Syntax USB-400 Wireles USB (SuSE 9.0 / Mandrake 10)

shassouneh · 03-16-2004, 07:28 AM

Hi All,
Note that this problem applies to BOTH Mandrake 10 and SuSE 9.0
I have a "generic" USB Wireless adapter I am trying to figure out how to get it working under Linux. It works PERFECTLY under Windows XP (duh). The reason I mentioned this is to point out that the networking works perfect and I have an internet connection through windows (so this is NOT a connection problem).

The problem is I have no idea what chipst it is, or which driver to use. Mandrake 10 fails to autodetect it, and SuSE 9's generic WUSB driver did not work. Here is some information that may help us figure out the chipset/driver

Device Name: Syntax USB-400 802.11b Wireless USB 1.1 Network Adapter

NOTE: The following data has been taken from the PDF User's Manual for the card

Code:

6. Product Specifications
Frequency range 2.4G ~ 2.4835Ghz
Modulation
technique
DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) with
BPSK (1Mbps), QPSK (2Mbps), and CCK (5.5 and
11Mbps)
Core Logic Intersil Prism 3.0
 MAC+ BB: ISL3871 (upgrade to 3871A)

 Direct Down Conversion Transceiver: ISL3684
 VCO: ISL3084
 Power Amplifier: ISL3984

Host interface USB V1.1
Dimension -external: 26mm( W)* 77.2mm( L)* 10.9mm( H)
Weight -external: 20g
Form factor -MiniUSB type B
Operation voltage 5V +/-10%
Power consumption -Transmission mode: 250mA (Max.)
-Receives mode: 250mA (Max.)
-Power saving mode: 100mA (Max.)
Multipath delay 125ns at 11Mbps, 250ns at 5.5Mbps
Output power 13-17dBm
Operation range -Indoor: 35 ~100 meter @ 11Mbps (Estimated)
-Outdoor: 300 meter @ 11Mbps (Estimated)
Sensitivity @PER <0. 08
11Mbps < -84dBm
5.5Mbps < -86dBm
2Mbps < -88dBm
1Mbps < -90dBm
Operation system Windows 98SE, Me, 2K, XP, and
XP 2 nd edition (subject to availability)
Windows CE (subject to availability)
Security 64-bit, 128-bit WEP encryption
Transfer data rate 11Mbps, 5.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 1Mbps, auto-rate
Operation
temperature range
0 o C ~ 60 o C

Storage temperature
range
-20 o C ~ 65 o C 1
Humidity
(non-condensing)
5% ~90%

Warranty 1 year standard warranty, 3 years optional
EMC certificate -FCC Class B part 15. 247 (USA)
-IC RSS210 (Canada)
-ETSI 300 328, ETSI300 826 (Europe)
-ARIB STD-T66, RCR STD-33 (Japan, subject
to customer's request)
Media access
protocol
CSMA/ CA with ACK

LED indicator WLAN LED: indicates networking activity
-Off: Power Off.
-Blinking: The USB adapter is powered on but no
wireless connection is made yet.
-Steady Green: Wireless connection is linked.
Antenna Alone device: single antenna
User friendly 1.1 meters USB extension cable to extend connection 2

Can someon help me set this up? NOTE: I am not too experienced with manually setting up hardware. Assume you are speaking to a complete idiot here.

Thanx beforehand

shassouneh · 03-16-2004, 08:16 AM

UPDATE: I am completely moving away from Mandrake forever. MOre details In this discussion

Anywho, the problem that this thread/topic is about still applies to SuSE (which I am going back to)

beyer42 · 03-16-2004, 02:41 PM

The chipset is Intersil Prism3 USB.

I would try
http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/

drivers are at
ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/

shassouneh · 03-16-2004, 09:30 PM

Thanx for the reply. I checked out the links you mentioned above. The driver list is too long, adn I do not know which one to pick. Also, even IF i get the driver what next? As I mentioned earlier I am inexperienced in installing hardware manually.

beyer42 · 03-16-2004, 10:06 PM

pre20.tar.gz one.
Also get the README and FAQ files and study those carefully.

put the driver on a floppy
you can read the floppy from linux by
mount /dev/fd0
cd /mnt/floppy
ls

shassouneh · 03-16-2004, 10:12 PM

i don't have a floppy drive on the laptop. Hehe.

I know how to untar it using tar vxfz pre20.tar.gz but then what?

beyer42 · 03-17-2004, 02:13 AM

Need to have kernel-source installed and recompile kernel. search on
"make menuconfig" and "hamradio" in these forums for examples.

shassouneh · 03-17-2004, 07:47 AM

ewww. re compile the kernel. No thank you. I tried to re compile the kernel over 15 times (NO EXXAGERATION), and it never worked. Whenvver it DID work it would not load modules. It is such a pain in the behind. In fact, The way i see it is, if it won't work without a recompile i won't bother with it at all. That is a lesson I learned from "If its nt available in mp3, then don't go the compile route..."

jkaero · 03-17-2004, 06:14 PM

have you had any luck with this, ive been trying to do the same thing with the syntax usb adapter...im about ready to go buy a pcmcia one as they seem to work better....let me know if you got anywhere

abjensen · 03-20-2004, 07:03 PM

Another request for help with the same thing...however, I am EXTREMELY new to Linux. In fact, I just installed Mandrake 9.2 on my machine today, and it is my very first experience with Linux. A walk-through of how to install the appropriate software would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

beyer42 · 03-20-2004, 07:44 PM

These are some instructions that you should only try after you have picked up the basics of linux and are very comfortable getting around from the command prompt (unix shell) on the filesystem. I figure that it will take at least a week or two to start getting some of the hang of things.

Here are some Mandrake links, just ignore the stuff after the links:

http://www.tfb.com/~wilcal/manlinks.html

This link appears to be where you want to start with reading the
docs on this page http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/fdoc.php3

Here is directions for acx100 chip, but includes important instructions on reconfiguring the kernel so that wireless devices can work with your system. Just ignore (skip) any acx100 specific instructions.

http://www.joot.com/dave/writings/ar...nux-howto.html

Instead of acx100, you can use driver from
http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/

drivers are at
ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/

abjensen · 03-23-2004, 08:02 AM

OK, first a confession: I haven't read many of the preliminary materials. I can spend a week or two to get to know Linux, but not until I can get the Internet working; I at least need to know that I can get the basics working.

Now, for the situation: I have upgraded to Mandrake 10, which appears to have support for a number of wireless adapters--just not mine (Syntax USB-400, based on the Prism 3 chipset). I tried to establish a new internet connection using the Orinoco driver, which another post indicated would work for Prism 2, 2.5 and 3 chipsets. I also tried the prism2_usb driver. Neither worked.

So I assume that I need to do some of what is listed in the previous response, at: http://www.joot.com/dave/writings/a...inux-howto.html

However, before I try that, I want to make sure that I do what I should. Given that Mandrake 10, with the 2.6 kernel, supports wireless, do I need to rework the kernel (forgive my lack of correct jargon)? Or can I just skip some of the steps listed in the URL above? How about step 12 listed there--what would that be for the Syntax USB-400?

One more complication: although I was able to use my CD-ROM drive fine to install Mandrake, I seem to be unable to read from it from within Linux; this makes it difficult/impossible to move large files to that machine. However, Windows is also on that machine on a different NTFS partition. If necessary to solve the wireless problem, we can work on that; if not, I'll ignore it for now.

Thanks in advance!

beyer42 · 03-23-2004, 12:22 PM

To check wireless support see if you have /proc directory then see if the file /proc/net/wireless exists, if it does then your kernel probably supports wireless.

If wireless is supported then see if you have the kernel source installed, this would be under a directory like /usr/src/linux-2.6.4 or something like that under /usr/src/

If these are checked out then you can totally skip the acx100 instructions, which are for Mandrake 9.2 anyway.

Checkout http://www.linux-wlan.org/

drivers are at
ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/

I am not sure whether this driver is supported under 2.6.

For CDROM, try

mount /dev/cdrom

then try

cd /mnt/cdrom
ls

Hope this helps some

beyer42 · 03-23-2004, 12:56 PM

Also you should be able to do
lsusb
to get the Vendor ID and Product ID of the USB device, the ID's will be two 4 digit hex numbers with a : between them.

linuxvent · 03-24-2004, 01:05 PM

me facing the same problem with redhat 9. problems getting to work syntax usb 400 with prism 3 chipset. "never did recompile the kernel before".
thanx