Atheros AR2413 in VL5.9.1 SOHO

[LeeDB]

Hello,

I installed VL 5.9 Light on a Dell PIII-650, and it detected the Dlink DWL-630 (Atheros AR2413) fine.  All I had to do was use VLwifi to set it up, and I was on the network even with WPA-2 Personal encryption.  Then I noticed there was a free version of VL 5.9.1 SOHO available to try, and I was very happy to see that even the KDE version ran fine on the old Dell.  The only problem, however is the wireless card doesn't work.  VL 5.9 Light and Standard Gold both configure this card automatically as "ATH0", but it shows up as "WLAN0" in 5.9.1 SOHO.  Here is what lspci shows in 5.9 SOHO: (I just limited it to the network cards that are installed)

  02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Xircom Cardbus Ethernet 10/100 (rev 03)
  02:00.1 Serial controller: Xircom Cardbus Ethernet + 56k Modem (rev 03)
  06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR2413 802.11bg NIC (rev 01)

Here is what ifconfig -a shows:

root:# ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:10:A4:08:5A:D9
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:1770 (1.7 KiB)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  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:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wlan0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:95:69:89:99
          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)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-11-95-69-89-99-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          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)

I noticed that WLAN0 was not assigned an INET, so I assigned it as INET3 using VASM.  (INET1 is the wired ethernet interface, and INET2 was not given as a choice for some reason.  That didn't get it running, however.

Sorry if I am posting too much.  I will gladly go ahead and buy the deluxe version of this OS if I can just get the wireless working.  I'm very tickled to have a KDE desktop running so nicely on the old Lattitude - can't wait to get it on the internet.

Thanks,
Lee

[uelsk8s]

the newer kernel in 5.9.1 SOHO has the ath5k module. the older kernel in 5.9 std/light has the ath_pci module.
You can either put the kernel and modules from 5.9 into SOHO or get the source and build the ath_pci module.

HTH,

Uelsk8s 

[carsten]

Hy,
I think this is somehow ridiculus! Hardware working with the older installation defuncts after upgrade.

On my laptop (nothing exotic, Thinkpad R32 and Phillips PCMCIA Card with Atheros Chipset) I have still Xandros and recently Knoppix as I could not get VL (and to be honest, any other Distro) to work the card with WPA. According to my humble opinion WLAN support Out-of-the-box is really urgently to be improved as this is and will be more and more an issue.

Carsten (running VL Std 5.8 on his workstation)

[LeeDB]

I don't know how to put the kernel and modules from 5.9 Standard into SOHO, but I can try to get the source for the ath_pci module and build it.  I believe ath_pci is a madwifi module.

Fyi, although 5.9 Standard detects the DLink card/Atheros chipset, WPA-2 doesn't work.  I would be content to stick with Standard if not for that.  WPA-2 does work in 5.9 Light, but Light does not allow me to install the java browser plugins.  Also, AntiX 7.5 works out of the box with the same wireless card in the same laptop, but I would rather have "fast KDE" with 5.9.1 SOHO if I can make it work.

Regards,
Lee

[Masta]

Hy,
I think this is somehow ridiculus! Hardware working with the older installation defuncts after upgrade.

On my laptop (nothing exotic, Thinkpad R32 and Phillips PCMCIA Card with Atheros Chipset) I have still Xandros and recently Knoppix as I could not get VL (and to be honest, any other Distro) to work the card with WPA. According to my humble opinion WLAN support Out-of-the-box is really urgently to be improved as this is and will be more and more an issue.

Carsten (running VL Std 5.8 on his workstation)

It is because they are working on a replacement to MadWiFi. SOME of the drivers aren't working correctly, this is also linked to the newer kernels. More information can be found on the mad wifi web site.

 Ever install MS Windows on a system?
   I mean on a system that didn't come from some OEM, like Dell or HP, where the drivers and extra applications are already included. Yeah, good luck on that too

I think the VL developing team is doing an excellent job. Considering the short number of them, and the short amount of time they have to spend, and I won't even get close to the subject of cost.
 I have installed the retail version of SOHO onto a brand new Laptop, and it is working very well.
 Maybe that's the difference of the free version and the retail? I don't know, but I'm sure that the dev' team is all over making things easier for end users as far as hardware goes. Perhaps some appreciation instead of flaming might be a better direction?

 VL 6 is now in the making, you might want to be there to test your hardware and report back bugs, so that the team can get things fixed before the final releases come up (at least you know your hardware will be better supported).

[carsten]

1) Ever install MS Windows on a system?

2) I think the VL developing team is doing an excellent job.

Hy,

to 1) yes, I did install Windows (actually, I installed already DOS, TOS, OS/2, Windows 95, 98, NT and XP more than once)
At least with XP I nearly never had problems to get hardware working.

to 2) Sorry, I did not mean to bash Vectelopers, Vector IS great! 
It was a general frust that WLAN is still tricky with WPA, which for my understanding is a Security-must-have if you operate wireless network.

And yes, I installed the VL6 Alpha. But to be honest, as I am growing older (or experienced) I find less and less amusement from fiddling with my computer just for the sake of solving problems which I would not have without the computer 
Good luck to Lee in solving his issue,

Carsten

[bigpaws]

Hy,
I think this is somehow ridiculus! Hardware working with the older installation defuncts after upgrade.

I agree. However this is was created from the kernel
developers changing things not Vector Linux.

Until hardware manufacturers start to really recognize Linux this
will continue to be a problem.

Bigpaws

[caitlyn]

I ran into the same issue moving to a 2.6.25 or newer kernel, not just in Vector Linux, but in Zenwalk and Xubuntu as well.  You need to do two things which absolutely, positively solve the problem:

1.  Download, compile, and install the old, proprietary madwifi driver.  There are excellent, clear instuctions on how to do this on the http://www.madwifi.org website.

2.  Blacklist the ath5k module

If you need specific help with any part of the process please post again and any number of us will be happy to answer your questions.

Note to self:  Time to write a HOW-TO and/or package madwifi

[LeeDB]

Hi Caitlyn,

I am happy to report that I just read your post now via the Dell Laptop on 5.9.1 SOHO connected to the net via wireless.  Although I didn't see your post earlier, I managed to get it done.  What I did pretty much matches up with what you advised except I didn't blacklist the ath5k module.  I can still do that to be safe.

I downloaded the ath_pci madwifi driver and followed the instructions in the install file that came in the package.  Then I typed "modprobe ath_pci" at a command line with root privileges.  Then I edited /etc/modprobe.conf and changed the line that said "alias eth1 ath5k" to "alias eth1 ath_pci", which is how it looked in VL 5.9 Light (a version that had already worked with the same card).

Next I re-booted and was happy to see the card blinking.  On a hunch, I fired up Seamonkey, and I was on the net!  Evidently because I had previously run VLwifi and entered the ssid and wpa-2 key, it had saved that information.  Wow, it didn't take very long to get it done.  Thanks to everyone for your help.

Lee