Arch Linux

bangoskank

Member

Registered: 2008-12-04

Posts: 18

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

...I have taken the liberty of emailing the implementer of eee-control to ask about its origins...

Grigori has just got back to me. The included eeepc-laptop module is from the acpi4asus git.

Cloudane

Member

Registered: 2009-05-04

Posts: 8

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I would be more than interested, it sounds like a very nice zen-upgrade:P
I use the 2.6.27-zen2eee right now.

Here you go:

Here is the precompiled package:

http://zen-kernel-eee-901-arch.googleco … pkg.tar.gz

And here, all sources and PKGBUILD:

http://zen-kernel-eee-901-arch.googleco … ces.tar.gz

Thanks for taking the time to provide that package.

Seems after upgrading to this version from 2.6.27 from the Wiki (which wouldn't wake up from suspend), with this one the graphics are corrupted when I try to start x.  The only way out is to power down.  Anyone seen this?

Apologies if it's been asked before, it's difficult wading through 48 pages, this project could really do with its own subforum

Edit: Nevermind, fixed it.  Had to remove the instruction from xorg.conf that tells it to use accelmethod XAA.

Last edited by Cloudane (2009-05-04 20:53:46)

Wallblom

Member

Registered: 2009-04-21

Posts: 8

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I would be more than interested, it sounds like a very nice zen-upgrade:P
I use the 2.6.27-zen2eee right now.

Here you go:

Here is the precompiled package:

http://zen-kernel-eee-901-arch.googleco … pkg.tar.gz

And here, all sources and PKGBUILD:

http://zen-kernel-eee-901-arch.googleco … ces.tar.gz

Thanks for taking the time to provide that package.

Seems after upgrading to this version from 2.6.27 from the Wiki (which wouldn't wake up from suspend), with this one the graphics are corrupted when I try to start x.  The only way out is to power down.  Anyone seen this?

Apologies if it's been asked before, it's difficult wading through 48 pages, this project could really do with its own subforum

Edit: Nevermind, fixed it.  Had to remove the instruction from xorg.conf that tells it to use accelmethod XAA.

Thank you, I was having the same problem, but i have moved on to vanilla kernel now, it works excellent with eee-control and the patched eeepc-laptop-module. Cheers!

Cloudane

Member

Registered: 2009-05-04

Posts: 8

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

New problem is that my WPA2 wireless network has stopped working.  Looks like there's a kernel patch, here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/339891 (a bug?  In Linux drivers?  Neverrrrrrrr )

Hard work all this

Last edited by Cloudane (2009-05-04 21:56:26)

Cloudane

Member

Registered: 2009-05-04

Posts: 8

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Trying Zodmaner's kernel from git (http://github.com/zodmaner/eee-901/tree/master), see if that's any different.  Compiling right now - I'll edit this post rather than triple-posting.

One thing I had to do to get the package to build - gregkh's patch is related to Kernel 2.6.30 now so I had to change the URL to http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ … 6.29.patch  (note the '/old')

Edit: Works great, after changing grub to point to the /dev/sda2 (in my case) rather than by UUID.

I kinda miss the high resolution text from the zen kernel, but meh.  Not overly fussed.

Last edited by Cloudane (2009-05-04 23:04:32)

ashishp

Member

Registered: 2009-04-28

Posts: 14

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Seems problem with the wireless driver, doesn't it. I will try the new 2.1.1.0 driver with ubuntu patch and compile it to a module to see if it works.

zodmaner

Member

Registered: 2007-07-11

Posts: 653

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Thanks for the heads up, Cloudane. I've update the link in both of my kernel packages' PKGBUILD and have also bumped them to the new version (2.6.29.2).

No pre-compiled binary yet, though, and since both my desktop and Eee PC are now using glibc from testing repository, pre-compiled binary built from my systems might causes problem with people who didn't use testing repo. I might look into creating chroot to built the packages but for now, you guys can get the PKGBUILDs from my Github repository.

Edit: If you don't want to clone my git repo to get the PKGBUILDs, you can grab them here (.tar.gz) or here (.zip).

Last edited by zodmaner (2009-05-06 09:05:19)

heinzelotto

Member

From: Munich, Germany

Registered: 2008-09-05

Posts: 10

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Hi,

there seems to be some problem with the w-lan driver. I am using your (zodmaner) kernel pkg. I am somehow not able to change the MAC of the wireless adapter, i first shut it down (ifconfig ra0 down), then i changed the MAC address (ifconfig ra0 hw ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx). An "ifconfig ra0" while the card is still shut down would now give me the correct new MAC address, but if i now put the card up again, the MAC changes again to the original one. Is this caused by the firmware of the w-lan hardware, or is it a problem with the driver or am i doing anything wrong? Trying to change the MAC while the card is still up to avoid the "ifconfig ra0 up" command does not work, of course.

Any hints?

Thanks,
Heinzelotto

Glebius

Member

From: Moscow

Registered: 2009-01-19

Posts: 1

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

...

Last edited by Glebius (2009-05-18 05:09:18)

zodmaner

Member

Registered: 2007-07-11

Posts: 653

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

@heinzelotto: I've never tried changing MAC address, but I think the problem is with the wireless driver. The rt2860 staging driver is still in heavy development and is incomplete in many ways (it only recently gains ability to connect to WPA2 wireless network, for example). Maybe you should try again when 2.6.30 kernel is release (or try the *-rc5).

I've bumped my PKGBUILDs to new version, grab them here (.tar.gz) or here (.zip).

Since it looks like I won't have time to do a pre-compile packages in a foreseeable future, I've also upload the PKGBUILDs to AUR. You can find them here (vanilla) and here (KMS).

heinzelotto

Member

From: Munich, Germany

Registered: 2008-09-05

Posts: 10

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

thanks alot, i'll try them as soon as i can

qdiesel

Member

Registered: 2008-05-19

Posts: 61

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

i'm using Blind's kernel v2.6.30rc3 and can't watch udp video streams either with mplayer-svn, vlc, or mplayer from extra.

/usr/bin/mplayer -noquiet -nofs -nomouseinput -lavdopts threads=2 -sub-fuzziness 1 -identify -slave -vo xv -ao alsa -nokeepaspect -dr -double -input nodefault-bindings:conf=/dev/null -stop-xscreensaver -wid 50331661 -monitorpixelaspect 1 -ass -embeddedfonts -ass-line-spacing 0 -ass-font-scale 1 -ass-styles /home/qdiesel/.config/smplayer/styles.ass -fontconfig -font Arial -subfont-autoscale 0 -subfont-osd-scale 20 -subfont-text-scale 20 -subcp enca:ru:UTF-8 -subpos 100 -volume 40 -cache 2000 -osdlevel 1 -idx -prefer-ipv4 -vf-add ass -vf-add screenshot -slices -channels 2 -af scaletempo,equalizer=0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 -softvol -softvol-max 100 -vc coreserve, udp://@224.103.103.103:1234

MPlayer SVN-r29067---help (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
137 audio & 297 video codecs
Terminal type `unknown' is not defined.

Playing udp://@224.103.103.103:1234.
STREAM_UDP, URL: udp://@224.103.103.103:1234
IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP failed (do you have multicasting enabled in your kernel?)
udp_streaming_start failed
No stream found to handle url udp://@224.103.103.103:1234


Exiting... (End of file)

I tried to dig into kernel config but haven't found anything It's not a firewall problem since I don't run one nor ISP since it works fine on the windows box next to me. And it didn't work with Robertek's kernel either.

aesc

Member

Registered: 2009-03-16

Posts: 16

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

@heinzelotto: I've never tried changing MAC address, but I think the problem is with the wireless driver. The rt2860 staging driver is still in heavy development and is incomplete in many ways (it only recently gains ability to connect to WPA2 wireless network, for example). Maybe you should try again when 2.6.30 kernel is release (or try the *-rc5).

I can't connect to practically anything with the stock rt2860 module that comes with the new stock 2.6.29 kernel. It seems to work based on the brand of the router rather than its security settings. I can't connect to anything I have at home, but I can connect to random coffee shop APs. Ugh.

So is this just a problem with the stock module and kernel? Should I try zodmaner's kernel, or someone else's? It sounds like the posters on this forum have spent more time reading up on the hardware and configuration options than I'd ever like to to compile my own kernel. How does zodmaner's compare to Blind's or those zen kernels out there? Most importantly, whose kernel should I use if I want my wireless card to just work?

zodmaner

Member

Registered: 2007-07-11

Posts: 653

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

@aesc: My advise: try Blind's kernel first.

As far as I know, the vanilla kernel is using the same wireless driver as my kernel, so I don't think you'd gain anything by switching to my kernel (which try to be as vanilla as much as possible).

Blind's kernel, on the other hand, is at release candidate 5 and is using the (hopefully) latest version of the rt2860 staging driver, which is your best bet.

I didn't use zen kernel very much, so I don't know how well they work. But if you want to try them out, I think ashishp's zen kernel is the one to go, as it looks like Robertek's zen kernel is unfortunately no longer being maintained.

Good luck!

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Don't expect too much from rt2860... Correct me if I'm wrong, but the work on the driver is really slow. The status of the driver is pretty much the same as the one which Ralink released as 1.8.0.1...
I was fed up of that, and switched to an intel 4965 which is working great. Its a pain though. I which rt2860 had a better driver... :S

zodmaner

Member

Registered: 2007-07-11

Posts: 653

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Don't expect too much from rt2860... Correct me if I'm wrong, but the work on the driver is really slow. The status of the driver is pretty much the same as the one which Ralink released as 1.8.0.1...
I was fed up of that, and switched to an intel 4965 which is working great. Its a pain though. I which rt2860 had a better driver... :S

Really? Well that's a shame.

I thought they'd at least fix some bugs, seeing that it has been awhile that rt2860 is included in the staging driver.

Hm... is it hard to switch wireless card to intel 4965, big_gie?

Last edited by zodmaner (2009-05-13 15:46:03)

aesc

Member

Registered: 2009-03-16

Posts: 16

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I was fed up of that, and switched to an intel 4965 which is working great. Its a pain though. I which rt2860 had a better driver... :S

So you just switched wireless cards?

I don't understand this stuff about the ralink driver. This computer shipped with Linux on it. What was Asus' OS using that made the wireless work?

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I know... When I first saw that rt2860 was open source, I was glad and though the driver would be good. But it seems Ralink has created a linux driver, released it, and stopped working on it...

But then I just looked up Ralink's website and some work has been done. This is from Ralink's website (http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/S … Linux.html) "RT2860PCI/mPCI/PCIe/CB(RT2760/RT2790/RT2860/RT2890)" changelog:

[2.1.1.0]
    1. Fixed driver would send zero IWEVASSOCREQIE to Native WpaSupplicant.
    2. Fixed driver would send non-zero BSSID to Navtive WpaSupplicant when STA disconnecting to AP.
[2.1.0.0]
    1. New generation schema for multiple OS porting
    2. Fixed Ad-hoc ping failed in noisy environment. (Probe Response has too many retry packet then cause "not enough space in MgmtRing")
    3. Fixed WPA(2)PSK issue when group cipher of AP is WEP40 or WEP104.
    4. Modified iwpriv ra0 get_site_survey:
        In scan list result: Security shows "NONE" when AP is OPEN/NONE, shows "WEP" when AP is OPEN/WEP or SHARED/WEP, shows "WPAPSK(WPA2PSK)/TKIP(AES)" when AP is WPAPSK(WPA2PSK)/TKIP(AES) shows "WPA(WPA2)/TKIP(AES)" when AP is WPA(WPA2)/TKIP(AES)
    5. Support kthread.
    6. Add New A band channel list region 15 contains the whole channels in the A band region 4 and the new CE channel 167,169,171,173
    7. Add New IEEE802.11r functionality.
    8. Fixed WPA2-Enterprise failed when AP reboot or turn off then turn on.
    9. Fixed STA cannot connect to 11B only AP when the setting of is PHY_11GN.
[1.8.0.0]
    1. Fixed compile error when CARRIER_DETECTION_SUPPORT is enabled.
    2. Add "iwpriv ra0 set CarrierDetect=0(or 1)"
    3. Add Ad-Hoc to support N rate.
    4. Fixed suspend/resume error when ra0 down, ra0 up.
    5. Support Linux Kernel 2.6.27
    6. Fixed DLS A-MPDU established failed.

Version 1.8.0.0/1 really sucked. The driver would wake to kernel 10 (or 100?) times a second, even doing nothing (thanx powertop!), it needed a obscur configuration file located in /etc/something, even if it did not used it, etc.

Out of tree drivers are bad. But the driver was so bad by itself that it would never be included in the kernel. So the staging driver is trying to fill that gap by making it easier to integrate in the kernel but without interfering with it.

You can follow the staging driver history here: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/g … 60;hb=HEAD As you can see, there was around 15 commits in total: not much developpement here...

But then, this driver is there until the much cleaner and community developped driver rt2x00 will be able to replace it. I don,t know the status of the actual support of rt2x00 for the 2860 card, but one can always try it. I think this package could be the one: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16086 But then its pretty old (1 year old). Anyone ever tried the rt2x00 for the 2860? I was following a forum thread which I can't find anymore on this. The driver was not working back then. But maybe now...

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I thought they'd at least fix some bugs, seeing that it has been awhile that rt2860 is included in the staging driver.

Well the driver is so bad that nobody wants to work with it... Look at the TODO for the staging: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/g … 5d;hb=HEAD

Hm... is it hard to switch wireless card to intel 4965, big_gie?

No it's really easy The hardest part is to get one of these! I think ebay has them for around 30 to 40$ (CDN). To swap the card, you open the same bay under the machine that when upgrading ram (at least on my 1000 which is almost the same). 2 screws to remove the card, 2 wires for the antenna (the 4965 has room for a third, which will be not be used) and that's it. The 4965 driver is already in the kernel, so nothing to do to make it work out of the box

So you just switched wireless cards?

Yup

I don't understand this stuff about the ralink driver. This computer shipped with Linux on it. What was Asus' OS using that made the wireless work?

Well... Asus choose something like version 1.7.0.0 or 1.8... I'm not sure. But the driver was working "kind of ok" enough for them to ship it anyway. It's probably the same reason as to why they chose to make their own (crappy) distribution to put on the eee instead of taking an already existing one... That's why we isntall Arch on these, right?

zodmaner

Member

Registered: 2007-07-11

Posts: 653

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

@big_gie: Thanks for the info! Looks like it's time for me to go shopping.

I was fed up of that, and switched to an intel 4965 which is working great. Its a pain though. I which rt2860 had a better driver... :S

So you just switched wireless cards?

I don't understand this stuff about the ralink driver. This computer shipped with Linux on it. What was Asus' OS using that made the wireless work?

The last working Ralink driver for the 901 is not 1.8.0.1, but 1.7.1.1 (it's on my github because it got deleted from Ralink website). Don't let the version number fools you, the 1.7.1.1 have been released after the 1.8.0.0/1 (yeah, confusing).

I used to use it because it's the only driver which allows me to connect to WPA2 hotspot.

The Linux kernel developers finally ported the changes in 1.7.1.1 driver into the rt2860 staging driver around the time 2.6.29 kernel was released (source).

I didn't know that Ralink have released new version of their driver, I wonder if they're better then the staging driver or the 1.7.1.1 (I guess not...).

Anyway, aesc, I would still advise you to give Blind's kernel a try. It's the one that, like I said, should contained the latest driver for the 901 wireless card/chip.

Basically, if wireless still won't work properly with Blind's kernel, then I'm afraid you're out of luck.

Another thing, what program are you using to connect to wireless hotspot?

Last edited by zodmaner (2009-05-13 16:32:55)

aesc

Member

Registered: 2009-03-16

Posts: 16

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I just downloaded the driver source from Ralink's web site. According to the site, it's version 2.1.1.0 released on April 24th. I compiled it, after reading their stupid README and editing their stupid Makefile and stupid config.mk, and insmoded it and it worked. It connects to my WPA network. True, this driver needs a stupid config file in its own stupid directory in /etc, but as stupid as this driver is, it does connect, which is more than what the Linux kernel driver does, so I just overwrote the module file. Any reason why more people shouldn't do this? Any reason this option isn't listed in the wiki?

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Another thing, what program are you using to connect to wireless hotspot?

I tried NetworkManager, wicd and netcfg.

wicd and netcfg and the most reliable. But I prefer the way nm-applet is showing wireless: you click on icon, a list appears and you choose. I don't like the wicd window opening, which need resizing etc. netcfg does not have a good gui (there is netcfggui, but its doing some weird things sometimes). I also use KDE, so I want a KDE/Qt interface. So I've been using networkmanager-plasmoid-svn from aur since some time. But then again I don't really like the interface... The profile thing is confusing... An nm has not been the most reliable one. YMMV...

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Any reason why more people shouldn't do this? Any reason this option isn't listed in the wiki?

The version 2 of the driver is quite new. It's the first time today I see it, and I have never heard of it before today. There is a PKGBUILd on aur for rt2860sta, you can ask the maintainer to update to 2. As for the wiki, you can always add it

aesc

Member

Registered: 2009-03-16

Posts: 16

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

Another thing, what program are you using to connect to wireless hotspot?

I tried wicd and networkmanager with both the stock driver and the new company driver. I wasn't able to get the company driver to work with networkmanager, I've got the plasma interface for networkmanager which I agree is better, but I guess it just couldn't get its WPA stuff straight or something. Wicd connects, though it does seem to go a little nuts if I tell it to automatically connect.

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Arch on Asus EEE 901

I just found out the forum thread I was talking about a couple of post "earlier":
http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/phpBB/vi … 940#p32940