 2.17 (boot to usb) in a laptop with a broadcom wifi adapter. I installed latest dhcpd pet package & network wizard pet from this thread. Eth0 & eth1 were detected. eth1 is wireless. Using the updated wizard, auto dhcp is getting a different IP address compared with the ip-address being assigned to to the laptop when using windows. It should atleast get 192.168.1.51-54 and with a gateway of 192.168.1.1 but rather its obtaining an IP of 192.164.254.*. It should be in the same network address, right?
In windows, I have no problem in connecting. In Linux, I can't connect at all.


I just followed the steps in the Puppy wiki site. I am new to this wireless stuff.

Thank you guys

Hmmm, rereading my previous post, it comes across a bit strong. What happened was I had a very long day of testing, and thought that I had finally got 2.17.1 read to go. So, I created the 5-parts and started uploading. After several hours of upload (using my slow satellite upload) I was testing a few things on another PC and then discovered that the Network Wizard was unusable on that PC. So, I was pretty annoyed when I posted.

I understand though, that this new Wizard has very little testing, and after glancing through the code I decided that is is too different to be let loose this weekend in v2.17.1.

So, if there are any essential bugfixes for the net_setup-2.17, kindly put them in, otherwise I will release 2.17.1 with the same Wizard as 2.17.

Barry,
There is nothing wrong with showing you are human!

Dougal informs me that he created a window with 1,2,3,4,5,6 lines and found the right height for each case.
And then he tried it with different gtk themes. All OK.
He wonders if it's those pixmaps used in Puppy that make the titlebar bigger and squeeze the text?

Regarding the functionality of the new wizard, it has been tested by me with an rt2570 device and prism2_usb device. All good in Puppy 2.16 and 2.17. But I can only test with WEP, not WPA or WPA2.
The wizard is still being refined. Dougal is currently trying to get prism2_usb scanning to work.

But even when the wizard is finished, there's no guarantee that there won't be some quirky incompatibility with certain hardware.
That's where we need feedback.
Same applies to the new dhcpcd package. Which leads me to gliezl's problem:

gliezl, there might be some incorrect setup information in the configuration file /var/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-eth0.info
Delete this file and start again.
If no success, after running the wizard to check that the correct module(s) is loaded and interface names exist, DON'T press the DHCP button.
Instead, exit the wizard and run the dhcpcd command manually -
If no good, try to specify your client hostname - or try this

Hi,
Is it possible that Pmount can show unmounted drive labels the same as MUT / GParted.

thanks

DC

tempestuous,

I'll try that console commands. Thanks.

I even tried using Slackware 12, but still it wont connect. Maybe I have problems with my configurations. Will it help if I post my dmesg results here both from Puppy & Slackware?

I finally had a time where I could test this new stuff. I installed that July 28 wizard, the other thing, and the new dhcpd. BTW I'm using Puppy 2.16.

1) I agree with Barry, lose the tree thing and just make it text.

2) I see no evidence of WPA2 stuff in here, did you rip it out? In the "edit profile" window it just gives buttons for "Open", "WEP" and "WPA/TKIP". So I couldn't test that.

3) FYI, on my router, when I select "WPA Personal" I get choices of "TKIP" (default) and "AES" for algorithms. When I select "WPA2 Personal" I get choices of "AES" (default) and "TKIP+AES". I don't know exactly what that means, but I suggest in the wizard we always use TKIP with WPA and AES with WPA2.

4) A suggestion: when building wpa_supplicant.conf, the network wizard puts the hex key there (the one created from a hash of the text key and ESSID). Please add there, as a comment, the text key that was used, for documentation purposes. It's hard to go backward from hashed function to text key!

5) And one really weird thing. Testing this, I had two pcmcia cards in my laptop; one for ethernet (to communicate with the router interface) and my wireless card. I was using the ethernet to try to make this post after my WPA2 attempt failed, but the keyboard was strange. You know when you hold a key down for a while, you get repeating characters? It was like that delay was shortened, so when I was typing in this window I got multiples of each character. Also noticed the CPU was very busy doing... something. Made it impossible to post a message. When I went back to WPA in the router and rebooted with the ethernet disconnected, and used the wireless instead to make this post, everything is fine. I looked but am not aware of any way to modify the keyboard delay in Puppy.

Anyway, didn't get far without WPA2 in there...

tempestuous, I tried your July 13 veeeeeeerssssssion, aand I ssee itt ddddoees haave aaa WPA2 button. Itt ddoes not sseem to moddify wwwpaa_ssssupplicant.cconff at aaaaall. Aaaaaaalssso no inddddiccccattion offff wheeeetttherr TKIP or AAAES was beeing used. Itt dddidddn't sssseem to dddo aaaanyttthingggg.

Aaaas you ccan ssee I'm haavingg ttroublee with my keybbboard again. CCCCPU usssssagee aalsssso veeeerrrry high, bbbbbbut TopCCCCPU only showws X aanddd Sssssseeeeamonkeeey, bbottth at a fffew peerrceenttt. I aaam ggoinggg to ggo bback tto my old pup_saveee.