As a newbie to Linux, I thought I'd try out Knoppix and Knoppix STD. When connected to an ethernet cable, the internet works great. My wireless card, however, does not. It seems to appear in the startup information, but once it's booted up, the internet isn't available. (The card, by the way, is functional under Windows - no problems with the actual card.)

I've spent several hours online searching for help, but have found very little. There were several tips such as pull out the card, put it back in, and run... wlcardconfig I think it was... but I tried this and only got a popup telling me that no network cards were connected.

Linksys had close to no support topics for Linux at all, and what it did have seemed to be geared toward 802.11b cards.

Basically, I've had very few hints that 802.11g is even supported on Linux. I can hardly believe this, with all the major speed-hungry demons that use Linux... but I cannot find anyone even remotely talking about 802.11g with Linux other than questioning when it will be available.

I'm very eager to learn more about Linux, but no wireless internet is a huge drawback. If 802.11g is available for Linux, please let me know any suggestions you have... drivers, etc. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Posting the following outputs, hoping they will help you troubleshoot.

root@ttyp1[knoppix]# lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 80)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 8
Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: e8100000-e81fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: f0000000-f7ffffff
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 42)
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686/A PCI to ISA Bridge
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586/B/686A/B PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 Bus Master ATA133/100/66/33 IDE
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
I/O ports at 1840 [size=16]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 1a) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. (Wrong ID) USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 9
I/O ports at 1800 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI]
Flags: medium devsel
Capabilities: [68] Power Management version 2

00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
Subsystem: Compaq Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0097
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 5
I/O ports at 1000 [size=256]
I/O ports at 1854 [size=4]
I/O ports at 1850 [size=4]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:09.0 Communication controller: Conexant HSF 56k HSFi Modem (rev 01)
Subsystem: Compaq Computer Corporation: Unknown device 8d88
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 4
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
I/O ports at 1858 [size=8]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: Compaq Computer Corporation: Unknown device b103
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11
Memory at ffbfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=05, sec-latency=176
Memory window 1: fbbfd000-ffbfc000
I/O window 0: 00004000-000040ff
I/O window 1: 00004400-000044ff
16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RT8139
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1400 [size=256]
Memory at e8010000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. VT8636A [ProSavage KN133] AGP4X VGA Controller (TwisterK) (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Compaq Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0086
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 5
Memory at e8100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [80] AGP version 2.0

02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4320 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Linksys: Unknown device 4320
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 11
Memory at fbbfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

root@ttyp1[knoppix]# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:08:02:4C:F6:C5
inet addr:192.168.1.106 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2525 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2603 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:1906231 (1.8 MiB) TX bytes:444517 (434.0 KiB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x7000

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:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:500 (500.0 b) TX bytes:500 (500.0 b)

root@ttyp1[knoppix]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.


root@ttyp1[knoppix]# dmesg
Linux version 2.4.20-xfs (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 2.95.4 20011002 (Debian prerelease)) #1 SMP Mit Mär 26 15:37:36 CET 2003
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009e800 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009e800 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000c0000 - 00000000000cc000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000dc000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000000eef0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000eef0000 - 000000000eeff000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000000eeff000 - 000000000ef00000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000000ef00000 - 000000000f000000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fff80000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
240MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 61440
zone(0): 4096 pages.
zone(1): 57344 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix BOOT_IMAGE=vmlinuz
ide_setup: hda=scsi
ide_setup: hdb=scsi
ide_setup: hdc=scsi
ide_setup: hdd=scsi
ide_setup: hde=scsi
ide_setup: hdf=scsi
ide_setup: hdg=scsi
ide_setup: hdh=scsi
Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- reenabling.
Found and enabled local APIC!
Initializing CPU#0
Detected 996.567 MHz processor.
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 1985.74 BogoMIPS
Memory: 239828k/245760k available (1270k kernel code, 5476k reserved, 503k data, 128k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
Buffer-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: After generic, caps: 0383fbff c1cbfbff 00000000 00000000
CPU: Common caps: 0383fbff c1cbfbff 00000000 00000000
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
Checking for popad bug... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
mtrr: v1.40 (20010327) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
mtrr: detected mtrr type: Intel
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: After generic, caps: 0383fbff c1cbfbff 00000000 00000000
CPU: Common caps: 0383fbff c1cbfbff 00000000 00000000
CPU0: AMD mobile AMD Duron(tm) Processor stepping 01
per-CPU timeslice cutoff: 182.92 usecs.
SMP motherboard not detected.
enabled ExtINT on CPU#0
ESR value before enabling vector: 00000000
ESR value after enabling vector: 00000000
Using local APIC timer interrupts.
calibrating APIC timer ...
..... CPU clock speed is 996.5801 MHz.
..... host bus clock speed is 199.3158 MHz.
cpu: 0, clocks: 1993158, slice: 996579
CPU0<T0:1993152,T1:996560,D:13,S:996579,C:1993158>
Waiting on wait_init_idle (map = 0x0)
All processors have done init_idle
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfd7ae, last bus=1
PCI: Using configuration type 1
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
Disabling VIA memory write queue (PCI ID 0305, rev 80): [55] 3c & 1f -> 1c
PCI: Using IRQ router VIA [1106/0686] at 00:07.0
Applying VIA southbridge workaround.
PCI: Disabling Via external APIC routing
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
VFS: Disk quotas vdquot_6.5.1
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xf0000000, mapped to 0xcf80d000, size 15296k
vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=8
vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:7e56
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39
VP_IDE: chipset revision 6
VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
VP_IDE: VIA vt82c686b (rev 42) IDE UDMA100 controller on pci00:07.1
ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1840-0x1847, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbio
ide1: BM-DMA at 0x1848-0x184f, BIOS settings: hdcMA, hddio
hda: FUJITSU MHR2020AT, ATA DISK drive
hdc: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-C2502, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: 39070080 sectors (20004 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=2432/255/63
ide-cd: passing drive hdc to ide-scsi emulation.
Partition check:
hda: hda1
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 100000K size 1024 blocksize
Cronyx Ltd, Synchronous PPP and CISCO HDLC (c) 1994
Linux port (c) 1998 Building Number Three Ltd & Jan "Yenya" Kasprzak.
Promise Fasttrak(tm) Softwareraid driver 0.03beta: No raid array found
Highpoint HPT370 Softwareraid driver for linux version 0.01
No raid array found
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Vendor: TOSHIBA Model: DVD-ROM SD-C2502 Rev: 1011
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
IP: routing cache hash table of 2048 buckets, 16Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 16384 bind 16384)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
Freeing initrd memory: 468k freed
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
NCR53c406a: no available ports found
aec671x_detect:
spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7.
scsi: <fdomain> Detection failed (no card)
megaraid: v1.18 (Release Date: Thu Oct 11 15:02:53 EDT 2001)
megaraid: no BIOS enabled.
DC390: 0 adapters found
Failed initialization of WD-7000 SCSI card!
ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k nls_iso8859-1, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k nls_iso8859-1, errno = 2
ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
cloop: Welcome to cloop v0.68
cloop: /cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX: 25750 blocks, 65536 bytes/block, largest block is 65562 bytes.
cloop: loaded (max 1 devices)
ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
Freeing unused kernel memory: 128k freed
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16)
Linux Kernel Card Services 3.1.22
options: [pci] [cardbus] [pm]
PCI: Assigned IRQ 11 for device 00:0a.0
IRQ routing conflict for 00:07.5, have irq 5, want irq 11
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:0b.0
Yenta IRQ list 0408, PCI irq11
Socket status: 30000020
cs: cb_alloc(bus 2): vendor 0x14e4, device 0x4320
PCI: Enabling device 02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
cs: IO port probe 0x0c00-0x0cff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0820-0x08ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0800-0x080f: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding 0x378-0x37f 0x4d0-0x4d7
cs: IO port probe 0x0a00-0x0aff: clean.
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 15:50:01 Mar 26 2003
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
PCI: Assigned IRQ 9 for device 00:07.2
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x1800, IRQ 9
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
usbdevfs: remount parameter error
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778) [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
parport_pc: Via 686A parallel port: io=0x378
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778) [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
parport_pc: Via 686A parallel port: io=0x378
8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.26
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:0b.0
IRQ routing conflict for 00:07.5, have irq 5, want irq 11
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:0a.0
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 Fast Ethernet at 0xd0767000, 00:08:02:4c:f6:c5, IRQ 11
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8139C'
Via 686a audio driver 1.9.1
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:07.5
IRQ routing conflict for 00:07.5, have irq 5, want irq 11
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:0a.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:0b.0
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: ADS99(Unknown)
via82cxxx: board #1 at 0x1000, IRQ 5
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 190M
agpgart: Detected Via Apollo Pro KT133 chipset
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xec000000
FAT: Did not find valid FSINFO signature.
Found signature1 0x454c4946 signature2 0x4415b73a sector=16.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 03:01.
FAT: Did not find valid FSINFO signature.
Found signature1 0x454c4946 signature2 0x4415b73a sector=16.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 03:01.
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/W MODULE]
eth0: Setting half-duplex based on auto-negotiated partner ability 0000.
eth0: Setting 100mbps full-duplex based on auto-negotiated partner ability 45e1.
etherape uses obsolete (PF_INET,SOCK_PACKET)


Thanks again.

Currently there is no support for any of the 802.11g products under Linux. Mostly this has to do with the fact that the primary chip manufacturer, Broadcom, is being a complete bastard about releasing ay specs to the Open Source community on which to build a driver. There are some rumblings to black box reverse engineer a driver, but that is usually a long slow nightmare.

Cheers,

Finegan