Converting LFS 6.6 to Wireless Thin Client

Reptilegod · 07-24-2010, 01:49 PM

I've used the information on these forums to help through some tough spots, unfortunately I haven't found enough info in the threads to help me with this one. So I'm making my first post for help and/or suggestions.

I recently finished a LFS build ver. 6.6 and I want to install applications, drivers, etc. that will allow me to convert LFS into a "thin-client" like OS. I have been trying this on my own and keep generating errors with those options I'm choosing. So if anyone has any ideas on how I can accomplish this please put them out there.

My goal is to have the system boot to either VMview and/or rdesktop through a wireless connection which requires authentication and a static IP address.
I chose LFS as a base system because 1) I enjoy playing with Linux and 2) because the end result would be a very basic system. However, finding install packages that will install without needing additional dependencies is proving to be quite a feat.

So again any help or suggestions are greatly welcome. For the sake of argument just assume my build matches the end result of LFS 6.6.

business_kid · 07-25-2010, 11:17 AM

At the end of an LFS, you are ready to start into BLFS.
BLFS lists dependencies.
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/stable/
I found it best to go at libs first (libjpeg, libpng, etc). Take your pick from sections 3, 4, 8, and then the Networking & server stuff.

Reptilegod · 07-31-2010, 03:39 PM

Thanks for your reply business_kid, I was actually beginning to look into BLFS when I posted.

I was able to install some of the wireless tools that are mentioned in BLFS, however the biggest hurdle I'm facing now is locating suitable drivers and getting a wireless connection setup.

I guess I should have mentioned this, but for the wireless connection I am using an old system that uses a PCMCIA (Cisco Aironet) wireless card. Currently I am struggling with getting the wireless card recognized, not sure if I'm missing something. I installed PCMCIA-CS-3.2.8 and I have the wireless_tools28 (from BLFS) installed. When I installed the kernel through the GUI menu configuration I configured it to support every possible hardware device/interface I could find. Is there a config file somewhere that I need to tweak in order obtain some diagnostic testing information?

If anyone has experience configuring a PCMCIA card on their LFS/BLFS build please help, I'm open for suggestions.

business_kid · 08-01-2010, 11:42 AM

Try here
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/airo

Basically, the way this _used_ to work was that the pcmcia drivers (or for the politically correct, pc-card dirvers) comprise a driver for the chipset, and the card. There used also need to be a /etc/<function>.opts file. That was how it was done 15 years back when I had a scsi controller driving an external cdrom drive for my laptop. I never figu8red out the scsi.opts file but someone sharp sent me one, and it worked - longer than the laptop:-(.

EDIT: for diagnostics, lspcmcia exists. Also lshal, which gives you everything. This stuff is written up, and you are not alone. Wireless tools are iwconfig, iwlist, etc.

Reptilegod · 08-07-2010, 12:22 PM

Well business_kid, I thank you for your info. Unfortunately the PC-card that I am using is the PI21AG series, which doesn't appear to have a Linux driver available. However, my LFS build recognizes the card as an Atheros device. So now I am wondering which file(s) might I need to edit to configure the WLAN. When I do it manually through iwconfig the changes are only temporary and after a reboot all the information is reset.

Also, you wouldn't happen to know how to disable cardmgr from loading at start-up, would you? I followed information I found here, including inserting the code it mentioned. But rather than stopping cardmgr from running it generates an error: "/etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia Line: 7 - KVERREL=2.6.32.8: no such command or file" or something like that. I understand enough about programming to know that the code is trying to setup a variable however, it is being seen by the system as a command. The reason I want to disable cardmgr is because it generates resource errors at load time and sees the socket as empty. I believe that since the kernel has PC-Card support and hotplug functionality configured in it, that it is establishing drivers for the PC-Card, then in the last stage of start-up it tries to run cardmgr, which causes the resource errors. Any thoughts?

business_kid · 08-08-2010, 03:15 AM

Ok, forget airo, if it's Atheros inside. That's the bit that matters. in post #4 I gave you 2 links and one of them points at all kernel supported drivers. Atherto0s drivers exist. Find them. Search this site for links if you'rwe stuck.
Open /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia, and check the file for a syntax error. Be careful where you add stuff as some commands continue over a couple of lines. You can probably just comment out that line with a # . I would recommend you let pcmcia start up, as otherwise the box sets up for no network.

The basic idea is that to use the card, you need the card services. What the instructions in your link appear to do is trick things into thinking they're loaded when they're not, So they won't be loaded again. That facilitates carrying around network cards in your pcmcia slots which the kernel will not be able to access. Is that what you're after? And if you're on LFS-6.6, remove the kernel version stuff altogether, as you're not running a 2.4 kernel. That bit seemed to refer to long ago when the change from 2.4 to 2.6 kernels started. They got together on LKML and fiddled the standards so that all sorts of stuff had to be rewritten. It's all old hat these days.

Reptilegod · 08-18-2010, 11:38 PM

Hey Business_kid,
It's been a little while, work has been keeping me busy. Ok, so I have the Atheros drivers installed. As I was reconfiguring my kernel I found that the ioctl in 2.6 has been labeled as obsolete in the menuconfig. When I viewed the helped it suggested using pcmciautils instead of the pcmcia-cs tools. So I uninstalled the latter and installed pcmciautils. This removed my cardmgr errors and everything appears to be loading.
However I am not seeing a wireless interface listed under ifconfig. When I run iwconfig I get an wlan0 but when I try to configure this interface it doesn't send any packets (judging by my log file).

I have run lspci and lspcmcia and decided if I post the output maybe you might see something I'm missing.

lspcmcia output:

Code:

Socket 0 Bridge:   	[yenta_cardbus] 	(bus ID: 0000:05:09.0)
  CardBus card -- see "lspci" for more information

lspci output:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)

00:06.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P Processor to I/O Memory Interface (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)

05:02.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5782 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 03)
0
5:09.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c475 (rev 80)

06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

Any additional insight would be appreciated. Also if you have additional methods to troubleshooting a wireless network, I'm open to suggestions.

business_kid · 08-20-2010, 02:50 AM

I see the card in lspci,
modprobe <module>
ifconfig wlan0 up
iwlist wlan0 scan # that should show you stuff
iwconfig wlan0 <setup options>

Reptilegod · 08-21-2010, 12:39 PM

B_k,
Below is the output from the iwlist string:

Code:

Aug 21 08:33:55 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87601.512248] ath5k phy0: noise floor calibration timeout (2412MHz)

Aug 21 08:33:55 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87601.910271] ath5k phy0: failed to warm reset the MAC Chip

Aug 21 08:33:55 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87601.910345] ath5k phy0: can't reset hardware (-5)

Aug 21 08:33:56 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87602.352244] ath5k phy0: failed to warm reset the MAC Chip

Aug 21 08:33:56 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87602.352319] ath5k phy0: can't reset hardware (-5)

Aug 21 08:33:56 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87602.775238] ath5k phy0: failed to warm reset the MAC Chip

Aug 21 08:33:56 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87602.775312] ath5k phy0: can't reset hardware (-5)

Aug 21 08:33:57 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87603.198255] ath5k phy0: failed to warm reset the MAC Chip

Aug 21 08:33:57 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87603.198332] ath5k phy0: can't reset hardware (-5)

Aug 21 08:33:57 TEST-BUILD kernel: [87603.622255] ath5k phy0: failed to warm reset the MAC Chip

In addition to the output above was the following, although it didn't output into a file as I had planned.

Code:

__rate limit: 12 call backs suppressed

wlan0 No Scan Results

Any idea why these errors may be occurring? I'm going to Google these in the meantime.

I also want to thank you for all your help up to this point, and any future tips you may provide. It has been helpful.

business_kid · 08-22-2010, 02:43 AM

It looks like the driver is not getting along at all with the card. Usual causes
1. Wrong driver
2. Something else is already driving the card.

Let's check for the latter.
pkill dhcpcd
pkill dhclient
pkill NetworkManager
pkill ndiswrapper
pkill anything else you can think of.

Reptilegod · 08-28-2010, 09:57 PM

Well business_kid,

I believe this to be my own stupidity. After experimenting with killing different processes. I decided to review my sys.log and I realized that the card was having troubles when it first tried to come up at boot. So I believe (after doing research) it is indeed the wrong driver. I haven't tested this theory yet. But pretty sure that is the reason for the issue.

Assuming that fixes the issue, I may ask your help on the next phase; installing a terminal services client; rdesktop, openRDP, and/or VMview Open Client. I want to configure this build to authenticate to the network AP prior to launching the terminal services client. Any thoughts?

Charles R