Getting wireless working on the Acer Aspire One netbook running PCLinuxOS

Completely Clueless · 03-28-2009, 06:47 PM

I was never particularly impressed with the pre-installed Limpus OS that came with this netbook, so have installed the newest PCLinuxOS (2009.1) on it. It looks and runs great now with this PROPER OS., but there's almost always at least one snag with any Linux distro it's often wireless. This is indeed the problem here.

PCLOS recognizes the card as an Atheros AR242x and has labelled it "ath0" along-side "eth0" for the ethernet controller. But it can't scan for any wireless networks, the wireless light is off and the physical wireless switch doesn't seem to be recognized by the OS. Any ideas how to get this fixed? Everything else (including a USB stick modem) worked pretty much straight out of the box.

THanks, cc.

comprookie2000 · 03-29-2009, 03:24 AM

This should help;
http://madberry.org/2008/08/how-to-g...ess-to-work-2/
I would try and blacklist ath_hal first if not try the latest madwifi drivers in the link ^^

Completely Clueless · 03-29-2009, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comprookie2000

This should help;
http://madberry.org/2008/08/how-to-g...ess-to-work-2/
I would try and blacklist ath_hal first if not try the latest madwifi drivers in the link ^^

Many thanks. The article you point to appears to give instructions to rip out ath_hal and replace it with ath_pci? However, my hardware info report screen is telling me that the module loaded is already ath_pci and I can't find a ath_hal, so if I'm correct, the recommended module is already installed. On that basis, I'll try going through the configure process more rigorously and see if any obvious boxes are un-checked. I have a sneaking suspicion it's just a case now of setting it up right...
Here's hoping!

Completely Clueless · 04-01-2009, 04:43 AM

Apologies for the delay; had something pressing crop up in the real world. :-)

Well, it WAS indeed just a case of checking a few not-so-advanced options; took no more than 5 minutes. The only slight defect is that whilst the wireless switch works fine now, it doesn't lite up when 'on' but that's really insignificant in view of the fact that EVERYTHING else works on all 3 boxes I've so far tested it on (and the other two are laptops as well). And all without having to 'fiddle' the install with noapic and suchlike, or even worse with some distros, download wrappers or recompile kernels. A fantastic out-of-the-box distro that will give Ubuntu a serious run for its money, I reckon! So top marks to the Ripper Gang on a first class effort!

PS: it also comes with a user-friendly, readily figurable firewall (shorewall) built-in. They really do seem to have thought of everything.