[Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-07 20:02:52

Hi

I have installed my native linux driver for my USB receiver (rt73). My network is still not working, so I have a couple of questions

First off, does the 'configuring network' wiki page apply to both wired and wireless even though it links to the wireless page?

Next, I am trying to connect Arch Linux to my private network, using a router and USB receiver. I am using Windows right now and my WLAN works as DHCP. I have set my Arch Connection settings in /etc/rc.conf to 'dhcp' as well (this is correct, right?). The wireless setup wiki says you only change the 'gateway' value if you are using a router. Well, I am, and it doesn't say what to change it to! Help, please!

When you use the cmd dos2unix, it should change a *.dat file into a *.bin file, right? In /etc/Wireless/RT73STA, I had to use dos2unix on the file rt73sta.dat but nothing really happened. Should it have changed to .bin and that could be a factor in the problem?

Do I need to edit any other files, such as /etc/resolve.conf, /etc/hosts, or /etc/network-profiles/template?

Lacking a network managing type GUI program (do we have any good ones?), is there anything I must do to start a connection or activate my connection upon startup (keeping in mind I haven't added any scripts to automatically connect to a network, as I wasn't sure if there already was one)?

Thanks!

Last edited by Xs1t0ry (2007-07-12 23:44:44)

oliwer · 2007-07-08 15:19:27

What does iwconfig tells you ?

The best gui for me is Wifi Radar, you can find it in Extra. It can be loaded at boot time and works mostly like Windows' ZeroConf.

I didn't edited any file to make my wifi work, except rc.conf where I have set the dhcp mode. You shouldn't have to modify the gateway as the dhcp server does it automaticaly.

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-08 16:40:32

iwconfig tells me

l0 no wireless extensions
eth0 no wireless extensions
rausb0 no wireless extensions

By the way, what's the difference between iwconfig and the other xxconfigs?

oliwer · 2007-07-08 18:51:06

iwconfig is the only utility that can configure wireless cards. It deals with SSID, chanels, WEP etc... Other graphical utilities like gnome's network manager or wifi-radar rely on iwconfig.

Now as you can see, iwconfig doesn't recognize any of your network interfaces as wireless card. That means you didn't install the driver correctly.

Am I almost there?

Ho no you're not !

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-09 02:37:48

Damn...

Do you know if the cmd dos2unix changes a .dat to a .bin? Because in one phase of the driver installation, I had to use dos2unix on /etc/Wireless/RT73STA/rt73sta.dat and as far as I could tell nothing happened. It would be easily fixed it it was...

hacosta · 2007-07-09 05:09:43

dos2unix just changes plain text files from DOS format to UNIX format

oliwer · 2007-07-09 15:36:16

hacosta wrote:

dos2unix just changes plain text files from DOS format to UNIX format

Yep. And it doesn't creates .bin files unless told to.

I case you don't know, the are PKGBUILDs for rt73 in AUR > http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?K=rt73

It seems rt73sta.dat is a totally useless file. I think the problem is that the module isn't loaded. Do a 'modprobe rt73' (that is the right command to load a module contrary to what is written in the rt73 README).

Then, to see if the module is loaded, do a 'lsmod | grep rt73'. You should see one or two lines containing rt73.

And now iwconfig should recognize your wireless receiver.

pelle.k · 2007-07-09 17:15:12

That means you didn't install the driver correctly.

You are wrong.

rausb0 no wireless extensions

well. thats the wireless adapter...

that means, you have an interface named "rausb0", and thus you need to add it

rausb0="dhcp"

and append rausb0 that to this line

INTERFACES=(lo eth0)

If you need to setup WEP, set ESSID or change channel, you would have to add one more line to rc.conf, your wlan_rausb0=""

[edit]about that "sta" stuff, i have no idea what that is about. never done that...[/edit]

Last edited by pelle.k (2007-07-09 17:19:13)

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-10 01:02:49

Ok, so I used modprobe rt73 and lsmod | grep rt73 and I got

rt73                             0
usbcore                         #some stuff about my USB receiver and rt73, which looked promising

Then iwconfig still showed nada across the board. I edited /etc/rc.conf to input rausb0="dhcp" and also added that as an interface like this

interfaces=(rausb0 l0 eth0)

Is this ok? It still isn't working... Do I need to change anything else like hostname and other network name stuff? I figured I didn't since it's a dhcp.

pelle.k · 2007-07-10 03:03:02

To make it easy on you i will post my old config;

# Note: to use DHCP, set your interface to be "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
#
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
wlan0="dhcp"
wlan_rausb0="rausb0 essid XXXXX channel 6 key XXXXXXXXXXXXX"
INTERFACES=(lo rausb0)

To restart a current configuration you would run

/etc/rc.d/network restart

If you still can't get it to work, you could add the output of

iwlist rausb0 scan

to us.
Also, i assume you have already added a firmware (for your adapter) file to /lib/firmware...

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-10 21:55:38

...firmware?

Also, I restarted today and found this in iwconfig, which looked promising

lo                         No wireless extensions found
eth0                        No wireless extensions found
rausb0                       RT73 WLAN ESSID: off/any
                                 Mode: Auto Channel=1 Bit Rate=54 Mb/s
                                 RTS Thr: off Fragment Thr: off
                                 Encryption Key: off

Still no connection, though. I think I should throw out that I'm not using an encrypted WEP/WPA connection right now. I'll try to edit some of that stuff into my /etc/rc.conf file... since I'm not encrypted do I leave the "Key XXXXXXXXXXXXXX" part out? Also, where can I get this firmware.

Thanks! You guys have been a great help so far... I think that getting your network up is, as the first step, the hardest step. After that you can more easily research/update/fix things. Thanks, again.

pelle.k · 2007-07-11 01:22:25

Listen, when you install drivers in windows, they are binary blobs. The rt73 driver in linux is from "open" source code, but the firmware is "closed source". That means many distros refuse to ship module packages with (closed) firmware by default. In essence it means that in arch linux you have to download http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/RT71W … e_V1.8.zip and unzip it, then copy the "rt73.bin" to /lib/firmware (you should probably create that directory as well).

btw, you never mentioned _how_ you got that rt73 driver installed? And what about "iwlist rausb0 scanning"?

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-11 02:47:11

I installed the driver by copying the tar.gz to my thumb drive in windows and then mounting it in arch and following the instructions in the wiki and readme. I will install that firmware the same way and then print my iwlist rausb0 scanning tomorrow after work, first thing. Thanks

Edit: Do I make a directory called firmware in /lib, or do I just extract the firmware to /lib and it will make it itself?

Last edited by Xs1t0ry (2007-07-11 22:30:20)

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-12 00:57:02

iwlist rausb0 scanning reports that nothing is detected/activated

pelle.k · 2007-07-12 02:59:51

I'm really sorry this isn't going that great. Setting this up shouldn't normally take very long. It's just that the rt73 is a tricky adapter to use in linux. Blame the hardware manufacturers.
I always used ndiswrapper with that adapter, since it seemed to always work better than the native driver. Either way. You've got the module loaded, the rt73.bin is in /lib/firmware, right? (you shouldn't have to follow any guide to unpack it! just "tar xvf filename" then as root "mkdir /lib/firmare" and "cp rt73.bin /lib/firmware". Maybe you thought it was a pacman pkg? the file ending .tar.gz is just a compressed file, .pkg.tar.gz is a pacman package.)

If you're not getting anything with "iwlist rausb0 scanning" i'm unsure if this is working. Maybe you should do a "ifconfig rausb0 up" first. Don't think that should be necessary though.
Unless you wan't to give up, i could guide you through the installation with ndiswrapper. This I am _sure_ would work. As I said, i have one of those adapters myself.

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-12 23:37:26

Thanks, I'm not giving up yet, and I really appreciate your help. I've done all the things asked so far and still get

iwlist rausb0 scanning
interface does not support scanning

 iwconfig rausb0
rausb0                       RT73 WLAN ESSID: off/any
                                 Mode: Auto Channel=1 Bit Rate=54 Mb/s
                                 RTS Thr: off Fragment Thr: off
                                 Encryption Key: off

My /etc/rc.conf #networking

lo="lo 127.0.0.1"

wlan0="dhcp"
wlan_rausb0="rausb0 essid default channel 1 key XXXXXXXXXX"

INTERFACES=(lo rausb0)

rt73.bin is in /lib/firmware and my drivers appear to be installed. Do I need to edit my /etc/network-profiles file? Also, do I need to add the

wlan_rausb0="key XXXXXXXXXX"

bit in even if I'm not running an encryption, and if so and I have no password, can I put a certain number of X's in to make it realize that? 10 X's?

Thanks again, 'preicate it.

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-12 23:46:29

It worked, it worked! Ah, I ran another dos2unix on /etc/Wireless/RT73STA/rt73sta.dat and then realized I forgot the 'essid' in 'essid default' in /etc/rc.conf. I ran /etc/rc.d/network restart, expecting yet another [Fail], but to my surprise--it worked!

Thanks so much for all the help! Thanks, tons! If there's anything I can do for you just lemme know! Thanks!

pelle.k · 2007-07-13 00:09:25

If there's anything I can do for you just lemme know! Thanks!

Yes! Have fun!
It sure is a natural high when you succeed at last.

Xs1t0ry · 2007-07-13 21:25:10

Sure is! Thanks a bunch. Now I've taken my first steps into the linux world.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-07-07 20:02:52

[Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#2 2007-07-08 15:19:27

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#3 2007-07-08 16:40:32

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#4 2007-07-08 18:51:06

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#5 2007-07-09 02:37:48

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#6 2007-07-09 05:09:43

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#7 2007-07-09 15:36:16

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#8 2007-07-09 17:15:12

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#9 2007-07-10 01:02:49

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#10 2007-07-10 03:03:02

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#11 2007-07-10 21:55:38

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#12 2007-07-11 01:22:25

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#13 2007-07-11 02:47:11

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#14 2007-07-12 00:57:02

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#15 2007-07-12 02:59:51

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#16 2007-07-12 23:37:26

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#17 2007-07-12 23:46:29

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#18 2007-07-13 00:09:25

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

#19 2007-07-13 21:25:10

Re: [Solved!] WLAN setup (Am I almost there?)

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