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#1 2005-05-03 04:10:48

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

First time linux user... question about wireless

hey guys, so I just put arch linux onto my new laptop. I have never used linux before, and up until about 3 months ago, I had never used unix at all. I understand basic concepts, but have no idea when it comes to linux/unix stuff. After finally managing to get Arch up and running, my main question is how to get wireless going? I tried searching the forums, but everything is over my head, and i just dont understand 8(
if you guys need any specific information to help me out, please let me know. I am very eager to learn linux, and especially Arch. So if you have any insights on how to help me get my wireless working, please dont hesitate to reply!

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#2 2005-05-03 04:17:25

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

there's alot of info in the wiki... I wrote some scripts for wireless, which I use myself:
http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless%20setup

feel free to ask whatever.

And may I say, grats on taking your first step in linux on Arch - it's not a very "noob friendly" distro, and can be tough... but that's how I learned (on slackware) - just dive in...

the forums tend to be fairly friendly, so feel free to post/ask whatever you want (assuming you at least tried google first... roll)

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#3 2005-05-03 07:48:40

CyberTron
Member
From: Gotland ,Sweden
Registered: 2005-03-17
Posts: 645
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

depending of which wireless card you have, you might need ndiswrapper:

http://ndiswrapper.sf.net


http://www.linuxportalen.com  -> Linux Help portal for Linux and ArchLinux (in swedish)

Dell Inspiron 8500
Kernel 2.6.14-archck1  (selfcompiled)
Enlightenment 17

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#4 2005-05-03 11:15:54

jp_fielding
Member
Registered: 2004-08-28
Posts: 85

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

to start, you'll probably just need to know which card are you using and praks wiki page. 

if that doesn't help, let us know we'll try and help(and then update the wiki). i had a dell 1300 truemobile and had used both linuxant and ndiswrapper.  but recently swapped that card out for an intel pro wireless. 

oh... and welcome :-)

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#5 2005-05-03 21:55:23

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

So little update
still have no idea how to get wireless actually working


i got wireless-tools, wlan-ng26
installed it

then did
pacman -S cvs
   pacman -S sharutils
   cd ~
   cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net/cvsroot/madwifi co madwifi

then from whatever prompt i was at did
export KERNELPATH=/usr/src/2.7.11-ARCH
   export MODULEPATH=/lib/modules/2.7.11-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/wireless

then went into the wifi dir and did
   make
   make install
   depmod -a

then i did
ath0="dhcp"
   INTERFACES=(lo ath0)
in my rc.conf file

i have no idea what to do now 8)
i need like a complete step by step guide cause like i said, this is day 2 of linux for me 8)
also, it would be really cool after i get wireless actually working, to have it when i am plugged in to use wired, and when unplugged to use wireless and do this automatically, if possible

once again, thanks in advance for any help you can give

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#6 2005-05-03 22:18:36

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

ok... I may split this off in a different thread, considering we're going to go way off topic, but we'll see:

some step by step stuff (non-wireless):
you probably already did some of this, but for future reference....

learn your hardware

# pacman -S hwd

run lshwd (stands for "list hardware") - it will give you a list of the hardware connected to your machine, and it will try its best to match kernel modules (it's not perfect) to what you have.
You'll have to read the little descriptive text to find out what each device is... but your wireless card will be listed on there (most likely w/o a module)

please post your lshwd output here

ok, now that you know your card as linux reads it, google it to figure out what wireless drivers you need.  You seemed to be looking at madwifi, so I'm going to assume that's correct...
NOTE: I do not have a madwifi card... if someone wants to donate one so I can give a better howto, feel free 8)
The instructions you posted are to build madwifi from cvs... I personally don't like that idea, and wasn't the one who put that in the wiki... I'll fix that later on... anyway, it seems like you built it fine (right? make, make install, and depmod -a all worked?)

ok, now that the madwifi module is installed, we are ready to get it working.
The first thing you need to do is to is to load the module.  This is done in two parts... the first is to add it to the MODULES collection in rc.conf (so that it starts on boot), and the second is to run "modprobe ath_pci" (ath_pci is the name of the module, by the way).

Assuming this is the right module for your hardware, it should now be loaded (run lsmod to check if it's listed).

Good, you can start wireless in a few ways.  I'd recommend using my scripts from the wiki (follow the instructions on where to save the files... there's no package yet).
Copy the sample_profile to your own ("steves_profile"?) and edit the files appropriately.  You need to switch the interface to "ath0" and switch the ESSID parameter, at the very minimum (other params should be self explainatory, check "man iwconfig" for details).

after that is done, assuming all the files are in the right place, run "/etc/rc.d/wireless start" and watch the magic.  Seeing as your new at this, you'll probably have stumbling blocks... go ahead and ask whatever ya need/have problems with.

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#7 2005-05-03 22:21:15

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

on another note... look at ifplugd if you'd like to use your wired connection when plugged into an eth cable - I use it with my laptop...

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#8 2005-05-03 23:16:00

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

Well, when i set up everything about madwifi i was logged in as root, so everything was installed in /root .... so then i rmed the madwifi directory... dunno if i destroyed anything
anyways, so wired is sitll working which is good

here is an output of my lshwd

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp.|82855PM Processor to I/O Controller (intel-agp)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp.|82855PM Processor to AGP Controller (unknown)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp.|82801DB USB Controller (uhci_hcd)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp.|82801DB USB Controller (uhci_hcd)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp.|82801DB USB Controller (uhci_hcd)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp.|82801DB USB Enhanced Controller (ehci-hcd)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp.|82801 Hub Interface to PCI Bridge (hw_random)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp.|82801DBM LPC Interface Bridge (unknown)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp.|82801DBM IDE Controller (UltraATA/100) (piix)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp.|ICH4 845G/GL Chipset AC'97 Audio Controller (snd-intel8x0)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp.|82801DB AC (slamr)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI|Radeon Mobility 9000 (M9) Lf (AGP) (radeon)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corp.|BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (b44)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2Micro Inc|OZ711EC1 SmartCardBus Controller (yenta_socket)
02:01.1 CardBus bridge: O2Micro Inc|OZ711EC1 SmartCardBus Controller (yenta_socket)
02:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corp.|PRO/Wireless 2915ABG MiniPCI Adapter (ipw2200)
004:001 USB Hub: Virtual|Hub (unknown)
003:001 USB Hub: Virtual|Hub (unknown)
002:001 USB Hub: Virtual|Hub (unknown)
001:003 USB Human Interface Devices:  [/dev/input/mice] (usbhid)
001:001 USB Hub: Virtual|Hub (unknown)

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#9 2005-05-04 00:14:16

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

i reinstalled madwifi as a real user and re-set everything up, lets see if i can get this working...

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#10 2005-05-04 00:30:30

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

phrakture wrote:

You need to switch the interface to "ath0" and switch the ESSID parameter, at the very minimum (other params should be self explainatory, check "man iwconfig" for details).

So im not 100% clear on what this is saying. when you say i need to switch the interface to ath0, and switch the ESSID parameter, is this in the wireless script? or the profile script? and what exactly am I changing?


thanks again

--Edit--
So im a moron, i take it you mean in the profile file, now that i actually looked at it. so im switching
INTERFACE="wlan0"
to
INTERFACE="ath0"

and i also need to change
ESSID="SAMPLE"
to something else. i dont know what to change this to, so some insight would be very helpful 8¬)

So if i have WEP on my wireless router, then in my profile I would have to  uncomment this (the KEY part)
# Encryption Key (see `man iwconfig` for extended information
# KEY="00000000000000000000000000"
and put in the actuall WEP

i think im getting the hang of this 8 )

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#11 2005-05-04 00:36:36

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

One more thing,
for the profile script, its supposed to be in
/etc/conf.d/wireless-profiles/sample/*
i do not have a wireless-profiles directory, so does this mean to make one? and if yes, what about the sample directory? is it supposed to be my user name? or not there?
and then what do i call the file?

thanks and sorry for being such a noob 8 )

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#12 2005-05-04 01:36:26

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

ok, couple of things.... first off, your card is not a madwifi card, it's an ipw220 card

02:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corp.|PRO/Wireless 2915ABG MiniPCI Adapter (ipw2200) 

that's in extra... so the following:

pacman -S ipw2200
modprobe ipw2200

don't forget to add "ipw2200" to rc.conf

about the wireless profiles... yes, create the "wireless-profiles" directory there... each profile has an arbitrary name... and it's based on the dir...
i can make /etc/conf.d/wireless-profiles/some_obscure_name for a profile named "some_obscure_name"

change the proper values in the profile directory and add "WIRELESS_PROFILES=('some_obscure_name')" somewhere into rc.conf (order doesn't matter)

on a side note: you shouldn't do much as root... you have a chance to oddly screw up your machine... for instance, a common one is doing "rm -R .*" which, you'd think, matches all "." (hidden) files... however, it also matches ".." which goes one dir up.... same thing there, and after a time it can wipe your whole drive
when you build a standard project, like madwifi, the commands work as follows:
configure - sets up the build so it works on your machine
make - compiles the source code into binary
make install - copies the files where they need to be

doing this as non-root is important, as you can overwrite system files... once it's done, you can remove all the files you downloaded, as the "make install" copies what you need (you should still have ath_pci somewhere... try "find / -name ath_pci.ko"

ok, enough rambling... you sound like you're picking this up extremely fast... so good job.

let me know if there's any other issues

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#13 2005-05-04 15:52:47

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

Few more things:

I noticed on startup i get this

Starting Hotplug Daemon
... cant load module shpchp
missing kernel or user mode driver shpchp
... cant load module shpchp
missing kernel or user mode driver shpchp

and it does it twice because its listed twice in my rc.conf
1) is this supposed to happen?
2) should it happen twice?

ummm yeah, i really dont know how to "turn on wireless" to even check if it works. so I need some help with that now 8)

---Edit---
I just restarted my comp, cause thats the only way I know to get it to "turn on" wireless
in the loading network part of start up it failed 8(
so wireless is not working yet. my wired still loaded up fine, however.

another weird thing, when i am just at a console prompt
and i try to use the network command, i get
bash: network: command not found
i think that is kinda weird too...

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#14 2005-05-04 16:10:07

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

ok:
first off, you don't need hotplug twice (heh, you don't even need it once, but I'd suggest you keep it for now) - what hotplug does is detects all your hardware and loads appropriate modules required to use it - this is all done when your computer boots... if you know all the modules you need, you can add them to rc.conf and not need hotplug, but that's a whole different story... don't worry about it - I'm derailing myself

Ok, wireless.... let's continue.  I'm going to assume the module is loaded (run lsmod to check).

Now, if you're using my wireless scripts, you should have (this is the minimum):
/etc/rc.d/wireless <--- main script
/etc/conf.d/wireless_profiles/MyProfile/config <--- MyProfile can be any name

The minimum profile config file should look like this:

#! /bin/sh
INTERFACE="wlan0"
IFOPTS="dhcp"
ESSID="MyEssid"

you should know the ESSID of your wireless router... keep the IFOPTS set to dhcp, it's easier for now... the INTERFACE value may need to be changed (to whatever ipw2200 brings up - it's either eth1 or wlan0... not sure, check /dev and see which file is there, eth1 or wlan0)

also, don't forget to run "chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/wireless" as root [this changes the permissions on the wireless script so you can run it, otherwise the system thinks it's just a text file]

now, you need to be root to do this... there's two ways (just like module loading) to start up wireless... for now, we'll just test it.
run /etc/rc.d/wireless profile MyProfile up
(replace up with down to turn it off)

after this, check "ifconfig wlan0" (or eth1) to see if you have an ip address... if not, check "iwconfig wlan0" (or eth1) [note the "w" for wireless] - post the output of both

assuming wireless works fine (you get an ip), you can then add WIRELESS_PROFILES=('MyProfile') in rc.conf so it will start wireless on boot

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#15 2005-05-04 17:10:07

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

its eth1

also, this is what happens when i do the following:
===[sting@StingMobile] /etc/rc.d # wireless start
bash: wireless: command not found

so i checked like 1000x to make sure the file exists, and the permissions are right. but for some reason it doesnt see that the wireless command exists....

and if this helps, this is from my ifconfig for eth0 and eth1
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:12:F0:40:F4:0E
          inet addr:192.168.1.101  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1648 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:992 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:785138 (766.7 Kb)  TX bytes:132504 (129.3 Kb)
          Interrupt:5 Base address:0x8000 Memory:faffd000-faffdfff

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:43:57:97:6B
          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:11

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#16 2005-05-04 17:28:28

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

as an update to this,
i can NOT use the network command either
i get the same message about it being not foud...

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#17 2005-05-04 17:35:55

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

it's because of the way you're running it - when you just run a command without specifying the location of it, it searches in the PATH environment variable (do echo $PATH to see the directories).
To run the network or wireless commands, use it as follows:

 /etc/rc.d/wireless profile X up
/etc/rc.d/network restart
or
cd /etc/rc.d
./wireless profile X up
./network start

this works because you're specifying the location of the commands to run.  In the second case, the "./" in the beginning says "it's in the current directory"

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#18 2005-05-04 17:41:33

CyberTron
Member
From: Gotland ,Sweden
Registered: 2005-03-17
Posts: 645
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

I think I might help you with a little part of this big_smile

when you are in /etc/rc.d

type: ./wireless start

notice the ./

othervice /etc/rc.d/wireless start    would work too


EDIT:

Sorry, phrak was faster than me big_smile


http://www.linuxportalen.com  -> Linux Help portal for Linux and ArchLinux (in swedish)

Dell Inspiron 8500
Kernel 2.6.14-archck1  (selfcompiled)
Enlightenment 17

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#19 2005-05-04 17:48:04

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

CyberTron wrote:

EDIT:

Sorry, phrak was faster than me big_smile

heh, that happens alot... I'm like a post-ninja

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#20 2005-05-04 18:01:47

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

Yep thanks. had a friend tell me i wasnt dong it right.

so this is where I'm at now.
When i boot up the computer and i have wired plugged in, my wireless gets an IP. when i dont have wired plugged in, then it does not get an IP.

after booting up un-wired, i tried getting wireless going
i did the following:
ifconfig eth1 down //to make sure wireless is down
/etc/rc.d/wireless stop
/etc/rc.d/wireless profile sting up
/etc/rc.d/wireless restart

this is the output from restart it:
Stopping Wireless Profile [sting] on eth1
Loading Wireless Profile [sting] on eth1
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
    SET failed on device eth1 : Operation not supported
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B2A) :
    SET failed on device eth1 : Operation not supported

also, just a strange thing i thought i would note:
My routers IP is 192.168.2.1 so i put that as the gateway in my rc.conf
when im on wired, the IP it gets is 192.168.1.x
where as my wireless get an IP of 192.168.2.x
dunno if thats a problem too...

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#21 2005-05-04 18:55:27

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

hmmm, ok try this by hand...

# iwconfig eth1 essid <whatever>
# iwconfig eth1
check the output, see if essid is right
# ifconfig eth1 up
# dhcpcd eth1
# ifconfig eth1
check for ip address

see if you get any errors in there

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#22 2005-05-06 17:00:19

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

===[sting@StingMobile] ~ # sudo iwconfig eth1 essid IETK
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.

===[sting@StingMobile] ~ # iwconfig eth1
eth1      no wireless extensions.

8(

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#23 2005-05-06 17:16:42

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

Ok this is really really weird. My wireless somehow now works. but i need to have wired plugged in first to get an ip.... Lol 8) but it works so that you all for helping me with that

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#24 2005-05-06 23:59:27

Sting14
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 26

Re: First time linux user... question about wireless

OMG! its magic! all is working as it should! thank you everyone who helped me!

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