Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

pl2lnce · 2007-11-15 00:52:04

i have tried various times in the past few weeks to install arch with minimal success. The only time i was able to actually set up a system that would allow me to get to a gui and use the internet was when i had an install of Archie Linux (Live CD) that i had to chroot with kubuntu to add wireless support. Needless to say i preferred a cleaner install (especially after having to manually rename the folders, etc. for the repository changes).

Anyways when arch is loading it makes mention of needing to append the boot image to include intel-wireless. i was wondering what exactly was involved in doing that. Because after trying to just install the package ifconfig does not show my wlan device. Any help is appreciated. let me know if more info is needed.

bender02 · 2007-11-15 04:23:45

Well, about three weeks ago I did usual install on my new laptop, whose wireless card uses iwl3945 driver. No problem. When booting the install usb, I needed to specify the kernel parameter intel-wireless (or something like that), and the explanation is that intel firmware needed for the driver is not GPL, and so you need to agree to their license by specifying that parameter.

pl2lnce · 2007-11-15 05:10:24

sorry, but i'm not just an arch newb but generally a linux newb (-minus some distro hopping and a few months of ubuntu). so do i just need to add intel-wireless to my modules in rc.conf because iwl3945 is automatically placed there for me.

thayer · 2007-11-15 05:24:32

I believe it is instructing you to append 'intel-wireless' to the kernel line located in /boot/grub/menu.lst

Edit the file as root:

# nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

The line will look something like this:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 resume=/dev/sda2 ro quiet vga=0 splash
initrd /kernel26.img

Just add it to the end of the kernel line, like this:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 resume=/dev/sda2 ro quiet vga=0 splash intel-wireless
initrd /kernel26.img

I have an Intel 3945 myself (Dell Inspiron 6400) and I've never had to force detection like this on the kernel line, but I've heard of other laptops that require it. Good luck and I hope it works

broch · 2007-11-15 14:03:22

I have HP dv5000t (dualcore) with the same card. Never had any problems with intel 3945. However I am using ipw3945 instead of iwl3945 as the later is still early beta and far from stability, performance of ipw.

.:B:. · 2007-11-15 18:08:10

pl2lnce wrote:

i have tried various times in the past few weeks to install arch with minimal success. The only time i was able to actually set up a system that would allow me to get to a gui and use the internet was when i had an install of Archie Linux (Live CD) that i had to chroot with kubuntu to add wireless support. Needless to say i preferred a cleaner install (especially after having to manually rename the folders, etc. for the repository changes).
Anyways when arch is loading it makes mention of needing to append the boot image to include intel-wireless. i was wondering what exactly was involved in doing that. Because after trying to just install the package ifconfig does not show my wlan device. Any help is appreciated. let me know if more info is needed.

I have Arch with iwl3945 drivers running here just fine. No tweaks to the cpio image needed.

I have never heard of this either... You need both the drivers and the firmware. Check dmesg if everything is okay. Ifconfig -a should show a wlan0 device, if not, something went wrong.

broch wrote:

I have HP dv5000t (dualcore) with the same card. Never had any problems with intel 3945. However I am using ipw3945 instead of iwl3945 as the later is still early beta and far from stability, performance of ipw.

Since 1.1.0 stability is just fine. Throughput is still a problem though. I get like 2.8 MBps with earlier versions, and the 1.1.21 one can hit it too, but mostly it's around 1 MBps . I prefer that to yet another proprietary package though. It's not every day I transfer a few GB to my wired server .

Last edited by B (2007-11-15 18:12:18)

bender02 · 2007-11-15 18:55:39

You need to specify that kernel parameter only ONCE, namely when you boot the installation cd/usb. After the installation, no extra parameters or anything special is required.

floke · 2007-11-15 19:44:35

I'm using the alternative method from the wiki here

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wir … nd_ipw4965

and I've never had to specify a kernel parameter so not sure which route you're taking.

pl2lnce · 2007-11-15 21:30:32

alright thanks for the help everyone. i got the driver to load, so to begin using pacman do i need to:

1. edit /etc/conf.d/wireless to say

wlan_wlan0="wlan0 essid linksys"
WLAN_INTERFACES=(wlan0)

if i want to connect to an unsecured network named linksys.

2. edit /etc/resolv.conf to say

search chn.comcast.net

nameserver 68.87.72.130
nameserver 68.87.77.130
nameserver 192.168.0.1

according to what knetwork manager generated for my kubuntu live cd.

is there anything i am forgetting??

thayer · 2007-11-15 23:01:17

AFAIK, resolv.conf will be auto-generated by the dhcp server, so you shouldn't need to create/modify that at all.

Your first bit looks good to me, though admittedly I've never used wifi with the default network configs so I can't say for sure. Man, your life would be a whole lot easier if you could just plug in a cat-5 cable until you have a GUI installed.

.:B:. · 2007-11-16 07:00:38

/etc/resolv.conf will indeed be overwritten by DHCP.

floke · 2007-11-16 08:15:36

Here's the relevant section from mine (sensitive details removed):

eth1="dhcp"
wlan_eth1="eth1 essid MyEssid"
wlan_eth1="eth1 essid MyEssid key Whateverthekeyis"
WLAN_INTERFACES=(eth1)
INTERFACES=(lo eth1)

So the 2 lines could be:

wlan_eth1="eth1 essid linksys1"
wlan_eth1="eth1 essid linksys1 key 1212121212"

Also make sure that ipw3945d is in you daemons array, and that ipw3945 is listed in your modules (both in rc.conf)

Good luck!

pl2lnce · 2007-11-16 19:49:41

with this setup is any command required to connect to the network??

floke · 2007-11-16 23:38:56

Nope, it connects to the network as it boots.
Does it work for you?

Arch Linux

#1 2007-11-15 00:52:04

Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#2 2007-11-15 04:23:45

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#3 2007-11-15 05:10:24

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#4 2007-11-15 05:24:32

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#5 2007-11-15 14:03:22

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#6 2007-11-15 18:08:10

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#7 2007-11-15 18:55:39

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#8 2007-11-15 19:44:35

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#9 2007-11-15 21:30:32

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#10 2007-11-15 23:01:17

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#11 2007-11-16 07:00:38

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#12 2007-11-16 08:15:36

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#13 2007-11-16 19:49:41

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

#14 2007-11-16 23:38:56

Re: Installing Arch with intel wireless (iwlwifi-3945)

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