Arch Linux

bhrich902

Member

Registered: 2003-09-21

Posts: 76

MA311

just wondering if someone has a netgear MA311 pci wireless card working in arch and can give me a simple how to, i searched here but didnt quite found what i was looking for, thx...

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

I use the MA111, which is the USB equivalent. You need to install the wlan-ng26 package, configure it by setting your SSID, WEP key, etc in /etc/wlan, and start it with /etc/rc.d/wlan. The module to use is prism2_pci.

It's probably worth mentioning that although the above is the recommended approach, it didn't work for me. A bit of googling solved the problem, however. Try the above, and if your not up and running, come back for more.

bhrich902

Member

Registered: 2003-09-21

Posts: 76

Re: MA311

well this is where im at right now, when i started the wlan daemon i was able to get a MAC address for the card, now it comes up as wlan0 and it shows in ifconfig and iwconfig, it picks one of the several networks around my apartment ramdomly which means its working. The thing is that i can't manipulate the card, when i do a 'iwconfig wlan0 essid <my network> key <my key> it gives me an error about the operation or command not being suported (something along those lines, im not at home now so i cant remember the exact output). btw, the files in /etc/wlan haven't been edited so is all default. But it looks like would need them anyways since it does pick up on the sorrounding networks, including mine. thx.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

wlan-ng doesn't use iwconfig - it comes with its own utilities, and the usual way of activating them is to edit/create the right files in /etc/wlan. If you don't want to do that, you can enter individual config commands with wlanctl-ng - you can get a list of available commands with

wlanctl- ng commands

and

wlanctl-ng mibs

but as you will see, it's not very user-friendly, hence the use of config files.

bhrich902

Member

Registered: 2003-09-21

Posts: 76

Re: MA311

thats starting to make sense now, would it be possible for u to post what your configuration file/s look like so i know what or which files to edit, still a bit confused on that part, thx...

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

Well, the "right" way of doing it requires the creation of /etc/wlancfg-<SSID> i.e. if you're SSID is bhrich, you need wlancfg-bhrich. This is done by taking wlancfg-DEFAULT and setting the appropriate values. You then go over to /etc/wlan.conf, and put in your SSID here

SSID_wlan0="bhrich"

The reason I'm not posting my versions of these files is that I couldn't get that to work, so I came up with an alternative, initially intended as a quick fix while I sorted out the "right" way, but I got so used to it I've stuck with it ever since. You'll find it here. Obviously, the "right" way works for other people - this guy, for example.

So now you have a choice - no prizes for guessing which one I'd recommend!

bhrich902

Member

Registered: 2003-09-21

Posts: 76

Re: MA311

sorry to be a bother again, i followed those links u gave me and looked at the list of commands it really is not meant for the end-user. All i need really is to set the essid and the wep key for my network. I wonder if there is a gui to wlan-ng, i use kde and wlassistant works great on my laptop but it only uses the wireless_tools utilities. otherwise if u could tell me what im suppose to put in 'wlancfg-bhrich'. Thx for the help so far.

on a side note, i booted into kubuntu breeze and noticed the card was using the wireless_tools commands.

'iwconfig eth1 essid <my network> key <my key>'

and all was well, so im wondering if anyone might know how to get wlan0 to be eth1 and how exactly to get this card to use the wireless_tools commands instead of the wlanctl-ng.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

Debian-base distros, like kubuntu, include a lot of extra scripting to integrate wlan-ng with the Debian way of network configuration. Arch does not do this.

Here's a step-by-step to get my script working for you. You'll need to be root to do this:

1. Download this, and put it in /etc/rc.d .
2. Use your favourite editor to add your SSID to this line

wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=YOUR_SSID_HERE authtype=opensystem 1> /dev/null

and your WEP key to this line

wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11WEPDefaultKey0=YOUR_WEP_KEY_HERE 1> /dev/null

The WEP key should be formatted  like this: A1:B2:C3:D4: .. etc.
3. Make it executable:

chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/wlan-bhrich

4. Load the prism2_pci module, if it's not already loaded.
5. Run the script:

/etc/rc.d/wlan-bhrich start

6. iwconfig wlan0 (which does work with wlan-ng when displaying info, as opposed to amending info) will now show the following:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11-b  ESSID:"YOUR_SSID_HERE"  Nickname:"YOUR_SSID_HERE"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: YOUR_AP_MAC_HERE   
          Bit Rate:11 Mb/s   Tx-Power:18 dBm   
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:YOUR_WEP_KEY_HERE   Security mode:restricted
          Link Quality=28/92  Signal level=-62 dBm  Noise level=-90 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

7. Configure wlan0 as you would any other network interface, using the NETWORK section in /etc/rc.conf.

One more thing - I'm an end-user too, you know.......

Let me know how it goes.

bhrich902

Member

Registered: 2003-09-21

Posts: 76

Re: MA311

Well i did what you wrote previously and is finally up and working under arch, which is great cause i was strongly thinking just replacing that desktop with kubuntu. Anyways, now with that part over, i was wondering what the setup would be like if i wanted to make it come up and be ready when i boot into the desktop. I'm guessing wlan-bhrich has to go in the DAEMONS array in rc.conf, but what would be the order? (... wlan wlan-bhrich ifplugd ...), or should they go after ifplugd?. Other than that, i really appreciate the help, thas one headache (literally) out of the way.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

Take wlan out altogether - wlan-bhrich replaces it. I don't use ifplugd myself, but I'd say it should go after that.

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: MA311

I know, that this thread is about the MA311, but as the MA111 is the same thing in USB (if I understood it correctly) I'll post here anyway.

I followed your seven-step-instruction you gave above but when I want to start the daemon it only says me: "wlanctl-ng: No such device" for several times. I commented the line for the WEP-key out, as we don't have WEP-encryption. But I don't think that's the problem.
The module "prism2_usb" is loaded.
dmesg says "usb 4-2.1: new full speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9
usb 4-2.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice" if I plug the stick in.

---

now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

Wow.... this is old.:)

Can you paste your initscript? Use code tags i.e. like this:

Last edited by tomk (2007-07-18 13:55:09)

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: MA311

Wow.... this is old.:)

I know, but I like recycling (even of old newspapers, erm, ok, that metaphor was bad! ^^) more than making something new of somethin already existing.

Can you paste your initscript?

I'm not sure, what you mean, but I think this is what you wanna have?

#!/bin/bash

. /etc/rc.conf
. /etc/rc.d/functions

exec 1>/dev/null

case "$1" in
  start)
    stat_busy "Enabling WLAN device"
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=p2CnfRoamingMode=1
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11WEPDefaultKeyID=0
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11ExcludeUnencrypted=true
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11PrivacyInvoked=true
    #wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11WEPDefaultKey0=<your_wep_key>
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=ANY authtype=opensystem
    if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
     stat_fail
    else
      stat_done
      add_daemon wlan-tk
    fi
    ;;
  stop)
    stat_busy "Disabling WLAN device"
    wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=disable
    if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
      stat_fail
    else
      stat_done
      rm_daemon wlan-tk
    fi
    ;;
  restart)
    $0 stop
    sleep 1
    $0 start
    ;;
  *)
    echo "usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"  
esac

Use code tags i.e. like this:

Sorry, forgot about that. I'm a little bit confused today...

---

now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

OK, thanks. Try the following:

Unplug the dongle, modprobe -r the module. Plug it in again, and check dmesg to see if the module autoloaded (it should). If it didn't, modprobe it. Then issue the first command from the script i.e.

wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable

If you're still getting "no such device", add the following lines to /etc/modprobe.conf:

# linux-wlan-ng
alias wlan0 prism2_usb

and then repeat all the above. If you get something that includes the word "success", you're in business.

If you're not using WEP, you only need the ifstate and ssid lines in the start) stanza.

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: MA311

Thanks for the tip, I commented the unneeded lines out.

For some reason I still get the information that there is "no such device". I tried what you said, but no go. Somehow the prism2_usb-module is working but not completely, otherwise dmesg would not say

usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

but something like "support lacks for being resumed". That is (similar to) what it spit out, when I booted with another kernel without the prism2-module.
Could there be misconfiguration elsewhere in the system causing this problems?

Edit: Tried it on my larch-system. Same behaviour as descriped ago/as on my pc. Tried it at both systems with the kernel26 (as there is no wlan-ng-module for kernel26fallen).

Last edited by Flying Saxman (2007-07-18 19:35:08)

---

now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

What's in dmesg when you load the module?

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: MA311

prism2usb_init: prism2_usb.o: 0.2.8 Loaded
prism2usb_init: dev_info is: prism2_usb
usbcore: registered new interface driver prism2_usb

Looks pretty normal to me.

---

now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

One thing we haven't checked - lsusb.

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: MA311

Dongle is recognized:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0846:4230 NetGear, Inc. MA111 WiFi

(of course there are also other devices, but I think only this one could be important ).

What kernel and what kernel-modules do you use? I use kernel26 + wlan-ng26.

Last edited by Flying Saxman (2007-07-19 10:14:02)

---

now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: MA311

Ahh... mystery solved. Unfortunately, not to your satisfaction:

http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdev.php?id=2911

You've got a v2, wlan-ng only works with v1.

Flying Saxman

Member

From: Northern Hesse

Registered: 2007-02-26

Posts: 252

Re: MA311

argh, that's bad. But the link says that the chipset works with ndiswrapper. So I'll try this one.

edit: I tried it with ndiswrapper. And: I failed. First. Then I recognized that I have to add the MAC to the config-file of my dongle. Now everything works fine!

Last edited by Flying Saxman (2007-07-19 20:19:25)

---

now with 80% more sax-appeal!
"I hacked the Phrak, and all I got was this lousy signature"