Wireless driver packages for Puppy2

[tempestuous]

Oops. Yes, all revised dotpups were corrupt. Fixed now.

[displacedtexan]

New puppy user... I was looking for a Linux distro that was lightning fast to boot up and shut down and I think I have found it with Puppy!

Now my probably... trying to install my Laptop's wireless card from:
http://www.dotpups.de/dotpups/Wifi/wireless-drivers/

is it just me, or is the ipw394*.pup file missing from the above link? I see ipw3945_README.txt but not the .pup

thanks...

Jason

[smog]

Nevermore,

Don't give up, I couldn't get my internal wireless to work, despite trying very hard!! so I bought a netgear pcmcia card. BUT, thanks to tempestuous' help, within 2 days of buying the pcmcia card, I did get the internal wireless card working.

Are you usng WEP? If so, are you sure you have set it up properly?

I found that setting the WEP key as iwconfig "key restricted MYWEPKEY" i.e. not just "key MYWEPKEY" solved my problem.

Also I spent a long time setting up iwconfig on wlan0 but it turned out I should have been using eth1.

Hope you get it working.

[MU]

is it just me, or is the ipw394*.pup file missing from the above link? I see ipw3945_README.txt but not the .pup

Updated the downloads with this driver.
Mark

[pakt]

I have repeated my tests of the bcm43xx-softmac.pup in Puppy 2.01. The results are different from what I reported to tempestuous in a PM, but, unfortunately, the dotpup still doesn't work. Using ndiswrapper does work well though.

This is a summary of printouts during testing.
The Dell Inspiron 510m laptop uses the Broadcom BCM94306 chip (802.11b/g). It has built-in 10/100 cable ethernet which was disconnected during testing.

# modprobe bcm43xx

dmesg shows:

ieee80211_crypt: no version for "struct_module" found: kernel tainted.
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.7
ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>
bcm43xx driver
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4306, rev 0x3
bcm43xx: Number of cores: 5
bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0x5, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x80d, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x807, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 4: ID 0x804, rev 0x9, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: PHY connected
bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 2, Type 2, Revision 2
bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
bcm43xx: Radio turned off

sh-3.00# iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:off/any Nickname:"Broadcom 4306"
Mode:Managed Access Point: Invalid Bit Rate=1 Mb/s
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

# iwconfig eth1 essid MyAP
# iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:"MyAP" Nickname:"Broadcom 4306"
Mode:Managed Access Point: Invalid Bit Rate=1 Mb/s
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

# dhcpcd -t 30 -h puppypc -d eth1
dhcpcd: MAC address = 00:90:96:be:f5:41
# ifconfig eth1
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:90:96:BE:F5:41
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x8000

I tried using a static IP address, but the interface still didn't work.

I repeated the test with fw I got using fwcutter on Dell's latest XP driver, but I got the same results

Using ndiswrapper with two versions of XP drivers worked well.

dmesg output with older driver:

ndiswrapper version 1.15 loaded (preempt=no,smp=no)
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,07/17/2003, 3.30.15.0) loaded
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ndiswrapper: using irq 5
wlan0: vendor: ''
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:96:be:f5:41 using driver bcmwl5, 14E4:4320.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA; AES/CCMP with WPA

# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"MyAP"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:11:2F:9D:1F:4A
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:14 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-24 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

# ifconfig wlan0
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:90:96:BE:F5:41
inet addr:192.168.0.125 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:90239 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:72610 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:128777710 (122.8 MiB) TX bytes:6776522 (6.4 MiB)
Interrupt:5 Memory:fcffc000-fcffe000

dmesg output with latest Dell XP driver:

ndiswrapper version 1.15 loaded (preempt=no,smp=no)
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,11/02/2005, 4.10.40.0) loaded
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ndiswrapper: using irq 5
wlan0: vendor: ''
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:96:be:f5:41 using driver bcmwl5, 14E4:43200003.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK

# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"MyAP"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:11:2F:9D:1F:4A
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-33 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

# ifconfig wlan0
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:90:96:BE:F5:41
inet addr:192.168.0.125 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:48073 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:34960 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:68738464 (65.5 MiB) TX bytes:3340065 (3.1 MiB)
Interrupt:5 Memory:fcffc000-fcffe000

Perhaps the information above can be useful in troubleshooting the dotpup.

Tempestuous, thanks anyway for your effort in trying to make this work
Paul

[MU]

PM from tempestous::

- PaulBx1 asked me to make WPA encrption information more clear.
- The ralink-legacy.pup now has another driver included.
... so, please overwrite these files with new versions I just uploaded -

_Puppy2_wireless_README.txt
ralink-legacy.pup
ralink-legacy_README.txt
wpa_supplicant-0.4.9.pup
wpa_supplicant_README.txt

Uploaded the updates.
Mark

[tempestuous]

Thanks Mark.

Paul, the bcm43xx driver looks like it's close to success. Troubleshooting:
Load all modules that bcm43xx depends on first -

modprobe ieee80211_crypt
modprobe ieee80211
modprobe ieee80211softmac
modpobe firmware_class
modprobe bcm43xx

After "modprobe bcm43xx" you must bring up the interface before doing anything else -
ifconfig eth1 up
This is helpful for most wifi drivers, but CRUCIAL for this driver.

I see this - "Invalid Bit Rate=1 Mb/s" so be a bit more explicit with your iwconfig command -
iwconfig eth1 essid MyAP rate 11M mode managed
You could also specify the channel in this command.

And now do "ifconfig eth1 up" again just to be sure, before running dhcpcd.

If still no success, please report any relevant dmesg output, especially stuff relating to "SoftMAC".

And one little thing to check - your access point must broadcast its SSID. Hidden SSID's won't work with this driver.

[pakt]

EDIT: I've trying to post this since last weekend but kept getting a "URL not found" error from the forum. I finally discovered it was this text: '<jketreno@linux.intel.com>' that was part of the quote below that caused the problem. Once I removed it, I had no problem posting

Thanks, tempestuous, for your patience. I've now got the interface working using your dotpup

After a bit of experimenting, the key commands seem to be 'ifconfig eth1 up' and specifying the right combination of 'iwconfig' parameters. To get the interface to work, I managed to minimize the commands to:

modprobe bcm43xx
ifconfig eth1 up
iwconfig eth1 essid WTwo channel 8 rate 11M mode managed
ifconfig eth1 up
dhcpcd -t 30 -h puppypc -d eth1

The complete messages from dmesg were:

ieee80211_crypt: no version for "struct_module" found: kernel tainted.
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.7
ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation
bcm43xx driver
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4306, rev 0x3
bcm43xx: Number of cores: 5
bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0x5, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x80d, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x807, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 4: ID 0x804, rev 0x9, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: PHY connected
bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 2, Type 2, Revision 2
bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
bcm43xx: PHY connected
bcm43xx: Radio turned on
bcm43xx: Chip initialized
bcm43xx: DMA initialized
bcm43xx: 80211 cores initialized
bcm43xx: Keys cleared
SoftMAC: Open Authentication completed with 00:50:18:0e:6f:10
#

Paul

[tempestuous]

Well done Paul. I'm pleased that the bcm43xx driver works, it was quite difficult to compile, since the source code was available only as a (large) kernel source patch. Apparently the latest kernels include this driver as a standard module, along with the latest softmac wifi stack.
I will update the README to reflect your results. The fact that you needed to force the bitrate and channel parameters appears to be characteristic of a driver in its early stages of development. The process of forcing the bitrate to 11M also appears to be helpful with Linux wifi drivers that are failing to connect to some modern 54Mbs and 108Mbs routers.
I now wonder if this solution would also make the rt2x00 (Ralink new code) driver achieve better success?

[tempestuous]

Update July 2006: Atmel-based USB wifi adaptors are now supported in Puppy2.
The BerliOS Atmel at76c503a wifi driver package will now compile under Puppy2's kernel, thanks to some recent development of this driver for the first time in 2 1/2 years. I have just added it to the collection of wifi dotpups.

[BlackAdder]

Thanks for the Atmel drivers, tempestuous. I have access to a Netcomm NP7042 (03eb:7605) and a Micronet SP907BB V2 (12fd:1001). Both work well with these Puppy 2 drivers.
The at76c503-connect script could benefit from a sleep after the modprobe - I found 5 seconds was needed. The device connects and downloads the firmware, then disconnects and reconnects - don't know why, but that is what dmesg shows, and all that fluffing around takes some time.

tempestuous, you should get another Goodonyer award. If they were medals, you would look like a Russian general.

[tempestuous]

With the release of Puppy 2.02, these drivers are no longer useful.
But the contents of these driver packages can be helpful in creating your own updated driver. The main modules must, of course, be recompiled from source, but the original dotpups often contain additional utilities (hotplug, for example) plus firmware files, configuration files, and the all-important README which can be the most useful resource of all.
To extract the contents of a dotpup first do this - "unzip MYWIFIDRIVER.pup"
The unzipped dotpup will contain "FILESYSTEM.tgz". Uncompress this as such - "tar -zxvf FILESYSTEM.tgz"
Now you will have the full contents of the dotpup. All kernel-specific modules are in /lib/modules/xxx. All OTHER files are useful.

The wpa_supplicant, aircrack, kismet, and HostAP daemon dotpups remain useful, since these utilities don't contain kernel-specific modules.

[Rickrandom]

Excuse my ignorance, but I thought these drivers were for kernel 2.6.16.7, and I thought from Barry's news page that Puppy2.02 was still at this kernel version.

In very simple terms, why do they no longer work?

I did as suggested, and read the readme, but it was way over my head.

I was pretty pleased with myself (I'm easily pleased) when I got my Atheros mini-PCI card working in 2.01 with the madwifi driver. I was equally pleased with NTFS read/write in 2.02. I guess with the rapid evolution of Puppy, it's very difficult to have the best of all worlds immediately....

[tempestuous]

At http://www.puppyos.net/news/
under the heading Puppy 2.02beta, with full NTFS write support, Thursday, July 27, 2006, 04:03 AM

Another point: the kernel is 2.6.16.7 but earlier modules (v2.01) are not compatible. A nuisance if you have compiled one for wireless for example. I can help out, post the link here or the forum and I'll download and compile it.

[violetdream]

Have new driver packages been compiled for pup202? I'm dying without my madwifi If anyone could package a new version that would be fantastic!

[donde]

Running 2.02. I need a wireless driver for ZD1211, which is shown at bottom of list of drivers for 2.01.
I found linux driver tar file on Zydas site, but not sure what to do next.
http://www.zydas.com.tw/downloads/download-1211.asp
Can someone help?

Don

[kirk]

I compiled the zd1211 in 202. A script to load and unload the module is included, but I'm not sure about the interface name, so these scripts might not work. Anyway the module is there along with the user guide.

[donde]

Thanks Kirk for effort. I sure appreciate it. I'll give it a try, and report back.
Don

[Waikiki Websurfer]

tempestuous,

Thanks for the great job with the drivers. It is unfortunate that they won't work with 2.02. In anticipation of future Kernel, module, etc. upgrades which will make recompiling drivers necessary, it might be best if everyone simply compiled whatever driver they need. However, since I don't have any experience in compiling drivers, could you point out the basic requirements to do the job? Basically, a quick pointer about how you did it with the linux-wlan-ng for example to make it work with the updated Puppy versions... this of course assuming that the whole process is relatively straightforward and quick.

Aloha,
W.W.

[tempestuous]

From http://www.puppyos.com/test/ you need:
- development/compiler environment squashfs file, devx_202.sfs
- patched kernel source, linux-2.6.16.7-squashfs3.0patch.tar.gz

plus the kernel config file for 2.02. I think this will be found in Puppy 2.02 itself, in /lib/modules/2.6.16.7/

To compile the kernel source, see http://www.puppylinux.com/development/compilekernel.htm
Superquick howto:

Uncompress the kernel source into /usr/src/
Now put the 2.02 config file into /usr/src/linux-2.6.16.7/ and rename it to ".config"
Make sure that /usr/src/linux is a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux-2.6.16.7
Make sure that /lib/modules/2.6.16.7/build is a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux-2.6.16.7

cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.16.7
make menuconfig (Save changes > YES)
make modules

The other steps should not be necessary since the kernel is unchanged, you're just setting up the kernel source tree.

Regarding linux-wlan-ng-0.2.3, this won't compile under the 2.6.16 kernel until you apply this patch (I think I got it from the Gentoo forum) and even then, enable only the USB driver (and maybe PLX) driver because the PCMCIA driver will still fail.