setting up wifi/ downloading .tcz packages WITHOUT app browser

[daxo]

@tinypoodle
you are absolutely correct sir (or madam, whichever you may be)
but given that reading the "another easy way" at http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/Setting+up+Wifi also involved downloading dozens of dependancies and also left me not even able to formulate a question about how to procede.  that is why i was foolin with wicd in the first place.

you know, i booted android on this netbook a couple of days ago.  its pretty lame but it actually works: connects to wifi, stays connected, remembers my password, and i can check my email.  i think it would be *awesome* if someone came up with a version of tinycore that was half as user friendly.  it would be amazing. 
we had 3 days of some of the nicest weather of the year,  i've spent that (~10+hrs a day) inside trying to get tinycore to work (after a 3+ weeks of another linux distro that sort kinda works but not really) and i have to say that i'm done, and very sad about it.  all i want to do is check my email, not earn a masters degree in computer sciencing. 

thanks to all who took the time to help me out and best of luck to your project.

[Juanito]

i sudo wicd-start and get an error something like usr/local/share/wicd/daemon/wicd-daemon.py in line 46 in <module> import gobject import error: no module named gobject

This looks like pygtk or pygobject is missing, but too late?

[daxo]

i dont have any way of diagnosing python errors
basically i have given up on tinycore.  the premise seems great, the philosopy is spot on, but if i cant get online i cant do anything with it.
i'd love for someone to let me know how to do it, and yes i've read dozens of pages of tutorials wikis and forums and most of it is beyond my comprehension, not applicable to me, or both.  seems like it would be simple enough to build in wifi support to tc, or at least as a separate but single add-on package (and the purist in me likes tc's minimal approach, while the pragmatist in me would like to actually use it).
i'll check back to this thread to see if anyone comes up with anything but basically i've given up, not without regret (if only at the enormous time invested coming to so little).

i especially want to thank those who helped me try, and not a single disparaging comment for this beginner (unlike some other linux forums i've used).  cheers!

[combo3]

after painstakingly downloading all 39 .tcz by hand and then almost equally painstakingly loading all 39 by hand into tinycore (fortunately i didnt know how to make them persistent so i have to reload them by hand next time-if there is a next time- by hand too.

Yikes!!!

It would be easier (and less frustrating) to download everything using the appbrowser tool over a wired connection at your neighbor's house or work.

In any case, the wicd package requires 40 extensions in total:

Xorg-7.5-lib.tcz
atk.tcz
bash.tcz
bzip2-lib.tcz
cairo.tcz
dbus-glib.tcz
dbus-python.tcz
dbus.tcz
expat2.tcz
fontconfig.tcz
glib2.tcz 
graphics-libs-1.tcz
gtk2.tcz
libcroco.tcz
libffi.tcz
libglade.tcz
libgsf.tcz
libiconv.tcz
librsvg.tcz
libxft.tcz
libxml2.tcz
ncurses-common.tcz
ncurses-utils.tcz
ncurses.tcz
openssl-0.9.8.tcz
pango.tcz
pixman.tcz
pycairo.tcz
pygobject.tcz
pygtk.tcz
python.tcz
shared-mime-info.tcz
sqlite3.tcz
tcl_tk.tcz
ttf-bitstream-vera.tcz
urwid.tcz
wicd.tcz
wireless-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz
wireless_tools.tcz
wpa_supplicant.tcz

...and 26 dependency files:

atk, bash, cairo, dbus-glib, dbus-python, dbus, fontconfig, gtk2, libcroco, libglade, libgsf
librsvg, libxft, ncurses-utils, ncurses, pango, pycairo, pygobject, pygtk, python
shared-mime-info, tcl_tk, urwid, wicd, wireless_tools, wpa_supplicant

i sudo wicd-start and get an error something like usr/local/share/wicd/daemon/wicd-daemon.py in line 46 in <module> import gobject import error: no module named gobject

As Juanito already suggested, you're most likely missing the pygobject extension, or forgot to load it.

[daxo]

@combo3
since i was trying to get wicd.tcz, i had to download wicd+39=40 items total, which i downloaded and double (at least) checked to make sure i got them all.  sorry for the confusion, i'm confused!
pygobject was installed (quadruple checked that since that seemed to me to relate to the error.)
i am curious about the 26 dependancy files you have listed, which seem to have the same names as some of the 40 .tcz items.  are the .tcz not dependancies?  there were no additional listings on the download page.  (ie, cairo.tcz was there but not cairo dependancy)
EDIT just looked at another thread with a user having a very similar issue to mine (trying to get up and running on wireless) and seems as if there are such things as .dep files.  i did not notice these on the downloads page referenced earlier in this thread.  are they somewhere else?  or am i just a blind fktard?  thanks.

fwiw i unload trucks for a living and while they are full of wire, the wires attach to 1200a 3 phase generators, not to the internet; i dont exactly live in a "howdy neighbor can i borrow a cup of sugar and an rj11 connection" kind of apartment building.  i do know a linux user who has a wire; when he and i have a day off in common i will try to arrange a visit, he lives less than an hour away so it should be easy.  though i cant help but think this should be easy-er.  

whatev, if i can get over there it will render the entire thread moot....

[Jason W]

daxo - I just posted a script in programming and scripting that is just for your situation, to quickly and easily set up a TC directory from another network connected distro.  Fetches extensions and their dependencies into a specified tce directory.  I am hoping that may help folks in your situation.

[hiro]

Perhaps we could extend the tc network tool to cope with iwconfig and wpa_supplicant!
Although this doesn't work for headless setups, oh may...

[daxo]

@ jason w  i am grateful and humbled for the script you wrote.  however i am completely unlearned as to what to do with it.  i really appreciate your efforts and hope that it will be of use to others in my situation.

@combo3  your list of extensions is quite different from that listed in the repository (if that is indeed what the websight is known as).  i will download the .tcz files that are on your list too and see if that works better.

it would seem that there are errors in dependancy lists.  wpa_supplicant lists qt-4.x-base.tcz as a dependancy, not found on any other list that i'm aware of, and wireless_tools.tcx lists wireless-KERNEL.tcz as a dependancy, i was unable to find it in the repository websight nor via google searches.

i also tried downloading the wpa_gui and all dependancies listed (except wireless-KERNAL.tcz as noted above). running a scan as described in the wiki on setting up wireless, i recieved an error that the network is down, unable to connect.  the network is in fact up, i am using my phone over the same wireless network to type this message.  i googled the error message and found items on other distributions recieving same but their supplications were either unanswered or their issue diverged from mine.

using modprob -l grep ath it shows the ath9k driver or extension (not sure of the nomenclature here sorry) but under lsmod the main driver is listed as process 0 which i dont believe exists.  (sorry again i dont have it in front of me to be as precise as might be needed to diagnose).

thanks in advance for any assistance!

[Juanito]

I believe you'll need the following extensions:

wireless_tools.tcz
wireless-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz
wpa_supplicant.tcz
openssl-0.9.8.tcz

[daxo]

thanks to the gracious help of forum members i have learned how to download extensions, and to make them persistant in a mount mode tc on a usb stick.  though roberts seemed to indicate i must be in cloud mode for this to work, so i continue to be a bit confused there. 

i have downloaded all the extensions listed for wicd.tcz to work, though as noted above there seems to be contradictory info as to which and how many extensions there are is depending where one references. 

also i am a bit confused as to the exact meaning of "dependancy", i believe that the various extensions "depend" on other extensions to work, but combo3's posting seems to indicate there are separate dependancy files neccessary as well, ie not only atk.tcz but also an atk dependancy file.  i am unclear on this, and i have found neither an answer nor a place to download such files. 

@juanito  the extensions you mention are a subset of the wicd extension set, i have previously downloaded them AND those dependancies which are not explicitly mentioned in your post.

where i am at right now:  unclear on a few items, mentioned above though none seems fatal.  main issue: wifi still does not work.  symptoms described in my post #22 above.  perhaps i need to rename/start new thread?  help!  thanks!

[roberts]

Let me be clear then...
Your first complaint was that you were having to download 39 extensions every time you booted.
That would indicate that you have no persistent /tce directory setup. That is cloud mode.
I suggested you read introductory documents to learn of the requirement to have setup such a persistent directory. Which you have now achieved.

As several have pointed out, for many, only two, three, or four extensions are required for wireless. That is if you are comfortable with the command line or at least following a wiki.

For those who need/desire/require a full blown GUI, then that GUI will likely depend on many many libraries up to including the one you chose, 39. It is not the requirements of wireless but the GUI tool.

Still your wireless card may require firmware which may be hosted or not, it may in fact, need to be extracted, or possibly even using ndiswrapper.

The more information you can provide regarding your wireless card will enable other to help.

[daxo]

@ roberts
i have tried all 3 methods listed in the tc wiki "connect to wifi".  i tried the "easy" one first because i thought it would be easier, and gradually worked my way to method 3.  i am not "afraid" of using the terminal but i am starting from zero so i believed a gui would be helpful.  i often don't know how to interpret console outputs, or know what to do if it does/yields something other than what is in the wiki.

running iwconfig yields info about the interfaces but not the hardware itself.  i did look for the hardware info but couldnt find it.  is there a command line for discovering this?  i would love to learn it.  i have an acer aspire one d260; searching other forums tends to indicate the ath9k driver/module/extension work with this laptop, and modprobe shows these drivers are in fact present.  lsmod seems to show that everything is there, but i'm not sure.

running the wga_gui results in
current status: could not get status from wpa_suppicant  
in menu: network/ add   i get error popup "failed to enable network in wpa_supplicant configuration" no matter what i enter in the fields.  i was unable to reproduce the error "network down" i mentioned before, i no longer seem to get that far (see below)
i would be happy to re-run this in console, and even happier to learn how to do such.  

i will note that i found the dependancy files (they are on the http sight but not the ftp sight i had been downloading .tcz from); adding them to /tce/optional loads all dependancies automatically.  genius! but not well documented.  here is the important part: error "wireless-KERNEL.tcz not found" (sorry dont remember now if it was a dash or underscore) when installing wicd in the app browser, and wicd will no longer even start.  i assume the dependancy text files which automatically load dependancies also block apps from installing/running if the dependancies are not install-ed/-able. this .tcz is not to be found via the google searches i have used.  any info available is appreciated.  again, i don't have a problem with doing this all from command line and abandoning wicd and wpa-gui.  but i am concerned that it is the absence of wireless_KERNEL.tcz that is mucking up the works.

thanks again for your time and patience

[aus9]

hi

I do not have any wireless net but you may have been asked to name your wireless device?

You can post the output of

Code: [Select]

lspci
(and)
lsmod

You may see in the link below that some use Atheros but models differ
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showcat.php?cat=all&stype=1&si=aspire+one

Some of the atheros modules are showing as ath....in this link..AFAIK
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/tcz/wireless-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz.list

good luck

[daxo]

tc@box:~$ lspci
sh: lspci: not found
tc@box:~$ lsmod
Module          size    Used by        Not tainted
ath9k         47516       0
ath9k_common 1304  1   ath9k
mac80211  87580       2   ath9k, ath9k_common
ath9k_hw   179940     2   ath9k, ath9k_common
ath              5584       2   ath9k, ath9k_hw
cfg80211   73276        4  ath9k, ath9k_common,mac80211,ath
squashfs    14728       0
ramzswap    10240     1
loop           8068        0
scsi_wait_scan 276    0
battery         6028      0
ac                1696      0
video          12712      0
backlight       1632     1   video
output           724       1  video
wmi            3656      0
atl1c         18936       0

i dont know if this is helpful: running system stats mini app from the panel shows
wlan0      link encap: ethernet   HWaddr  78:E4:00:7B:52:07
               UP BROADCAST MULTICAST   MTU:1500  Metric:1
and all the stats after that are 0 except txqueuelen:1000

also in system stats/ dmesg at the very end there is some stuff about ath9k
i'm typing all this on my phone from what i read on the screen so only what seems important

phy0: Selected rate control algorithm kath9k_rate_control'
Registered led device: ath9kophy0::radio
Registered led device: ath9kophy0::assoc 
Registered led device: ath9kophy0::tx
Registered led device: ath9kophy0::rx
phy0 Atheros AR9285 Rev:2 mem=0xf8320000, irq=17
atl1c 0000:01:00.0: irq 27 for MSI/MSI-X


thanks so much for the continuing help and responses

(the linux help page was busy, i will search for aspire one d260 when it becomes available again)

[tinypoodle]

A driver seems to be loaded and an interface created 

Code: [Select]

ifconfig wlan0 up
to bring interface up

can you post output of

Code: [Select]

iwconfig


Do you know:
1. ESSID of net you want to connect to
2. if there is a password, if encryption type is WEP or WPA2 ?