No ethernet connection, need to get wifi working

[staycoldb]

I just installed core plus on an old Dell machine for a friend. Install went smooth. The wifi card he is using is a USB AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra . When I do ifconfig all I get is the local loopback address. Not even eth0 shows up. I was planning on downloading everything from the repository but it looks like that's not an option now since tc doesn't even see the 803 card. The only Linux distro I've really messed with are Kali and Ubuntu which are both pretty user friendly from a linux perspective so this is throwing me for a loop.

I'm trying is to install some realtek drivers from a USB stick as the following thread:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=94495&f=53 instructs as the software is the same required for the airlink nic I'm using. My problem with this solution is I get stuck at the part where you open the fodler in terminal. I navigate to the folder in app launcher but it doesn't let me open anything. And the CD command doesn't work in Terminal.

I was reading up some on wicd but TC is really limited as far as tools go to install software packages so I'm at a loss right now, I tried to launch wicd.tcz with run programs but nothing happens. Below is a screenshot of what I have on a usb stick right now ready to install. As you can probably tell I'm a linux noob, but if anyone can guide me from here I really appreciate it.



 I feel pretty stupid, someone please help....

[Juanito]

I'd recommend you read this first:

http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html

What version of CorePlus are you using?

Before getting involved with making a wifi connection, we need to confirm what hardware you have using "lsusb" and then check if there is an extension with the required driver and/or firmware already in the extension repository.

[staycoldb]

Thanks for the reply. I installed the default FLWM version. And as for lsusb, that's the thing, when I try that command terminal returns a 'not found' error. I've noticed that with quite a few commands that typically work in other distros but not in tinycore.

I'm gonna skim through the manual now.

[Juanito]

I meant is it CorePure-5.3 or an older version 

You'll need to find a way to download the usb-utils and libusb extensions to have the "lsusb" command work. A catch-22 situation I know, but maybe there's another machine you could download them to and copy them across?

[coreplayer2]

It looks like USB AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra adapter is supported in either

wireless-3.8.13-tinycore.tcz and
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz


Or alternatively newer devices might be better supported in

wl-r8192cu-3.8.13-tinycore.tcz
(this requires to set boot code  "blacklist=rtl8192cu")

Like juanito asked, need to know which version of tinycore  (download) you are using and the output of lsusb

[staycoldb]

EDIT: During bootup noticed that it's 3.8.13.

As for the sb-utils and libusb extensions, can I download those to usb and just plug the usb stick into the TC machine and install them that way? If so would you happen to know where I can download them and a brief lesson on how to install. I tried to install some realtek drivers in TC already and I just couldnt accomplish anything using 'run program' tool.

[Juanito]

You can download the libusb, usb-utils and udev-lib extensions here:

http://www.tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/tcz/libusb.tcz
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/tcz/libusb.tcz.dep
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/tcz/usb-utils.tcz
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/tcz/usb-utils.tcz.dep
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/tcz/udev-lib.tcz

If you save these to a usb stick, you can plug it into the machine without internet, use the gui mount tool to mount it and then "tce-load -i /mnt/sdxx/usb-utils" to load the extensions, where sdxx is sda1, sdb2, etc.

[staycoldb]

Awesome, thanks so much Juanito, you're a huge help. I'll post back later with a progress report   

[staycoldb]

Ok, got it all installed and libusb works like a charm now.

lsusb shows the wlan adapter I'm using as this:

Code: (bash) [Select]

bus 001 Device 006: ID Obda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter

[coreplayer2]

It looks like USB AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra adapter is supported in either

wireless-3.8.13-tinycore.tcz and
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz


Or alternatively newer devices might be better supported in

wl-r8192cu-3.8.13-tinycore.tcz
(this requires to set boot code  "blacklist=rtl8192cu")

Like juanito asked, need to know which version of tinycore  (download) you are using

The adapter is listed as supported in rtl8192cu which should be loaded if you run wifi from wifi.tcz extension, also required for this driver is firmware- rtlwifi.tcz extension

If the adapter is not supported then try the second option from the above.  else you may need to load " wl-r8192u_usb-3.8.10-tinycore.tcz " extension remember to use wifi.tcz extension (plus dependencies)

I'm assuming you are booting the coreplus.iso  which has wifi and firmware extensions??

[staycoldb]

It looks like USB AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra adapter is supported in either

wireless-3.8.13-tinycore.tcz and
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz


Or alternatively newer devices might be better supported in

wl-r8192cu-3.8.13-tinycore.tcz
(this requires to set boot code  "blacklist=rtl8192cu")

Like juanito asked, need to know which version of tinycore  (download) you are using

I'm assuming you are booting the coreplus.iso  which has wifi and firmware extensions??

No, I installed the default FLWM version. It's the first option on the menu before you boot tinycore. Does this mean I need to reinstall the OS? 

[coreplayer2]

No, I installed the default FLWM version. It's the first option on the menu before you boot tinycore. Does this mean I need to reinstall the OS? 

Ok FLWM is only the window manager choice. 

[coreplayer2]

If a choice of window managers is an option then you must be booting the correct coreplus.iso  Instead of booting to FLWM  choose + WIFI + Firmware (to load wifi extensions)

" Boot Core with X/GUI (Tinycore) + WIFI + Firmware "

then try wifi icon to connect



edit:  for some reason the firmeware-rtlwifi.tcz extension missed being included in the latest coreplus.iso so you'll have to download and load it like you did the usb-utils.tcz extensions

[staycoldb]

If a choice of window managers is an option then you must be booting the correct coreplus.iso  Instead of booting to FLWM  choose + WIFI + Firmware (to load wifi extensions)

" Boot Core with X/GUI (Tinycore) + WIFI + Firmware "

then try wifi icon to connect



edit:  for some reason the firmeware-rtlwifi.tcz extension missed being included in the latest coreplus.iso so you'll have to download and load it like you did the usb-utils.tcz extensions

Damn, guess I gotta reinstall the OS again. Oh well.

[coreplayer2]

reinstall ??