Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Extensions => TCE Q&A Forum => Topic started by: svensko on January 11, 2009, 02:34:42 AM

Title: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 11, 2009, 02:34:42 AM
I seem to be having issues with my Atheros wireless on my Acer Aspire One...
I downloaded wireless 2.6.26 and wireless-tools and I cannot seem to connect to any wireless networks. I set sudo modprobe ath5k in my bootlocal.sh, iwconfig shows that the card is detected, however whenever i do sudo iwlist wlan0 scan, nothing comes up and when i do sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid <name> key <key>, iwconfig shows that the wlan0 is connected to the network but shows that the access point is "non-associated". I attempted to enable the DHCP client (which enabled wireless on my IBM X40 with the ipw2200 modules) however I still lack wireless after enablng the DHCP client on my acer aspire one. Any insight is appreciated.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on January 11, 2009, 05:51:44 AM
I have the same interest with tc and Aspire One.
I notice with other OS (like Parted Magic) that the wireless light don't work, even with right connection. You have to prove to move the wireless button to see if there are changes in the connection. In tc I have similar problems like you.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 11, 2009, 10:44:46 AM
I realize the light doesn't work since it doesn't work in Ubuntu either (unless you make some modifications to a file). The Ubuntu FAQ suggests ditching the ath5k driver for the ath_pci driver which is found in the mad-wifi package but that requires HAL as well. Does TCL have HAL?

Here is a link to the Ubuntu FAQ on wireless on the Acer Aspire One: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 11, 2009, 11:17:32 AM
I am using ndiswrapper with eeePC 901A with great results.
Might want to try it.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 11, 2009, 11:38:39 AM
I am using ndiswrapper with eeePC 901A with great results.
Might want to try it.

I was looking forward to your post! I remember you saying a few days ago that you got Atheros working on the eeePC so I knew you had some sort of solution.  ;D

I will definitely try the ndiswrapper solution. Does this mean that the ath5K module was not working for your eeePC?
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 11, 2009, 12:00:11 PM
True. I have read/heard that you need to compile newer madwifi.
I haven't had time to look into that.
 
The ndiswrapper extension that I made will serve many more devices for now and works quite stable on my eee.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 12, 2009, 03:42:30 AM
i installed ndiswrapper, downloaded the xp atheros driver, unzipped it, pointed ndiswrapper to it, added sudo modprobe ndiswrapper to my bootlocal.sh but iwconfig yields no wireless interface. Did I do something wrong?
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 12, 2009, 11:43:17 AM
When you used ndiswrapper -i /path/to/the/inffile.inf did you see hardware present message?
Do you have files in /etc/ndiswrapper/your_driver directory as a result of the above -i operation?

Please post your specific steps.

Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on January 12, 2009, 03:28:02 PM
In my case the steps are:

load wireless.tczm
load wireless_tools.tcz
load ndiswrapper.tcem

sudo ndiswrapper -i /home/tc/atheros/net5211.inf
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
lsmod
(here I see ndiswrapper module is loaded)

iwconfig
(there is no wlan0)

ls /etc/ndiswrapper/net5211
168C:0012.5.conf
168C:0012:7005:144F.5.conf
168C:0013.5.conf
168C:0013:7057:144F.5.conf
168C:0013:7058:144F.5.conf
168C:0013:7064:144F.5.conf
168C:0013:7065:144F.5.conf
168C:0013:7084:144F.5.conf
168C:0013:7088:144F.5.conf
168C:001A.5.conf
168C:001A:7094:144F.5.conf
168C:001B.5.conf
168C:001B:7092:144F.5.conf
168C:001C.5.conf
168C:001C:7096:144F.5.conf
168C:001C:7106:144F.5.conf
ar5211.sys
net5211.inf

is there another step to do?
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 12, 2009, 06:37:22 PM
I don't have an Aspire One so you might have different results. You may need to find an alternate net5211.inf

I do have an eeePC 900A and the the Asus supplied Windows Atheros driver which works easily.

My /etc/ndiswrapper/net5211 contains 96 files created upon using ndiswrapper -i /home/tc/net5211.inf
I only have two driver files net5211.inf and ar5211.sys in my home/tc directory. Also, I had to use the full path to the net5211.inf in the ndiswrapper command and the ar5211.sys must be in the same directory.

HTH
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 12, 2009, 09:12:39 PM
After messing with several different *.inf files and having only one that would recognize the card(but not connect to any network), I gave up and tried the madwifi route. I remember installing drivers on ubuntu when I first got the laptop so I thought I'd try that. After compiling everything, I finally have wireless!!!  :o

Directions:
Code: [Select]
wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
install compiletc.tce and linux-headers-2.6.26.tce
tar -xzf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6*/
make
sudo make install
modprobe ath_pci

Hope this helps any fellow Acer Aspire One owners.  ;D
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on January 13, 2009, 11:59:52 AM
Thank you svensko,

Now I am writing this post in my AAO with wireless connection

Only I have to write "sudo" before "modprobe ath_pci"  ;)

next:
load wireless.tczm
load wireless_tools.tcz
sudo ifconfig ath0 up
sudo iwconfig ath0 essid "your essid"


Another question is what to include in .filetool.lst to backup the modules and then next time don't have to compile another time.
I have added in .filetool.lst the directory "lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/net" but after reboot there are the files but don't work sudo modprobe ath_pci. Perhaps I must include other files?
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Jason W on January 13, 2009, 12:26:37 PM
You probably just need to issue "sudo depmod -a" after booting to set up the modules for loading if they are simply backed up and not part of a .tcem or tczm extension.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 13, 2009, 01:26:26 PM
I booted, compiled, then did sudo depmod -a ath_pci then sudo modprobe ath_pci, rebooted with backing up, and still no luck.  ???
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on January 13, 2009, 04:10:43 PM
Jason you are right  :D

this are the steps

in .filetool.lst -->   lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/net
in bootlocal.sh: -->  depmod -a
                        -->  modprobe ath_pci
in Control Panel -- Netcardconfig --  Interface --> ath0
                                                 -- Nameservers --> one or two IP's for resolv.conf
                                                 -- Save Configuration? --> yes
                                                 -- Aply and Exit

If you look now to bootlocal.sh you see in the last line:
/opt/ath0.sh &

Now after rebooting:
lsmod
and you see the loaded modules from ath

to finish:
sudo ifconfig ath0 up
sudo iwconfig ath0 essid "your essid"

and finally Minefield and surf the net

¡Great! ;D ;D
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on January 14, 2009, 02:18:18 PM
I have made a madwifi-hal.tcem and works perfectly

load madwifi-hal.tcem
load wireless.tcem
load wireless_tools.tcel
(I have made a .dep file too)

in bootlocal.sh:
modprobe ath_pci
/opt/ath0.sh &

and then:
sudo ifconfig ath0 up
sudo iwconfig ath0 essid "your essid"

Thats all.

I will send it now to tc
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: florian on January 14, 2009, 06:47:28 PM
I have tired yesterday to set up wifi on my Eee PC 701. I used ndiswrapper as was explained in this thread and got it working after a short while :)

It works well however I have one process (in top, I see it's name as [ntos_wq]) that sometimes takes a big amount of my cpu. (@roberts, you didn't noticed that on your Eee900?)

Thus I am looking forward to try the ath5k driver with the madwifi-hal.tcem extension prepared by Onyarian.

Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 14, 2009, 09:07:39 PM
Maybe it is a Celeron thing. With my  900A atom ndiswrapper is solid and stable. No runaways.
But thanks to the community we now have a native module extension to try.
Looking forward to your feedback using the native module extension.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: florian on January 15, 2009, 03:41:55 PM
Yes, the madwifi-hal.tcem extension works well for the wifi card on the EeePC 701 :D
Thank you! I'll use it now instead of ndiswrapper.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: rayburn on January 16, 2009, 04:24:10 AM
I also have an EeePC 701, and would be interested in trying this distro, any feedback on how fast the boot time is on this model?

Thanks.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: florian on January 16, 2009, 01:57:43 PM
Quote
I also have an EeePC 701, and would be interested in trying this distro, any feedback on how fast the boot time is on this model?

Well it actually depends from where you load TC (sd card, main flash drive) and of your bootcodes (restoring backups and extension or not ...), but in any case, yes TC boots quite fast on the Eee PC.

But not as fast as the default Xandros however! One of the reasons why default OS boots faster is that traditional init is replaced by a simplified and faster proprietary closed-source program called fastinit.

But, do try tc on the Eee, it's fun! It required me to do a bit of config, but it's a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 16, 2009, 02:05:39 PM
EeePCs can recognize SD cards? My 16 GB SDHC is no where to be found on my acer.  :'(

Either way, thanks a ton for the madwifi extension!! :)
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: svensko on January 16, 2009, 02:07:43 PM
I also have an EeePC 701, and would be interested in trying this distro, any feedback on how fast the boot time is on this model?

Thanks.

The more extensions you add the longer the boot. My issue isn't the boot (which is under 30 seconds) but the shut up as my current back-up time is in the range of 3-4 minutes. :(

Still worth a try though, I'm loving it a ton. The idea of a pristine install every time I load up my computer makes me go  :o in the pants!
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: curaga on January 16, 2009, 02:20:33 PM
Init is only a small part; it usually only runs some scripts. Asus' fastinit has most of the bootscript embedded in it, and executing C is known to be faster than executing bash.

This could be done here as well, but doing so would lose the flexibility and editability of the script. Race to the bottom ;)
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 16, 2009, 02:48:37 PM
EeePCs can recognize SD cards? My 16 GB SDHC is no where to be found on my acer.  :'(

Either way, thanks a ton for the madwifi extension!! :)

Yes, eeePC 900A easily recognized my SD card.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: roberts on January 16, 2009, 02:53:56 PM
I also have an EeePC 701, and would be interested in trying this distro, any feedback on how fast the boot time is on this model?

Thanks.

The more extensions you add the longer the boot. My issue isn't the boot (which is under 30 seconds) but the shut up as my current back-up time is in the range of 3-4 minutes. :(

Still worth a try though, I'm loving it a ton. The idea of a pristine install every time I load up my computer makes me go  :o in the pants!

There are many options to control both boot up times and shutdown.
Unless you need every extension every boot in your tce directory,  you should consider moving many extensions to the optional/ directory. This directory is under your tce directory. That results in a speedier boot up. Yet when needed, you use appbrowser  File->Install Optional

To speed up shutdown, do not place system files in your .filetool.lst, instead make small personal tarball with an ext name of tce, e.g., myconfig.tce   Place them in the tce directory. Remember factor out static content from dynamic. Also check that you are not backing up browser cache files, etc, those should be added to your .xfiletool.lst
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: rayburn on January 16, 2009, 02:54:19 PM
Many thanks for the replies, I shall be trying it out! I currently have EeeOS on an SD card, and that boots up in around 45secs, that is fine, but as that OS is no longer being developed, I am looking for something else that is 'mean and lean'.

I have recently been trying to build a minimal Debian install that will also run entirely from RAM as detailed in this thread on the Debian forums:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=29774

So far I have been unable to build it properly, probably because my Linux skills are not very good (yet)!
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Atheist on May 20, 2010, 11:45:44 PM
After messing with several different *.inf files and having only one that would recognize the card(but not connect to any network), I gave up and tried the madwifi route. I remember installing drivers on ubuntu when I first got the laptop so I thought I'd try that. After compiling everything, I finally have wireless!!!  :o

Directions:
Code: [Select]
wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
install compiletc.tce and linux-headers-2.6.26.tce
tar -xzf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6*/
make
sudo make install
modprobe ath_pci

Hope this helps any fellow Acer Aspire One owners.  ;D

I also have an acer aspire one, and when I get to the make step here I get and error saying /lib/modules/2.6.29.1-tinycore/build/.config does not exists. Any idea what I need to do here?
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on May 21, 2010, 01:59:47 PM
I can tell you my settings in my AAO, it works OK and always I make so the conection.

TC2.11

My Acer is an AOA-110 without hard drive, it brings only a 8Gb SSD card. I mention this because I imagine that the wifi hardware is the same.

1st - TC will not turn on the indicator light when connected to wifi, so you should check that you are connected, once you are sure it is best not to touch it more. (You can check before you start with your original operating system, in my case was linpus)

2nd - you have to load the extensions:
wireless-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz
wireless-tools.tcz
if you want an easy connection tool extension : wifi-radar.tcz or wicd.tcz
and if you use encryption to wpa: wpa_supplicant.tcz

3rd - I make two types of connections, using different methods according where I am. In the case to connect at home, the connection is IP-specific, hidden and wep encryption, so I created a script for connecting straight away.
In the case out of home, with a free wifi, I do it with wifi-radar

4th- At home: open Control Panel and go to Network button, put wlan0 as interface. If you don't use specific IP then in DHCP yes, Save Configuration yes, press Apply and Exit . It will have created a wlan0.sh file in the /opt folder. In order not to lose the settings the next time you start add opt/wlan0.sh line to /opt/.filetool.lst.
If you use specific IP mark no DCHP , filled the other fields, Save Configuration yes, press Apply and Exit. Also add a line opt/wlan0.sh to /opt/.filetool.lst

4thA-Create in /opt a file with the name wconection.sh with the following contents:
Quote
#!/bin/sh
sudo /opt/wlan0.sh
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "nameofyourconection"
sudo iwconfig wlan0 key yourencriptionkey
mark it as executable and add it to/opt/.filetool.lst. Instead of using wep encryption you use wpa encryption change the last line.

4thB-With the above, every time you turn the computer on, open a terminal window and type:
tc@box:~$/opt/wconection.sh
and you will have established the connection. Open the browser and navigate.
If you will check it:
Quote
tc@box:~$ ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:28 Base address:0xa000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:54 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:54 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:6297 (6.1 KiB)  TX bytes:6297 (6.1 KiB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY
          inet addr:192.168.1.22  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1593 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1825 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1043370 (1018.9 KiB)  TX bytes:347831 (339.6 KiB)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

or:
Quote
tc@box:~$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

dummy0    no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"nameofyourconection"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: 00:VV:VV:VV:VV:VV   
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B   
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=54/100  Signal level:-81 dBm  Noise level=-100 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

5 º - Out of home, without encryption, using wifi-radar.tcz
When running wifi-radar it will detect in the window all wifis nearby, with no lock is free, so simply select it and connect. If you choose one with a lock you have to specify the encryption key and then connect.
At home with wifi-radar I have to specify all the parameters of connection with IP's, passwords and other, having to do it every time I want to connect, so it is easier to implement the above method with a script.
Hope you get the connection. If you have problems you should start looking at dmesg to see if it correctly detects the wifi. (And make sure it is connected but the light does not turn on).
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Atheist on May 21, 2010, 06:18:35 PM
Thanks for your detailed reply.

When I run wconection.sh I get this output:

Code: [Select]
Sending discover...
Sending discover...
Sending discover...
No lease, forking to background
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
    invalid argument "MyPassword".

output from iwconfig is:
Code: [Select]
lo        no wireless extensions.

dummy0    no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"Ryans Network"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.422 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated  
          Tx-Power=27 dBm  
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B  
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

wlan0 looks like it is up and has the right ESSID but I still have no connection. Also with wifi radar nothing seems to comeup.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: gerald_clark on May 21, 2010, 06:22:33 PM
You have no key defined.
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Atheist on May 21, 2010, 06:35:02 PM
I don't? How do I define one?
Title: Re: Issue with Atheros wireless on Acer Aspire One?
Post by: Onyarian on May 22, 2010, 09:05:55 AM
In the wifi router you have to configure what kind of connection you want.
So you have to decide the ESSID name, the type of network authentication, wep or wpa encryption, the encryption key or password for one of this, and others...

then in the wconection.sh you have to put the ESSID name in the form "name" and the encryptionkey in the form myencryptionkey (in this case without the "")

and be sure of the existence of /opt/wlan0.sh


In case of wifi-radar it detects all nearby wifis automatically, except those that are hidden in the wifi router configuration, in this case you have to create a new connection with the NEW button and put the hidden ESSID name and all the other parameters.