Wireless for Dummies

[samweller]

My problem seems to be a mixture of not knowing some basics and not being able to follow certain threads because my terminal results aren't the same as the results from the instructions.  I have consulted with the TC wiki and this thread which seemed very thorough although I got hung up early on for said reasons.http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22469

I have always used wireless with my Puppy configurations so it's not the computer.  Using my Puppy config I copied some info that I thought would help.

PUPPY...

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iwconfiggets

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lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"belkin54g" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:17:3F:A9:48:BF   
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   Sensitivity=8/0 
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=89/100  Signal level=-40 dBm  Noise level=-89 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:16   Missed beacon:1
Puppy network interface readout

interface===eth1   type====wireless    dule====ipw2200    device descrip===pci:  Intel 2200BG Network Connection.

This is some of the information I tried looking for on my TinyCore configuration.  But in TinyCore using the root terminal when I type:

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iwconfigI get

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lo        no wireless extensions.

dummy0    no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

Here's TC Root shell

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lsmod

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Module                  Size  Used by
snd_seq_dummy            632  0
snd_seq_oss            17232  0
snd_seq_midi_event      2640  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                25980  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          2788  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            24620  1
snd_mixer_oss           8536  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_intel8x0m           6804  0
joydev                  5388  0
snd_intel8x0           16780  1
snd_ac97_codec         66288  2 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus                 408  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                36852  4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer              10340  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    25936  10 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               2192  2 snd
snd_page_alloc          4028  3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
ipw2200               101140  0
libipw                 16600  1 ipw2200
lib80211                1948  2 ipw2200,libipw
pcmcia                 13964  0
firmware_class          3188  2 ipw2200,pcmcia
squashfs               11732  51
serio_raw               2240  0
scsi_wait_scan           260  0
yenta_socket           13336  1
rsrc_nonstatic          5744  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            16976  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
8139cp                 10988  0
8139too                13640  0
wbsd                    7000  0
mmc_core               23428  1 wbsd
battery                 5976  0
parport_pc             18352  0
parport                18768  1 parport_pc

I honestly don't know what my wireless module is what my driver is supposed to be.  Maybe that would be a helpful clue.

[Juanito]

I assume you have the wireless_tools extension loaded and udev appears to have automatically loaded the drivers for your hardware.

You could try something like "dmesg | tail -20" to see if there are any relevant messages about your wireless hardware.

I guess you will need to do something like this to get your wireless started:

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$ sudo iwconfig eth0 essid "belkin54g"
$ sudo udhcpc -b -i eth0

[samweller]

I assume you have the wireless_tools extension loaded and udev appears to have automatically loaded the drivers for your hardware.

Yes

You could try something like "dmesg | tail -20" to see if there are any relevant messages about your wireless hardware.

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root@box:/home/tc# dmesg | tail -20
usb 4-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
usb 4-2: device descriptor read/8, error -110
usb 4-2: device descriptor read/8, error -110
hub 4-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2
xonclock[11038]: segfault at 20 ip b7e25201 sp b7aa5300 error 4 in libX11.so.6.2.0[b7dea000+fc000]
usb 2-1: USB disconnect, address 2
usb 2-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Microsoft Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0/input/input8
generic-usb 0003:045E:0040.0002: input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Microsoft Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM)] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1/input0
kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs warning: maximal mount count reached, running e2fsck is recommended
EXT3 FS on hda4, internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
ACPI: EC: non-query interrupt received, switching to interrupt mode
ACPI: EC: GPE storm detected, transactions will use polling mode
intel_rng: Firmware space is locked read-only. If you can't or
intel_rng: don't want to disable this in firmware setup, and if
intel_rng: you are certain that your system has a functional
intel_rng: RNG, try using the 'no_fwh_detect' option.


$ sudo iwconfig eth0 essid "belkin54g"

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root@box:/home/tc# iwconfig eth0 essid "belkin54g"
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
    SET failed on device eth0 ; Operation not supported.

?

[4-stroke]

I think you need the firmware for your wireless card.

http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php

Download the version that is appropriate for your card, unpack it in /lib/fimware and add /lib/firmware to your .filetool.lst.

Puppy comes with most firmware included. Tinycore doesn't and this confused me too at first.

[Jason W]

I had looked into whether ipw2200 could be in the repo, but it appears to be non-distributable according to the license you have to agree to before download.  The relevant part:

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LICENSE. You may copy and use the Software, subject to these conditions:


   1. This Software is licensed for use only in conjunction with Intel component
products. Use of the Software in conjunction with non-Intel component products is
not licensed hereunder.
   2. You may not copy, modify, rent, sell, distribute or transfer any part of the
Software except as provided in this Agreement, and you agree to prevent
unauthorized copying of the Software.
   3. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software.
   4. You may not sublicense the Software.
   5. The Software may contain the software or other property of third party
suppliers.

I am not sure if there is a loophole or a way to obtain a distribution license.

[samweller]

no such dir as /lib/firmware.

?

[combo3]

You have to create it first: sudo mkdir /lib/firmware

Next, copy the firmware files to /lib/firmware

and add the directory to /opt/.filetool.lst

echo lib/firmware >> /opt/.filetool.lst

Then do a backup.

[Juanito]

I don't have the hardware to test, but will this work from /usr/local/lib/firmware?

[combo3]

I don't have the hardware to test, but will this work from /usr/local/lib/firmware?

Actually, now that you mention it... probably.

/lib/udev/firmware.sh contains the following:

FIRMWARE_DIRS="/lib/firmware /usr/local/lib/firmware"

So I copied my USB firmware to /usr/local/lib/firmware and got it working.

YMMV

[^thehatsrule^]

I had looked into whether ipw2200 could be in the repo, but it appears to be non-distributable according to the license you have to agree to before download.  The relevant part:
...
I am not sure if there is a loophole or a way to obtain a distribution license.

I think that's for the end user only.  There's another one for redistributors.

See http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
And a related post: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=2966.0

[Jason W]

After all, the page claims it's "open source":

an open source 802.11a/bg driver for the ipw2200 and ipw2915


So we may very well be able to distribute it.

[4-stroke]

Please include the Ralink firmware too. It would make my reinstalls a lot easier:

http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Firmware_license

[josephg]

$ sudo iwconfig eth0 essid "belkin54g"

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root@box:/home/tc# iwconfig eth0 essid "belkin54g"
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
    SET failed on device eth0 ; Operation not supported.

?

from your first post, it's probably eth1 for you, rather than eth0. eth0 might be your physical netword card, not wireless.

i also wonder, as per your thread title, would you sum up all the steps in your first post for any newbies or people looking for a how-to with wireless?

[curaga]

Did you check the date of the post you replied to?