Wireless Card WPC11 v.3 Linksys Install
 

Hi everyone,
I found an excellent guide from here for installing the linksys card wpc11 at :

---Sorry have'nt posted enough to allow links yet----

My problem starts when i get to the step where you need to specify your kernel location(right after a small set of questions) i have no idea what version or where it is located. If I use the default, "/usr/src/Linux" , it says "Linux source directory [/usr/src/linux/] is incomplete or missing!". So, I browsed over to "/usr/src/" and there wasn't a directory called "linux" only a directory called "RPM" and then under that directory was "RPMS" and then under that was the folders "athlon", "i386","i486", "i586, "i686" "k6", and "noarch". I am so lost. Do i need to download a kernel? From what i understand, a kernel is like the system folder in windows, probably wrong though.

I am such a newb and i don't even know where my kernel is or what version if i do have one. I have mandrake 10.1 installed on an HP Pavillion ze1230 with an ahtlon xp 1..2 GHZ. This would make my day if i could figure this one out. Thanks
in advance for any help.



--Shawn D (Can't wait to learn and become independent of Microsoft OS's)

OK, if linux is running, you have a kernel, so you don't need to get a new one. What you do need to do is find out which one you do have. Open up a console and type uname -a and that should tell you.

Now that you know, you should be able to get the kernel source either off one of the Mandrake CD's or you can download the RPM from the Mandrake site. Be sure that the source code you get matches the kernel information you got from uname. Once you've installed the kernel source RPM, you should be good to go. And by default, the kernel source code is installed in /usr/src/linux. Usually I install to /usr/src and that creates a directory that has the kernel version name. I then create a soft link called linux that points to that directory (ln -s /usr/src/realsourcedirectory /usr/src/linux).

Okay, this is my info when i typed uname -a

2.6.8.1-12mdk #1 Fri Oct 1 12:53:41 CEST 2004 i686 mobile AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1500+ unknown GNU/Linux


So i guess if have kernel "2.6.8.1-12 mdk #1", so all i need is the kernel source,but why wasn't the kernel source installed automatically when I installed Linux? Thanks alot for responding, are there any special instructions for installing the the kernel source? If I have a kernel, what is a kernel source? Do i only need one kernel source that i can frequently update? And also, what is an RPM, RPMS? I gather it has something to do with chipset architecture being that under the folders /usr/src/rpm/rpms/ there where a bunch of different folders for different architecture such as "i686" ect. but i think they were all blank. Sorry for all the questions, i know my windows, dos, some unix, but not GNU/Linux. Thanks!

The kernel source is the actual source code that is compiled to make a functioning kernel. It takes up a reasonable amount of disk space so most distros don't install it by default. In fact a lot of distros don't put it on the iso you download.

For Mandrake, the kernel source is distributed as a .RPM file. RPM files are packages that have instructions on how and where on your system to install the contents and Mandrake has tools that allow you to install RPM files. In fact in a GUI like Gnome or KDE, double clicking on an RPM will probably launch the installer.

Your kernel source needs to match your functioning kernel, so unless you change your kernel, you won't need to update your kernel source.

As I said, RPMs are packages (usuallly of compiled programs) that Mandrake understands how to install. RPMs are sort of like the Windows installer, but not all distros use them. If you spend some time on learning linux, you'll find there are a number of different package systems in use and all of them have their proponents and detractors.

got kernel sourrce, hoe about pcmcia
 

I am another newb having exactly the same issue with the WPC11. I have seen some conflicting posts, some say you need the wlan-ng pacakge, some users running the 2.6.10 kernel say the kernel has supported wpc121 v 3 for a while. I have 2.6.7 and I tried checking if my install supported it with modprobe and the three likely suspect drivers, no dice. Now I have the wlan-ng package, I untarred my kernel source. But following the kernel source the config script asks for the pcmcia source, which I don;t seem to have, btu can't seem to locate on the net either. DO you know where I can pick this one up?

Um, I'm not entirely sure what is meant by "pcmcia source". The kernel source code should include the bits that are used to support pcmcia. Are you sure you installed the entire kernel source code? Could you post the actual errors you're seeing?

Thanks for replying, here is what I see. I just downloaded the kernel source and untarred it. DId I need to do more?

root@0[linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1]# ./Configure

-------------- Linux WLAN Configuration Script -------------

The default responses are correct for most users.

Build Prism2.x PCMCIA Card Services (_cs) driver? (y/n) [y]: y

Build Prism2 PLX9052 based PCI (_plx) adapter driver? (y/n) [n]: n

Build Prism2.5 native PCI (_pci) driver? (y/n) [n]: n

Build Prism2.5 USB (_usb) driver? (y/n) [n]: n

Linux source directory [/usr/src/linux]: /usr/src/linux-2.6.7/linux-2.6.7

The kernel source tree is version 2.6.7.
The current kernel build date is Wed Aug 18 09:36:46 2004.

pcmcia-cs source dir [/usr/src/pcmcia-cs-3.2.5]:
pcmcia-cs source tree /usr/src/pcmcia-cs-3.2.5 is incomplete or missing!
The wlan driver for pcmcia cannot be built without

Configuration failed

root@0[linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1]#

Ugh. I sort of remember this problem. Here is a quote from the linux-wlan-ng readme:


What this means is that simply untarring the kernel source isn't going to do it. There are a couple of things you could try here. First, you could try make oldconfig in the kernel source and see if that will match the source to the pre-compiled kernel. Otherwise, you are going to need to take a rip and configuring a custom kernel.

Thank you, I got further but still hitting some roadblocks. At least I am finding my way around. Sorry in advance if this is long winded. The make oldconfig in the kernel source ran without error. I am not sure if I need to do anything else with it, make all or anything.

I also found the pcmcia driver source that the wlan-ng config was looking for at <http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp...s-3.2.8.tar.gz>
I iexploded this into /usr/src/pcmcia* , did make oldconfig here too and got some errors

ksyms: QM_MODULES: Function not implemented

Kernel configuration options:
Kernel-tree PCMCIA support is disabled.
Symmetric multiprocessing support is disabled.
Preemptive kernel support is disabled.
Realtime Hardware Abstraction Layer is disabled.
High memory support is disabled.
PCI BIOS support is disabled.
Power management (APM) support is disabled.
SCSI support is disabled.
IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support is disabled.
Networking support is disabled.
Radio network interface support is enabled.
Token Ring device support is disabled.
Fast switching is disabled.
Frame Diverter is disabled.
Module version checking is disabled.
Kernel debugging support is disabled.
/proc filesystem support is disabled.
PAE support is disabled.

Cardbus support requires kernel PCI bus support!
To fix, re-run 'make config' and disable Cardbus support.

Then I tried to redo the config as instructed and selected to use the current running kernel for options. I got the following error:

[COLOR=darkblue] 2.5.0 and later kernels require that PCMCIA be configured in the
kernel source tree. To fix, reconfigure and rebuild your
kernel with PCMCIA enabled.[/COLOR

Not ready to try and rebuild the kernel yet. So I tried it again selecting to use the kernel source this time. Now make config runs fine and ends with this:

** Your kernel is configured with PCMCIA driver support. Therefore,
** 'make all' will compile the PCMCIA utilities but not the drivers.
** See README-2.4 if this is not what you intended!


I am not sure which is right, that PCMCIA is configured in the kernel or not. So I went on to ./Configure on wlan-ng, that worked fine no errors. Then I did make all and received errors. I went back and repeated this process both with pcmcia config set to look at running kernel and kernel source, both times I received the same set of errors. I find some comments in the readme that standalone pcmcia_cs drivers may not be supported past kernel 2.4. Here are the errors.


root@3[linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1]# make all
set -e; for d in src doc man etc; do make -C $d ; done
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src'
set -e; for d in mkmeta p80211 prism2 shared wlanctl wland nwepgen wlancfg; do make -C $d ; done
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src/mkmeta'
gcc -E -M -I../include -I/usr/src/linux/include -D__LINUX_WLAN__ -D__I386__ ../shared/p80211types.c ../shared/p80211metamsg.c ../shared/p80211metamib.c ../shared/p80211meta.c mkmetadef.c ../shared/p80211types.c ../shared/p80211metamsg.c ../shared/p80211metamib.c ../shared/p80211meta.c mkmetastruct.c > .depend
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src/mkmeta'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src/mkmeta'
mkdir -p obj
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src/mkmeta'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src/p80211'
gcc -E -M -D__LINUX_WLAN__ -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE=1 -I../include -I/usr/src/linux/include "-DCONFIG_NETLINK=1 " "-DCONFIG_PACKET=1 " p80211conv.c p80211req.c p80211frm.c p80211wext.c p80211netdev.c p80211mod.c > .depend
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:10,
from p80211conv.c:64:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/cpumask.h:6:25: asm/cpumask.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/irq.h:20,
from /usr/include/asm/hardirq.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/interrupt.h:11,
from /usr/include/asm/highmem.h:24,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/highmem.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/skbuff.h:27,
from p80211conv.c:68:
/usr/include/asm/irq.h:16:25: irq_vectors.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:10,
from p80211req.c:62:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/cpumask.h:6:25: asm/cpumask.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/irq.h:20,
from /usr/include/asm/hardirq.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/interrupt.h:11,
from /usr/include/asm/highmem.h:24,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/highmem.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/skbuff.h:27,
from p80211req.c:66:
/usr/include/asm/irq.h:16:25: irq_vectors.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:10,
from p80211frm.c:64:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/cpumask.h:6:25: asm/cpumask.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:10,
from p80211wext.c:42:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/cpumask.h:6:25: asm/cpumask.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/irq.h:20,
from /usr/include/asm/hardirq.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/interrupt.h:11,
from /usr/include/asm/highmem.h:24,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/highmem.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/skbuff.h:27,
from p80211wext.c:46:
/usr/include/asm/irq.h:16:25: irq_vectors.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:10,
from p80211netdev.c:62:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/cpumask.h:6:25: asm/cpumask.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/irq.h:20,
from /usr/include/asm/hardirq.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/interrupt.h:11,
from /usr/include/asm/highmem.h:24,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/highmem.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/skbuff.h:27,
from p80211netdev.c:66:
/usr/include/asm/irq.h:16:25: irq_vectors.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:10,
from p80211mod.c:63:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/cpumask.h:6:25: asm/cpumask.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/irq.h:20,
from /usr/include/asm/hardirq.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/interrupt.h:11,
from /usr/include/asm/highmem.h:24,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/highmem.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/skbuff.h:27,
from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/netdevice.h:151,
from p80211mod.c:67:
/usr/include/asm/irq.h:16:25: irq_vectors.h: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [.depend] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src/p80211'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/mheizer/install/linux-wlan-ng-0.1.14-pre1/src'
make: *** [all] Error 2

I skipped to the next instruction of editing the wlan-ng.opts file but it does not exist. I do have a wlan-ng.conf and a wlan-ng script, no opts. Not sure if this helps, but I have a Cisco Airoport card from my office laptop and that one works in the linux laptop. Does that mean PCMCIA is in fact running?

If that is a PCMCIA card, then the kernel must be supporting PCMCIA. There really is no way around it. However, it sure looks as if the linux_wlan_ng can't find the proper information.

The potential problem I see here is that in order to get the drivers to compile, your changing stuff in the kernel config file, but not compiling a new kernel. That means that the configuration linux_wlan_ng is using doesn't actually match what is available from the kernel. I was hoping that by running make oldconfig, wlan would get what it needs, but since that didn't work, you may actually need to build a custom kernel. It actually isn't all that hard, the main work is just going through the kernel configuration and making sure you have everything you need selected. However, the decision is yours.

Hangdog I found some interesting stuff on the mepislovers.org site.

<http://www.mepislovers.org/modules/n...forumpost27761>

It claims that there is a problem with the kernel in mepis 2004.06 forward and gives 2 alternatives. One is to install 2004.04 and then upgrade the wireless drivers. The other is dto pull out references to wlan-ng and force the use of the orinoco drivers. I am trying this last one by following this guys blog

http://osunix.org/content/view/12/2/

fingers crossed

Still no luck here but....
 

I tried the same exact thing as heiz, but i keep running into simular problems. I did get my card working the other day, but with different drivers for a different card that already came with my distro. The card seems to work fine, but would like to use the legit drivers for my wpc11.

All i did was stop my computer from loading the "eth1" connection at starup (which is my built-in ethernet controller) and i scanned for new hardware with Harddrake, and mabey it's all the Our Fathers and Hail Mary's iv'e been saying over the past 2 weeks(Need to pray a little for Eagles tonight), but it found my card and assigned it "eth2" under the drivers for the card "Tekram Air.mate PCF 200 Wireless LAN Card". I restarted and went into the control center and used the dropdown box and selected the Tekram card, went over to the wireless tab and put in my ESSID and Operating Mode attributes. It worked! But, i don't seem to have the same performance as I do with the standard drivers. Try this heiz, just to see if it works with your system, unless this is bad for some reason, but i have had wireless now for 2 days now running fine.

My next problem seems to be getting java vm to install on my computer, for some reason i install it, but Limwire will not recognize it being on my system during install. I downloaded the rpm file from java.com. Anyway, thanks, a lot for your help hangdog42. Heiz, let's keep in touch if we can figure this one out. Go Eagles.....