Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Base => CorePlus => Topic started by: eltone on January 07, 2013, 03:10:15 PM

Title: *SOLVED* WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: eltone on January 07, 2013, 03:10:15 PM
Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
1) CorePlus-4.7.3.iso
2) hp dv8000
3) Wireless Chip Set: Broadcom Corporataion BCM4318 [AirForcce One 54g] 802.11g

Hi,
CorePlus-4.7.3 booted from LiveUSB, on hp laptop referenced above,  but cannot find wifi OoTB!
The b43 firmware cutter appears to be bundled with ISO.  What is the correct way to install the b43 wifi driver?
Regards,
eltone

$ sudo lspci -v

   

06:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
   Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN
   Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 21
   Memory at c0204000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
   Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
   Kernel modules: ssb

$

***************************


Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: aus9 on January 07, 2013, 06:49:55 PM
eltone

welcome to TinyCore. I am not an expert and used wired but did try the coreplus on a neighbour who had broadcom

assuming you chose the top menu item to boot and click on the wifi icon and it said no wireless devices found try this

open a terminal and run

Code: [Select]
lsmod | grep b43
---if no list found then try
sudo modprobe b43
(and repeat lsmod command to see new list as per image)

then retry the wifi wbar icon

good luck

EDIT
it looks like the 4318 is ok by this link
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: aus9 on January 07, 2013, 08:45:32 PM
I am not an expert, but I can remember I never touched the network panel

until you get a better reply try again and don't touch network
IMHO the wireless must be detected then choose an network then input the WPA2 or whatever security you have
--then you have a network

I will have to slink away as am not an expert
good luck
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: genec on January 07, 2013, 09:11:34 PM
Read http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:network_setup_-_broadcom_wireless_cards yet?
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 08, 2013, 09:54:19 AM
Hi eltone
Quote
tinycore blacklist=bcma
tinycore blacklist=wl
I don't know if  tinycore  is still recognized. Hit F2 before entering the bootcodes for the correct options. I think
they are   plus   tc   mc. You want   plus   and it only needs to be entered once as the first item.
You can blacklist multiple items like this:
Code: [Select]
blacklist=bcma,wl
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 08, 2013, 10:26:16 AM
Hi eltone
Are you booting from a CD? If so, it must pause somewhere to give you some options. Or did you install to a
hard drive?
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 08, 2013, 07:06:35 PM
Keys in FAQ are specific to .iso bootloader configuration.
You can either configure your current bootloader or just boot from cd again ;)
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 08, 2013, 08:13:18 PM
Hi eltone
Boot the thumb drive. Open a terminal and enter:
Code: [Select]
sudo editorClick File->Open  and navigate to  /mnt/sda1  assuming your thumb drive is sda1
You are looking for  extlinux.conf. If you don't see an  extlinux  directory, check under boot for it.
Open the  extlinux.conf  file and append:
Code: [Select]
blacklist=bcma,wlto the end of the line with the word  quiet  in it. Save and reboot.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 08, 2013, 08:30:57 PM
Q: Can the thumb drive be formatted to FAT32 instead of EXT4?
Assume "tc-install" 'vfat' formatting option is FAT32??

Yes and yes; though vfat could potentially be FAT16 if the partition would be really small.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 09, 2013, 02:01:04 AM
Maybe I'm missing something here, but for me:

The wl module comes from the wl-modules-3.0.21-tinycore extension, which you don't need to load unless you're planning on using the broadcom driver.

If you don't load wl-modules-3.0.21-tinycore, then you don't need blacklist=wl (and in any case it will not automagically load itself)

If you use the b43 driver, then I don't believe you need to blacklist anything - since it is an in-kernel driver, it will behave properly with the bcma and ssb modules.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 09, 2013, 10:25:09 PM
Could there be a missing extension, for b43 to hiccup this way?

Not so much a missing extension, but you probably need the appropriate broadcom firmware for your hardware to work, see:

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

Quote
The Broadcom wireless chip needs proprietary software (called "firmware") that runs on the wireless chip itself to work properly. This firmware is copyrighted by Broadcom and must be extracted from Broadcom's proprietary drivers. To get such firmware on your system, you must download the driver from a legal distribution point, extract it, and install it. This is accomplished different ways by different Linux distributions, so please read the section for yours for the best results. You will need an alternate working internet connection (by Ethernet cable, for example) since the firmware cannot be included with the distro itself.

Quote
Other distributions not mentioned above

Note: You need to have a compiler and headers for libc installed, since you will have to build fwcutter from source
...continue reading from here

and

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:list_of_supported_wifi_devices
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: genec on January 09, 2013, 10:31:40 PM
I would have sworn I had a 4318 in something, b43 loaded fine but the wifi was deaf.  Once I blacklisted the other 3 components and loaded the appropriate extensions, wl solved my issue.  I'll need to check what card was in the machine.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 09, 2013, 10:33:13 PM
Can RF-kill be the root problem?

You could maybe double-check that your wifi hardware and software (bios) switches are on.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: aus9 on January 10, 2013, 01:21:49 AM
it me lurking away

eltone pls ensure that you have completely shutdown windows before booting into linux so that you avoid this scenario
paraphrased....windows locks the wifi device in hibernation etc
source
http://linux.bigresource.com/Ubuntu-Networking-unable-to-turn-wifi-on-after-windows-hibernate-h121tlrfb.html

If I am right, boot back into windows, go into control panel and check that pushing the power button truly shuts down MS
then shutdown then try Linux....I am not an expert in MS so I am hoping its the power management icon in MS

good luck
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: eltone on January 11, 2013, 12:15:51 AM

The b43 maintainer says this driver supports these chipsets:
1) 2) BCM4306/3
3) BCM4311
4) BCM4312
5) BCM4318
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 11, 2013, 12:30:17 AM
Hi eltone
See here:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,12910.msg71013.html#msg71013
for BCM4312.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: gerald_clark on January 11, 2013, 01:00:39 AM
The BMC4311 works with firmware-openfwwf.tcz.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 11, 2013, 01:53:03 AM
OK, but in this instance I'm reasonably sure the problem is that the user has not "cut" and loaded the broadcom firmware to use with the b43 driver.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 11, 2013, 02:41:16 AM
What I have found unique to TCP is that NO RFKill app exists!
eltone
Not sure what makes you say so, it appears to be in repo.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 11, 2013, 09:40:04 AM
Hi eltone
Yes, it's called  rfkill.tcz.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 11, 2013, 10:10:00 AM
You just need to follow the instructions on the Linux wireless b43 page I referenced previously and then make your own personal extension of the firmware
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: eltone on January 11, 2013, 07:28:36 PM


How is Appbrowser launched?
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: gerald_clark on January 11, 2013, 08:00:21 PM
tce-ab
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 11, 2013, 08:06:59 PM
Hi eltone
Quote
inet addr:192.168.0.71  Bcast:192.168.0.1  Mask:255.255.255.0
Bcast should be  192.168.0.255
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Rich on January 11, 2013, 10:43:37 PM
Hi eltone
Quote
How can software turn the wifi LED completely OFF??
Maybe:
Code: [Select]
sudo rfkill unblock wifiMan page for rfkill:
http://linux.die.net/man/1/rfkill
The man pages for rfkill are also included with the extension. If you install the  man  extension, you can view
them locally.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 11, 2013, 11:03:03 PM
Code: [Select]
sudo modprobe -r modulename
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: curaga on January 12, 2013, 03:01:47 PM
That's your DNS not working. Double-check /etc/resolv.conf.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 12, 2013, 06:42:49 PM
- What do you refer to by "loop"?

- How did you configure each interface - statically or dynamically?

- Please post output of "route -n"
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: eltone on January 12, 2013, 07:52:49 PM

- How did you configure each interface - statically or dynamically?

- Please post output of "route -n"


Quote
tc@box:~$ sudo route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0                 UG    0      0        0 wlan0
0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0                 UG    0      0        0 eth0
127.0.0.1             0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255   UH    0      0        0 lo
192.168.0.0        0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0          U     0      0        0 eth0
192.168.0.0        0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0          U     0      0        0 wlan0
tc@box:~$


Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 12, 2013, 10:48:49 PM
Please search this forum for posts about how to configure multiple net interfaces.
For simplicity and to stay on the safe side, you might for now stay with 1 interface being up at a time only.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: aus9 on January 13, 2013, 09:36:28 AM
eltone

I wonder if we research a way forward?

1) Download CorePlus 4.7.3 check its hash with
Code: [Select]
md5sum CorePlus-4.7.3.iso
must match this page
http://tinycorelinux.net/4.x/x86/release/CorePlus-4.7.3.iso.md5.txt

2) Suggest you do not have any ethernet cable or hardware converter connected

Suggest you do not attempt in any way to configure DNS

Suggest at boot loader stage or by command such as modprobe -r.....to blacklist or remove any modules

From your previous posts, you appear to already have b43 module so try clicking on the wifi icon

I am sorry if you feel you have done this, but when I have attempted to have both ethernet and wifi I think most distros get confused
YMMV

what I am hoping is you had a bad burn, or ethernet interfered with DNS or something
as you can tell I am not an expert so feel free to ignore
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 13, 2013, 02:05:28 PM
Using multiple net interfaces is the only way I can get TCP online.  If the wifi is turned OFF, the wired connection fails and visa versa. 
That does not make any sense.
Having 2 concurrent gateways could never work, and connecting 2 interfaces to the same subnet is unlikely to work right by default.
Quote
I agree there's a bug lurking in the DNS.
Bug how? You have not provided any indication of any bug.
DNS is an issue totally independent of your routing table which is most obviously messed up.

I'd suggest you boot either with wireless on and boot code "nodhcp" or with wireless off and try to activate one interface only.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: gerald_clark on January 13, 2013, 10:06:24 PM
Then your DHCP server is configured to give out your gateway address as a nameserver.  Fix your dhcp server.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 13, 2013, 10:45:42 PM
1. '/etc/resolv.conf' could not cause an internet connection to fail.
2. DNS is a totally separate subject not related to whatever discussed in this thread so far.
3. Configuration and bugs are totally different subjects.
4. If you'd use the search function of this forum, you would already have found many answers and avoided many setup issues.
e.g. http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,8019.msg43028.html#msg43028
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: tinypoodle on January 13, 2013, 11:50:04 PM
Not really a need for wifi to get activated at boot, but preferably unplug ethernet cable first or at least use boot code "nodhcp" to prevent possible conflicts.
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 14, 2013, 12:59:53 AM
What is the preferred method to auto-start b43, at boot?

I've probably had three different sets of broadcom hardware that worked with the b43 module and firmware obtained using b43-fwcutter (my current hardware will only work with the wl module):

If the wireless-KERNEL extension is loaded at boot, the b43 module will load automatically as long as the wifi hardware switch is in the "on" position.

If your broadcom hardware requires a home-made (using b43-fwcutter) firmware extension in order to work, this extension needs to be loaded before the wireless-KERNEL extension.

So, whilst you're figuring things out, it's better not to load the wireless-KERNEL extension "onboot".

Once things are working, I believe you should be able to load your home-made firmware extension "onboot" and run the wifi script from bootlocal (which will load the wireless-KERNEL extension).
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 21, 2013, 04:12:02 AM
Assuming your wifi is enabled in hardware, if you do this:
Code: [Select]
$ tce-load -i wireless-KERNEL
$ lsmod
..has the b43 module been loaded automatically?

Does you hardware need firmware loaded to work?
Title: Re: WLAN Out to Lunch
Post by: Juanito on January 22, 2013, 10:22:03 PM
I cannot comment on 'tce-load', since man pages has no coverage of it.

"tce-load" is the tinycore command for loading extensions...