Improved Network Wizard (and rc.network)

Under development: PCMCIA, wireless, etc.
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PaulBx1
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#166 Post by PaulBx1 »

Pupscan tells me I have a "broadcom bcm4310 USB controller". Anyway I think this is the wireless card. I thought windows told me it was a 4311 chipset, and also tells me I have the "Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-card". The sticker on the bottom says "Broadcom BCM94312MCG". Maybe I should open up the machine and see what the silkscreen on the card says. :roll:

Way back on page 6 tempestuous wrote:
The bcm43xx module is deprecated in k2.6.25.
You should use b43 or b43legacy.

This is more a kernel issue than a Network Wizard issue.
I have tried all 3; none of them recognize my wireless card.

I googled around and found some interesting comments:
I have also learned that although Dell does offer this laptop [Dell Inspiron 1525, same as mine] with Ubuntu installed, they changed the wireless card on the ubuntu version.
Some there say b43 works if a new copy of "broadcom-wl" is loaded (new firmware, I think). That guy said this:
b43 supported cards

* bcm4303 (802.11b-only chips)
* bcm4306
* bcm4309 (only the 2.4GHz part)
* bcm4311 rev 1 / bcm4312
* bcm4311 rev 2 / bcm4312 (needs patches for 2.6.24)
* bcm4318
Others had better luck with ndiswrapper. Here is the url:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=49781

Another guy on another forum said this:
Re: dv2020, broadcom 4311 problems
Fixed! I got it working by compiling the latest wireless-2.6 kernel (domesday branch), patching for PCI-E support, manually patching bcm43xx to recognize 4311, and installing the correct firmware (wl_apsta.o). No problem!

(who said linux wasn't user friendly?? )

More information here:
http://bcm43xx.spugna.org/index.php?topic=137.0
The url is this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=250083

My wife got me this nice new computer. I sure would like to see Puppy 4.1 work on it. Otherwise I am stuck, AGAIN, back at Puppy 2.16.1. :( Guess it's time to start fiddling with ndiswrapper.

PaulBx1
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#167 Post by PaulBx1 »

Well, I tried ndiswrapper in the network wizard, and it didn't work either. Couldn't detect a wireless card, just like everything else I tried.

tempestuous
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#168 Post by tempestuous »

PaulBx1 wrote:Pupscan tells me I have a "broadcom bcm4310 USB controller".
USB versions of the Broadcom wifi chipset are not supported by the bcm43xx/b43/b43legacy modules.

In the Puppy4.1alphas there is a new driver called "rndis_wlan" which supports Broadcom USB devices, but apparently only the model 4320.

Bottom line: your only option is ndiswrapper.

PaulBx1
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#169 Post by PaulBx1 »

ndiswrapper didn't work. I guess my only options now are to try to find another minicard or get a usb dongle.

tempestuous
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#170 Post by tempestuous »

Success may depend on the particular version of Windows driver you use.
See the "Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN MiniCard" listing here
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/joom ... ,list_c-f/

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Dougal
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#171 Post by Dougal »

Another guy on another forum said this:
Re: dv2020, broadcom 4311 problems
Fixed! I got it working by compiling the latest wireless-2.6 kernel (domesday branch), patching for PCI-E support, manually patching bcm43xx to recognize 4311, and installing the correct firmware (wl_apsta.o). No problem!
Note that he patched the driver to support his device... it probably means he just added his device/vendor IDs to the array of matching devices in the driver, but it's still something that needs to be done before compiling it.
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tempestuous
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#172 Post by tempestuous »

Dougal, paulh177 has reported a problem with WPA here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 067#231067

It seems that when the Network Wizard queries the driver with

Code: Select all

readlink /sys/class/net/$INTERFACE/device/driver
the new ath5k driver reports itself as "ath5k_pci"! I just read that "ath5k_pci" is the naming convention used in early development versions of this driver, so this might actually be a bug.
Anyway, an easy fix would be just to add "ath5k_pci" to the "wext" line in /usr/sbin/wag-profiles.sh

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Dougal
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#173 Post by Dougal »

tempestuous wrote:It seems that when the Network Wizard queries the driver with

Code: Select all

readlink /sys/class/net/$INTERFACE/device/driver
the new ath5k driver reports itself as "ath5k_pci"! I just read that "ath5k_pci" is the naming convention used in early development versions of this driver, so this might actually be a bug.
Anyway, an easy fix would be just to add "ath5k_pci" to the "wext" line in /usr/sbin/wag-profiles.sh
I think I know why that happens: if you look at the kernel code, some drivers (like ath5k) which support more that one port type will be built of a module with the general functions and a separate modules for the port-specific functions. For example: ath5k_pci.o ath5k_usb.o etc.
So I guess the kernel reports in /sys what it actually uses... ath5k_pci in this case.
I'll just change it to "ath5k*" in wag-profiles.sh.
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HairyWill
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#174 Post by HairyWill »

Dougal
I've just tried out puppy 4.1b1. and have a couple of minor issues.
On the plus side it identified my firewire interface (I don't have the hardware to test if it works)

1)It took several scans for it to find my AP, having to hit OK or Cancel on the screen to choose an AP and then having to rehit the scan button is not ideal. I don't know how simple it would be to include a Rescan button alongside the OK and Cancel.

2)I'm sure at one point you had an version of the wizard that automatically loaded the WEP key entry box, it no longer does so for me, I have to hit the WEP button. I don't know if this is behaving as intended.
Will
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Minnesota
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ZD1211RW USB dongle (Airlink etc...)

#175 Post by Minnesota »

Asked to move my comments over to this thread, so hear goes...been waiting to see if anyone else posted about USB dongle.....and driver .zd1211rw.

First of all it works fine in 2.17.... since then I have had intermittent problems with the versions..

On occasion a wizard will work, sometime I have to use Pwireless to get things to see wireless networks, the nodes.. I revert back to 2.17, the wizard sees the wireless lan and networks....so I have something to compare with.

In latest version, today's latest... 4.1 Beta: puppy-4.1retro-beta-408-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso

The wizard does not even see the LAN connection.

I can unload the module, and reload... as the hardware has been detected...by the initial load of Puppy from the CD. The system sees the hard wired PCI lan... but not the wireless. (processes shows zd1211rw running, as well as USB shows the hardware)

I have run this on two system.. with two dongles.. both work with 2.17. 2.17 runs fine from the CD or usb stick.

Lots of computer experience but not with Linux.. in the learning mode...

1) Is there any way I can force the wizard to see the hardware in this new version????

2) Any way in previous previous versions to help the wizard see the nodes....connections?

As mentioned I am running directly from the CD ISO...

Thank you.

PaulBx1
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#176 Post by PaulBx1 »

I have reported a strange network wizard problem in the 4.1b1 thread. It thinks my Ricoh xD Picture card is an ethernet card. I believe it is actually not a network wizard problem, but something to do with differences in how the lspci command works, but I told Barry I'd report the problem here nonetheless. BTW, is the wizard different between 4.1a7 and 4.1b1? It didn't do this in a7...

On a separate issue, wasn't b43legacy supposed to be one of the modules available to load? I think it is in there as (at least in a7) you could load it via the boot manager, but the network wizard still does not show it.

Another interesting point. /etc/networkmodules in a7 shows a b43 module. In b1 it shows a b44 module, but no b43. I don't know how this file works so I have no idea if this is significant at all; I'm sure someone here can tell if it is.

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BarryK
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#177 Post by BarryK »

PaulBx1 wrote:I have reported a strange network wizard problem in the 4.1b1 thread. It thinks my Ricoh xD Picture card is an ethernet card. I believe it is actually not a network wizard problem, but something to do with differences in how the lspci command works, but I told Barry I'd report the problem here nonetheless. BTW, is the wizard different between 4.1a7 and 4.1b1? It didn't do this in a7...

On a separate issue, wasn't b43legacy supposed to be one of the modules available to load? I think it is in there as (at least in a7) you could load it via the boot manager, but the network wizard still does not show it.

Another interesting point. /etc/networkmodules in a7 shows a b43 module. In b1 it shows a b44 module, but no b43. I don't know how this file works so I have no idea if this is significant at all; I'm sure someone here can tell if it is.
The Wizard might have to be upgraded to show these modules properly. /etc/networkmodules in 4.1beta has these entries:

b43legacy "ssb: Broadcom B43legacy wireless driver"
b43 "pcmcia: Broadcom B43 wireless driver"
b44 "ssb: Broadcom 44xx/47xx 10/100 PCI ethernet driver"
bcm43xx "pci: Broadcom BCM43xx wireless driver"

That 'ssb:' is new, that's what is in the "alias" entries when modinfo is run.

I guess, 'ssb' is an new interface bus. ...I did know what the letters stand for awhile back ...I think the 'b' is for 'bus'.

Anyway, the Wizard needs to recognise 'ssb' as a valid bus, just like 'pcmcia', 'pci' and 'usb'.
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dogone
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4.1 beta 1 not retaining static IP and gateway addresses

#178 Post by dogone »

4.1 beta 1 is unchanged from alpha7 (407) in that it forgets the manually entered static IP and gateway addresses after a boot or power cycle. The manually entered DNS address is not forgotten. This problem has been reported by others using post-406 Puppies and may be unique to the use of static addressing. See attached hardware report.

UPDATES:

1. Despite write-protecting the correctly configured /etc/network-wizard/network/interfaces/[mac address] file, the Set Static IP dialog came up with both IP and gateway addresses reset to zeros.

Contents of the file when this occurred:
STATIC_IP='yes'
IP_ADDRESS='192.168.1.200'
NETMASK='255.255.255.0'
DNS_SERVER1='209.193.72.2'
DNS_SERVER2='209.193.72.2'
GATEWAY='192.168.1.1'
IS_WIRELESS=''

2. The module for my NIC (8139too) loads at boot but eth0 is not recognized until Net Wizard is run.
Attachments
dogone_408_hardinfo_report.html.gz
(4.45 KiB) Downloaded 293 times
Last edited by dogone on Sat 13 Sep 2008, 14:47, edited 2 times in total.

PaulBx1
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#179 Post by PaulBx1 »

Yes dogone, I've noticed that too.

The ssb is apparently an internal Broadcom bus:
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/h ... 08080.html

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Dougal
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#180 Post by Dougal »

HairyWill wrote:1)It took several scans for it to find my AP, having to hit OK or Cancel on the screen to choose an AP and then having to rehit the scan button is not ideal. I don't know how simple it would be to include a Rescan button alongside the OK and Cancel.
Ok, I have implemented that. I also went one step further and, right after the scan is run, check if anything was found and, if not, it waits a second and runs the scan again automatically.
2)I'm sure at one point you had an version of the wizard that automatically loaded the WEP key entry box, it no longer does so for me, I have to hit the WEP button. I don't know if this is behaving as intended.
The WEP fields should only be visible if you press the "WEP" button or if you load a profile that uses WEP.
I could make the correct fields automatically made visible for all types of encryption, by using what the scan dialog reports to you, but it has been reported that it's unreliable -- iwlist scan returns WPA2 sometimes when it's actually WPA1, so I need to completely disable that feature
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Dougal
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Re: ZD1211RW USB dongle (Airlink etc...)

#181 Post by Dougal »

Minnesota wrote:In latest version, today's latest... 4.1 Beta: puppy-4.1retro-beta-408-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso

The wizard does not even see the LAN connection.

I can unload the module, and reload... as the hardware has been detected...by the initial load of Puppy from the CD. The system sees the hard wired PCI lan... but not the wireless. (processes shows zd1211rw running, as well as USB shows the hardware)
Whether the wizard finds your interface depends entirely on the output of "ifconfig -a", so if you could open a terminal and run it and see if the interface is listed or not, it will tell us where the problem lies.

- If the interface is listed: please post here the output, so I can try and see why the wizard doesn't detect it.

- If it is not listed: the problem is at the level of the kernel.
What you can do in this case:
1) In a terminal, run

Code: Select all

dmesg > dmesg-output
then open the file (/root/dmesg-output) in a text editor and look foe any messages related to zd1211rw -- maybe it has some problem with your device.
2) While running 2.17, try to find out the device/vendor IDs for your device.
2.17 should have the lsusb command, which should show your device. I'm interested in the pair of 4 hex chars (0-9a-f) numbers: 1234:5678 (should be the second field in the output, I think)
Another option is to look at the file /proc/bus/usb/devices and look for the block related to your device. You can find it by searching for the module name or by finding the device name (though not all devices give them), then try and find the vendorId and deviceId numbers.
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inoxidabile
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Some notes about new Net wizard

#182 Post by inoxidabile »

Hi Dougal!
I would send You some note.
It's the first time I try to partecipate to any community, so please be patient - I'm a very newbie!
Barry Kauler suggest to send to You about this topic, so here I am!
I'm very happy with 3.01, because it's incredible easy, quick and stable.
I use two type of wifi adapter,but mainly I use a 3Com usb that matches perfectly with zd1211rw - wpa/tkip and supplicant.
I tried EVERY new version after 3.01, but without success -let me add that I have tried on two notebook and two desktop.
It's strange, it seems that the right module has been loaded but any setup allow the connection - and, more or less, all Puppy version, give the same bad result.
As suggested by barry, I have attached some info trying to send You as many data as I can.
I'm not able to frequently see the blogs, so can You kindly tell me if there is any need of other infos?
Thank You in advance and for all the great work has been done for the great puppy!
Hoping to be useful...
Best Regards

inoxidabile
Attachments
report_beta4_1_retro.zip
(11.13 KiB) Downloaded 421 times
report_beta4_1.zip
(11.01 KiB) Downloaded 358 times
report_3_01.zip
(7.1 KiB) Downloaded 378 times

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Dougal
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#183 Post by Dougal »

PaulBx1 wrote:I have reported a strange network wizard problem in the 4.1b1 thread. It thinks my Ricoh xD Picture card is an ethernet card. I believe it is actually not a network wizard problem, but something to do with differences in how the lspci command works, but I told Barry I'd report the problem here nonetheless. BTW, is the wizard different between 4.1a7 and 4.1b1? It didn't do this in a7...
SSB stands for Sonics Silicon Backplane.
The kernel documentation says to enable it only if intended for an embedded machine that has such a port, but it is automatically turned on when the b44 module is enabled.
I'm not sure about that b44 module... guess it might be needed, but this mess needs a little more looking into. (I'm quite sure OHCI_HCD_SSB shouldn't be enabled -- not sure if it is in the Puppy kernel)

In any case, with regards to the Ricoh card, since the kernel recognizes it as an ethernet card there's not much I can do... it should probably be reported as a kernel bug.

On a separate issue, wasn't b43legacy supposed to be one of the modules available to load? I think it is in there as (at least in a7) you could load it via the boot manager, but the network wizard still does not show it.
The list of modules to load is generated from /etc/networkmodules... so that's what's responsible for any problems.
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Dougal
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Re: 4.1 beta 1 not retaining static IP and gateway addresses

#184 Post by Dougal »

dogone wrote:4.1 beta 1 is unchanged from alpha7 (407) in that it forgets the manually entered static IP and gateway addresses after a boot or power cycle. The manually entered DNS address is not forgotten. This problem has been reported by others using post-406 Puppies and may be unique to the use of static addressing. See attached hardware report.
What kind of messages do you get in /tmp/bootsysinit.log? I need to know if there is a problem with the startup code configuring it. (note that even after boot, you can use the "autoconnect to ethernet" option when right-clicking the "Connect" icon, then find the output in a log file in /tmp)

1. Despite write-protecting the correctly configured /etc/network-wizard/network/interfaces/[mac address] file, the Set Static IP dialog came up with both IP and gateway addresses reset to zeros.
If I recall correctly, the dialog gets its values from the output of "ifconfig $INTERFACE", rather than the config file.
2. The module for my NIC (8139too) loads at boot but eth0 is not recognized until Net Wizard is run.
Do the messages in /tmp/bootsysint.log not mention it at all?
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Minnesota
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zd1211rw

#185 Post by Minnesota »

Hope the attachments will help, it looks like part of the issue may be missing module name in ..../usb/devices in the new beta version.

In the file is the output from dmesg beta 408 as well as from 2.17

Also the usb device information... inside that file I added USB and PCI module information.

If I can look elsewhere please tell me. I assume if I performed a load to a stick or hard drive the /usb/devices file can be modified...

Thanks for all your efforts with Puppy... it is very interesting and I am more that willing to assist in any way. Been reading the forums for quite some time... and slowly learning :).

THANKS!

PS, could not locate lsusb. Hope what I sent will give you the information.
Attachments
USB_device_ZyDAS_2.zip
dmesg output from Beta 408, dmesg frin 2.17 and USB device Zydas information from both.
(8.22 KiB) Downloaded 380 times

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