Puppy WiFi Assistant is completed!!!!!

Message

can8v · #76 Post by **can8v** » Sat 14 Jun 2008, 23:55

I have included a db table to retain all versions of Puppy Linux ever released. When adding or editing an entry for a WiFi adapter in the db this list of possible Puppy version is pulled from the db then inserted as options in a select list, so that only one Puppy version can be selected and the syntax will be entered the exact same way as every other user. This means one user will not be inputing 2.15ce, another user inputing 2.15CE, and yet another user inputing 215ce. You get the idea I am sure. What may not seem so obvious is, that they all need to be exactly the same in order for the search filtering to function correctly. Anyway even with only approximately 50 entries in the db entered by 4 people this was already beginning to cause problems with the search filtering. Hopefully this will normalize the data entered by all users. I may need to implement something similar with other form fields in the future, but I will not be sure until I see a bit more data in the db.
Are there any more volunteers to input some data?
I also added a FAQ page linked in the main menu if any of you could review it and suggest possible questions for the page. Perhaps questions that you have seen asked over and over again in the forum or that would be particularly useful for someone using this application.
Kind regards,
can8v

can8v · #77 Post by **can8v** » Mon 16 Jun 2008, 06:28

The remaining functions have all been completed. I have added a registration function and link. Registration is not fully automated yet and proved more difficult than I anticipated. Nevertheless there is a fully functional registration system. On the other hand unregistered visitors are able to post new WiFi adapters to the db, but they cannot edit the db and their post will not be viewable on the website until they have been moderated. When a registered user adds a device to the db it is available on the website immediately and will be moderated at a later time.
As Aitch suggested I have changed the error handling and validation to send users back to the input form if they did not include all of the required data, however the data they did enter is now retained and it is not necessary to use the browsers back button.
I made a whole mess of changes under the hood as well, but that is about all that the end user will notice.
After about a month of use I will update the application based on suggestions received over that month. Presently my only plans are to fully automate the registration system and modify one of the administration functions.
Anyway, I hope this application helps the community. If it does I would be happy to create similar applications for other types of hardware and possibly even host them under their own domain name (ie. PuppyHardwareAssistant.com or PuppyHWA.com). The application would have to prove quite useful however, because this was quite a lot of work.
Kindest regards,
can8v

urban soul · #78 Post by **urban soul** » Mon 16 Jun 2008, 12:54

great !

cool - the add entry solution without logging in... very cool. Minor prob: if db search string not found ('Belkin') a senseless err is thrown back, never mind.

May this wireless bible be filled with lots of entries and meaningfull lines ...

can8v · #79 Post by **can8v** » Mon 16 Jun 2008, 20:59

urban soul wrote:great !

cool - the add entry solution without logging in... very cool. Minor prob: if db search string not found ('Belkin') a senseless err is thrown back, never mind.

May this wireless bible be filled with lots of entries and meaningfull lines ...

urban soul,
Did this error actually occur and if so what led up to the error? Anyway thanks for the well wishing. I forgot to mention also that the registration process does not require an e-mail address, but rather the username and password are send in a PM on this forum. If figure any user in good standing on this forum will not require moderation. The reason for 100% moderation for unregistered users is to keep visitors who are not actually Puppy users or worse bots from posting links to porn sites and such. I am glad you approve of the compromise I came up with more time was spent deliberating on the solution to this problem than actually programming a solution.
Part of the issue for me was that my webhost take 2-5 days to send mail out to yahoo.com e-mail addresses when I use PHP send mail. The issue is that some of the other sites hosted with them have sent so much spam through yahoos servers that Yahoo has throttled mail coming from them. This means that I had to either send alerts to my regular e-mail which is not as available or create a webmail account with google for the purposes of receiving alerts from this application when a post requires moderation.
It became more complicated that I had hoped for, but in the end I decided that this solution would produce the most in depth and helpful database.
I installed google analytics seven days ago and to my surprise there has already been 171 unique visitors from 33 countries. In seven days there was 642 visits and over 2800 page views. I filtered myself out of course, so that my visiting the site for development purposes would be counted in the statistics. This makes me wonder how much traffic the application will see now that it is completed or when the db is populated with many more WiFi adapters.
About a third of the people found the site by a link on the forum and a little more than a third found it via google. The search terms used varied widely. Most people were apparently searching for the application as the search term used was "Puppy WiFi" or "Puppy WiFi Assistant", these were obviously returning users. To my surprise however, many people found the application by searching for the part number for their specific WiFi adapter. This I think could win many people over to Puppy or at least get them to try it. I know WiFi was a huge factor when I was first selecting a Linux Distribution. Anyway I am very positive about this; I think it will be good for Puppy and for Puppy users.
Regards,
can8v

mark2 · #80 Post by **mark2** » Mon 16 Jun 2008, 21:11

getting an error myself

Code: Select all

!Error! Could not execute the query for: Agere / 2Wire
1052 : Column 'user' in where clause is ambiguous

can8v · #81 Post by **can8v** » Tue 17 Jun 2008, 04:58

@mark2,
Thanks so much for including the exact error message received. Since I wrote that error message only a week ago, I was able to recognize it and instantly know what was going on. Basically when I added the feature to omit unmoderated visitor submitted posts from the search results it involves a search spanning multiple tables and two of them have user fields I simply needed to make it clear I don't want results from Guest users from either table. Well that came out clear as mud. It seemed simple until I tried to put it into words anyway. Well at any rate the problem is resolved.
Kind regards,
can8v

can8v · #82 Post by **can8v** » Fri 20 Jun 2008, 22:30

The usable data from the first three pages of the originating thread have now been added to the Puppy WiFi Assistant. I hope to have the rest added by the end of this weekend.
can8v

rodrigt · #83 Post by **rodrigt** » Mon 30 Jun 2008, 20:11

can8v wrote:
Check out the Puppy WiFi Assistant http://salis.sutteryuba.com/WiFi.php

can8v, Great job, thank you. I've just checked the site for D-Link and found the DWL-610, but my wireless card is the DWL-G650; would you happen to have any info for this one? Thanks

Aitch · #84 Post by **Aitch** » Tue 01 Jul 2008, 02:46

rodrigt

there are several different models, inc rev C

reallynewbie says 4, but I cant find them all

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=6896

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=19086

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... ac9348ac20

this uses ndis + windriver

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=13008

search using this, or my link in beginners thread

http://www.wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html

Aitch

rodrigt · #85 Post by **rodrigt** » Tue 01 Jul 2008, 04:55

Aitch,

Thank you for taking the time to compile all these references. I read each thread top-to-bottom hoping for a 'magic bullet', but as a complete Puppy newbie (recent Windows renegade) all of this is way over my head!

At http://rhinoweb.us/howtosetupwireless.htm the 'wireless setup' video tutorial presented an 'Install' window (WizardWizard) showing an option to 'Connect to Internet by wireless interface'; thus, having easily succeeded to set up my printer with Dingo I naively imagined that setting up a wireless connection for my laptop would be as easy - Oh surprise. No wonder that option is no longer offered on Dingo.

Aitch, I need to side-step away from this complex topic until I become more experienced in Puppy Linux - Thank you!
--------------------------------------
PS - in the spirit of sharing info hopefully useful to others, next I plan to take an online PRACTICAL course on Linux at www.ed2go.com (www.ed2go.com/cgi-bin/ed2go/search.cgi and search for Linux). I was delighted with my two courses on 'Computer Security' (where I first heard about Puppy) and another on PC Troubleshooting. Hint: Click on 'Participating Schools' to get about a third off on tuition cost even if your country is not listed. Simply write to any of the email addresses provided and be prepared to make a phone call for credit card payment. (I have no affiliation with this institution!) Courses start at the middle of each month and I'll be starting July '08. (Actually it would be fun to have other Puppy newbies in the class, my screen name there is TomR.)

Aitch · #86 Post by **Aitch** » Tue 01 Jul 2008, 10:18

@rodrigt

the man to talk to [pm maybe] is tempestuous

he's our wifi expert, and I'm sure could give you very good instructions

exwin noobies are a common sight here, so you should get along fine

tempestuous is likely to ask you to run some simple command line tests which I myself am not too clear about, but which will both identify your kit & get it going

see my post here for linux info

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=30731

search assistance

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29754

good luck & welcome to the kennels

Aitch

rodrigt · #87 Post by **rodrigt** » Wed 02 Jul 2008, 06:25

Aitch,

Thank you, I've bookmarked all of your references. Before contacting Tempestuous I feel the need to do a bit more homework, as there are some basic parts of rtfm that I need to digest first. Cheers

Laie · #88 Post by **Laie** » Fri 18 Jul 2008, 21:29

Thought you might want to know:

I just managed to get a
aquip A/WLAN1 54M USB Wireless device with
Marvell libertas 8338 chipset working,
using Puppy's Network Wizard (under Muppy 008.3E) and
ndiswrapper with the WIN98-driver NetMW221.inf (and MRVW221.sys).

No clicking back and forth, the first try succeeded.

I LOVE PUPPY!

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Puppy WiFi Assistant is completed!!!!!

problem

Marvell libertas 8338 chipset works