General TC > Tiny Core Netbooks
How install an external USB wireless adaptor?
Mike7:
Rich (and everyone)-
Strangely, every time I plug in the external adapter and run "sudo rfkill list all" I get different device and index numbers for things. Weird.
Anyway, here's what I did:
With the Internal adaptor on and connected to the Internet, TP-Link unplugged:
--- Code: ---tc@box:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: eeepc-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy2: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
--- End code ---
With the internal adapter on and connected, TP-Link plugged in:
--- Code: ---tc@box:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: eeepc-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy2: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
4: phy3: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
--- End code ---
With the internal adapter on but disconnected from the Internet, TP-Link plugged in:
--- Code: ---tc@box:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: eeepc-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy2: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
4: phy3: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
--- End code ---
(but LED on the external adapter still off)
Int adaptor off, disconnected, TP-Link plugged in:
--- Code: ---tc@box:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: eeepc-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
4: phy3: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
--- End code ---
At this point I ran:
--- Code: ---sudo rfkill unblock 4
--- End code ---
and was able to run the wifi app and connect to the internet, and the LED on the external adapter went on!
and:
--- Code: ---tc@box:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: eeepc-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
4: phy3: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
--- End code ---
So. . . rfkill works to enable the external adapter. The only thing is that I have to find out its index number every time I plug it in (no big problem).
If I knew how to write scripts maybe I could automate the process, but it's easy enough to do it this way.
Now, if coreplayer2 will answer my questions above, I'll try his blacklist method and see which one works best for me.
Cheers!
Mike
Mike7:
Rich and all-
I've been tinkering some more with rfkill and the wireless adapter hardware switch, and I figured out a setup where I can switch between the internal and external adapters by simply plugging and unplugging the external one. No terminal commands needed. This is the best solution of all. The only question is whether or not this setup will hold through successive boots. If not, I'll be forced to try and write a script for it <grin>.
After such unexpected success, I hate to be downbeat. But a problem cropped up that sort of eliminates the use of 0cf3:1006: it doesn't capture the WEP-encrypted wifi signal that I wanted to use it for. Which is very strange because 0cf3:1006 does see that network when used with the WindowsXP and Puppy network managers. Also, it's the networl with the highest signal strength.
Another network, a local low-powered non-encrypted one, is registered by all three network managers when using 0cf3:1006. So the problem must have something to do with the way 0cf3:1006 is configured in Core, or the way it interfaces with Core's wifi app.
Anyone care to tackle this? It's the last stumbling block before breaking out the champagne <grin>.
Mike
coreplayer2:
I'd use two boot menu items. One menu item boots to the built-in device whilst blacklisting the external device. The other boot menu item will boot with external device support whilst blacklisting the built-in device. Simply select which device you want to provide support for at the boot menu. This is an improvised solution for simplicity, may not be the most correct either.
An example extlinux.conf boot file modified from one of my own config files
--- Code: ---DEFAULT internal
UI menu.c32
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 50
ONTIMEOUT internal
F1 f1
F2 f2
F3 f3
F4 f4
MENU TITLE Boot Menu
MENU MARGIN 10
MENU VSHIFT 5
MENU ROWS 5
MENU TABMSGROW 14
MENU TABMSG Press ENTER to boot, TAB to edit, or press F1 for more information.
MENU HELPMSGROW 15
MENU HELPMSGENDROW -3
MENU AUTOBOOT BIOS default device boot in # second{,s}...
LABEL internal
MENU LABEL Internal WiFi
TEXT HELP
Boot with Built-in WiFi support
ENDTEXT
KERNEL /tce/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=/tce/boot/core.gz loglevel=3 noswap waitusb=5:UUID="3295e2df-4ee6-48d6-ba9c-d6c2912c189e" tce=UUID="3295e2df-4ee6-48d6-ba9c-d6c2912c189e" blacklist=ath9k_htc
LABEL external
MENU LABEL External WiFi
TEXT HELP
Boot with external USB WiFi
ENDTEXT
KERNEL /tce/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=/tce/boot/core.gz loglevel=3 noswap waitusb=5:UUID="3295e2df-4ee6-48d6-ba9c-d6c2912c189e" tce=UUID="3295e2df-4ee6-48d6-ba9c-d6c2912c189e" blacklist=iwlwifi (replace iwlwifi with name of module for internal WiFi chip)
--- End code ---
obviously replace the UUID with your USB UUID and add the module name for the built-in WiFi device
Mike7:
coreplayer2-
That's very interesting, and I appreciate the trouble you've gone to. I'm making a copy of the extlinux.conf file.
However, it's moot at this point because, like I said above, the external device isn't capturing (or at least not registering) the WEP-encrypted network I'm after.
I haven't given up the idea of using it, as my use of Core depends on it. But someone will have to help me configure it so that it does capture that signal. It can (see above), but for some reason isn't, not with Core.
Mike
mic:
Absolutly similar problem!
On a desktop PC, when loading a TС, the external Atheros 9271 adapter is easy and simple to determine ...... but on a netbook, when loading a TС find onboard Atheros AR2427 WiFi only !
Guys are you overcome this problem?
Can I ask a specialist to summarize the findings for simple method! ( contradictions in the topic tоo much .... thoughts get confused ).
Please.
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