Yohhan

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I'm trying to install the pcmcia wireless driver for the linksys wpc11 version 3. When I run "make config" I'm asked for my Linux kernel source directory. The default is shown as /usr/src/linux, but this fails when I try to use it. On further inspection, this directory didn't appear on my machine. I just did a default installation of fedora. Does anyone know where this directory is?

2Gnu

That most likely means that you didn't install the source. Use the package manager to install the kernel source, headers and development tools and try the make config again.

But first, a question for you: What driver are you trying to install? FC1 should work fine with the WPC11v3 and the orinoco_cs driver (included). While you may want to compile other things at some point and will need the dev tools, you should be able to get the wireless going without that step.

Yohhan

First, I don't have much experience installing drivers on Linux. Actually, none. I've relied completely on default installations.

The package manager is rpm correct? How would I tell it to install the kernel source? Maybe this is bad, but I haven't used rpm for very much.

I'm using the drivers available on the Linksys website. I downloaded the file: linux.-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1

What is FC1?

Thanks for the help.

2Gnu

FC = Fedora Core. Didn't mean to confuse you.

Don't install the Linksys-recommended drivers. At least try the ones you already have first.

By package manager, I meant the GUI thing that installs packages from the CD. Not sure what it's called, but it should be under system tools or some such thing.

From a console, and as root, type:
modprobe orinoco
modprobe hermes
modprobe orinoco_cs

Post any errors.

Again from a console, type:
iwconfig

Post the output.

That should tell us what you have working and what yet needs to be done.

Yohhan

No problem. Downloaded Fedora for the first time two days ago, so that didn't register at first.

I ran the following:
modprobe orinoco
modprobe hermes
modprobe orinoco_cs

And received no output. No error messages but no confirmation either. I ran iwconfig and received the following:

lo no wireless extensions
eth0 no wireless extensions
eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"linksys" Nickname:"Prism I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437GHz Access Point: 00:06:25:B9:52:E9
Bit RAte:2Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:0/92 Signal level:124/153 Noise level:112/153
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:11 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


I did notice from the above that encryption is off. I have encryption enabled on my access point. Not sure how to set that up on the wireless card though. I ran ifconfig eth1 and had no ip address. I tried to manually assign one, but I still couldn't ping my other machines.


Thanks for your help.

2Gnu

You're there! The card sees and is associated with the access point.

The modprobe stuff loaded the drivers for the card. You may need to put that information into /etc/modules.conf later to activate it on boot (I should have asked you to lsmod first - they mave have already loaded).

Now, we need to set the wireless parameters so that they will apply on boot. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1, entering the WEP key, ESSID and mode. Restart PCMCIA (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) and bring up the interface (ifup eth1) and see if you can ping/surf. These settings can also be entered via the network config GUI.

Good luck.

Yohhan

A few more questions for you. Here's what I've done.

I ran lsmod and the modules did appear.

There was no ifcfg-eth1 in the network-scripts directory, so I created it and tried to piece it together from ifcfg-eth0 that was already there. Here's what I came up with, though I really wasn't sure what to enter for mode.

DEVICE=eth1
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
WEP=a8b4f9c537d2a59864a91207
ESSID=linksys
MODE=Access Point

In that same directory is also a "ifcfg-wlan0" and a "ifup-wireless" script. Should I be using those in any way? I ran iwconfig again, and this time it told me the MAC of my Access Point was all 4's. Encryption was listed as off, even though I put in the WEP key aboev.

I should probably also mention, that the MAC address address of the AP was not listed under iwconfig until after I assigned a network IP to eth1 using ifconfig eth1 192.168.1.91 netmask 255.255.255.0

2Gnu

ifcfg-wlan0 is normally created by the installation of the wlan_ng driver, which I thought had not been installed. Fedora might be different enough from Red Hat 9 with which I'm more familiar that it contained and tried to use those drivers, but I doubt it. I'd remove (or at least rename so the action is reversible) the two files that you mentioned and use the ifcfg-eth1 instead. The mode entry should specify managed (same as infrastructure as opposed to ad hoc).

Yohhan

It looks like ifup-wireless is run by ifup if the device specified is wireless.

I added TYPE=Wireless to my ifcfg-eth1 file.

After running ./ifup eth1 I recieve the message "Cannot get driver information: Operation not supported".

One question I have. I was looking through the comments of the ifup-wireless script, and the encryption key option was listed as "key" and not "WEP". So I changed that line in my ifcfg-eth1 file. However, when I run iwconfig it still shows encryption as being off. Why would that be?

Thanks for your help. I don't mean to keep you here all day... Do you know of a good tutorial where I could read up on this?

2Gnu

I missed that typo in the earlier post. You're right, it should be KEY=a8b4..., not WEP. Changes to that file do not take effect immediately like iwconfig commands do, but only when the interface is started.

Don't try to execute the ifup script with ./ Instead, just type ifup eth1 and hit enter at a root prompt.

Here's an example of a wireless ifcfg-eth1 file:

DEVICE=eth1
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
DOMAIN=
NETMASK=
HWADDR=
TYPE=Wireless
DHCP_HOSTNAME=
IPADDR=
USERCTRL=no
PEERDNS=no
GATEWAY=
ESSID=dipstick
CHANNEL=1
KEY=1234567890abcdef0987654321
RATE=Auto

Yohhan

It looks like it's working, except I can't get an IP address. iwconfig now shows my Access Point (which it wasn't doing before). I have the encryption key in my ifcfg-eth1 file. Any ideas?

2Gnu

I wish the heck I still had a Red Hat wireless system running - Slack is different enough that I can't use it as a direct comparison (and I sure can't trust my memory).

What does ifconfig show now?
Do you get an error message when running ifup?
What's in /etc/modules.conf? We might need an alias for eth1.
Have you tried the GUI for network setup? Not sure what it's called in Fedora, but you could start it from the command line in RH 9 as "neat."

Yohhan

I know the feeling...

Unable to copy and paste at the moment, so here's an abbreviated list:

Link encap:Ethernet
HWaddr (mac address of my PC card)
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST

Then MTU and all of that good stuff. I could be wrong, but shouldn't encap be "Wireless"? No IP information is listed when I do ifconfig.

In modules.conf -- There's an alias for eth0, but nothing for eth1 which should be my wireless.

ifup and ifdown give me problems. ifdown tells me "HWADDR: command not found", and ifup says this as well. ifup also tells me "Cannot get driver information: Operation not supported". Then I get an error message: "SIOCSIFFLAGS: Connection timed out".

neat is in fedora too. It just brings up the standard GUI network setup. I tried that but it didn't help I get the same issues. I noticed when I tried to add a new device, there was no option to add a Linksys device. When I configured the IP statically and tried to activate the device, it activated. I could not ping any other machine on the network though. When DHCP was configured, it would not activate and I received the same errors from ifup.

Not sure if it helps, but on bootup eth1 gets brought up without any problem.

2Gnu

The Link encap:Ethernet is fine.

Neat will not give you a Linksys WPC11 as a drop-down option. It will say (from the aforementioned faulty memory) Orinoco or PrismII wireless. The HW address error is similar to one I got when RH tried to bind the interface to the MAC address of the card. Removing that entry in ifcfg-eth1 or unchecking the box in neat fixed it.

Is your gateway and DNS info entered correctly in neat?

The only other thought is to make sure that everything is set up properly at the router end - no MAC address filtering turned on, for example.

You are so close, it's killing me. I know I'm overlooking something dumb (and I'm using basically the same card on this laptop). Those with superior Fedora skills are welcome to jump in at any point.

Yohhan

And of course, it gets better...

I reinstalled Fedora out of desperation. Did everything over again. Now I can get as far as obtaining an IP from my DHCP server. But I can't ping any of my other machines! I can't access internet sites either. iwconfig finds my AP. But I can't ping anything other than the local interface (192.168.1.201, 127.0.0.1) itself. I thought iptables might be blocking echo requests. I flushed all chains and set the policies to ACCEPT. Didn't help. About to throw this thing out the window. So close and yet so far...

One strange thing it's still doing. I get the following errors when bringing up eth1 with ifup:

Cannot get driver information: Operation not supported

Determining IP information for eth1...SIOCADDRT: File exists
done.

But I do get an IP from the DHCP server. Any thoughts?