Just installed MEPIS and all went fairly well except for my internet access. I installed on a PIII with wireless pcmcia Linksys WPC11 ver3.

The card was recognized and configured, but internet access is extremely slow (expecially for encrypted sites) as compared to my XP server running in another room. Please bypass all suggestions re: general internet contention etc. All connections are through a router and the local firewall is disabled.

I have very limited experience with Linux, but I have researched many threads re: this issue. None seem to make a difference for me.

The most popular I have found involves /etc/modprobe.d/aliases. My setting = 'alias net-pf-10 off'.

Here are the results of my ifconfig and iwconfig:

root@0[~]# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:06:25:AB:0B:8F
inet addr:192.168.1.111 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5442 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2558 errors:141 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2612229 (2.4 MiB) TX bytes:533822 (521.3 KiB)
Interrupt:3 Base address:0x100

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:465 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:465 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:41904 (40.9 KiB) TX bytes:41904 (40.9 KiB)

root@0[~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"underworld" Nickname:"Prism I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.452 GHz Access Point: 00:0F:66:09:FC:53
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Sensitivity:1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=44/92 Signal level=-64 dBm Noise level=-144 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:7584 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:3 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

I see some errors in the ifconfig results, but don't know how to research.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Kraig

copy/paste the results of it'll run a continuous ping... use control + c to break out of it after about 20 pings or so.
if its just firefox that seems to be running slowly, there are settings that can be changed to make it a little more snappy... if it is your network connection in general, then we'll troubleshoot that route.

also i noticed you are using the prism wireless chipset... did you have to use ndiswrapper to get that working?

do you have a wired ethernet connection available? if so, do things seem to speed up when using that as opposed to the wireless?

thanks! ;-)

--drew

Or if 20 is the right #, do: -- That way you know that your pings won't run wild.

For most purposes, I use 3 or 5 pings, but I suspect drew has a good reason for asking for more in this instance.

i suggested 20ish because i'm curious to see if something else on the network is periodically (or continually, for that matter) eating his bandwith.. he mentioned he had an XP server, and I suggested that based off the assumption that they're sharing the same connection to the outside world

"ping www.google.com"
This command can only show IP.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies...

Here is the result of the ping:
root@0[~]# ping www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (64.233.161.103) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=1 ttl=242
time=22.9 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=2 ttl=242
time=22.5 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=3 ttl=242
time=22.5 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=4 ttl=242
time=22.4 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=5 ttl=242
time=26.5 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=6 ttl=242
time=21.9 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=7 ttl=242
time=22.1 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=8 ttl=242
time=21.8 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=9 ttl=242
time=22.1 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=10 ttl=242 time=21.8 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=11 ttl=242 time=24.0 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=12 ttl=242 time=25.2 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=13 ttl=242 time=21.8 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=14 ttl=242 time=22.5 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=15 ttl=242 time=21.3 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=16 ttl=242 time=23.5 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=17 ttl=242 time=23.4 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=18 ttl=242 time=23.1 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=19 ttl=242 time=23.3 ms
64 bytes from od-in-f103.google.com (64.233.161.103): icmp_seq=20 ttl=242 time=23.5 ms

I did not have to use any win drivers w/ndiswrapper. My card was recognized, but I'm finding that it is problematic. I have seen many posts re: linksys cards but I thought it was only ver4 that had issues.

I am using the knetworkmanager to configure my settings. The only way the card will be recognized is to use the auto settings and I have to re-enter the key each time I boot. I also frequently lose the connection eventhough the knetworkmanager display indicates that I am connected. One last ovservation is that on XP I had an 90% or better signal strength, but it is now nominal. I have moved the machine 4 feet from the router to find the same signal strength.

The connection just seems to be all around flaky. I spent 1/2 hr attempting to connect without making any changes to config. What gives.

My server is not taking up bandwidth as I am not hosting any sites only databases. I run an FTP, but only for personal use. My server is hard lined to the router, my work pc is on the g network and this machine is on the b network. Should not be too much contention.

I am wondering if I should manually configure the card? Would this be the standard approach using MEPIS? If so, do I use iwconfig to do it?

Just dug out an old wired pcmcia card. My conncetion is as fast as the xp server now. I suppose the next step is to get updated drivers?

well that definitely seems like its the wireless card that is causing the issues

updated drivers could solve it. do you know what drivers you are using currently?
also, what version of mepis are you using? you could try something that was released in the past few days, like opensuse or even ubuntu in a few here..

I'm using orinoco_cs driver.

kernel release is 2.6.15-27-desktop

under mepis ver 6.5.02_32

I think I'm throwing in the towel on this. I really don't believe that I should consider replacing hardware to make the OS work. This is becoming a quest just to use a secure network.

I have come to find that when I use open security, everything works fine. If I attempt to apply 64 or 128 bit encryption, I have invalid crypt errors and I tend to drop 50% of my packets when pinging the local router.

This sucks...

You should stick with Windows or MAC, where everything works out-of-box and never breaks... right?

Next year, when you are faced with dropping another US$250 on the same operating system (that requires 2GB more RAM and 10GB more HDD), do just enough pre-reading to match good hardware to your choice of Linux and give Tux another try. Linux takes, and is worth, the effort. You can always fall-back to Big Brother's OS where everything is beautiful.

Using 6.5.02 I installed a $9 AirLink101 (AWLC3026) in an old Compaq Armada E500, had to use ndiswrapper with the windows driver and it was a bit slower with the wireless than using the wired 3Com Megahertz LAN Card but it was great as a coffee shop cruiser.

But wondering if you have tried Mepis's 32-bit beta5 live CD, as it appears version 7 release is not far in the future... I have been running the betas, stable as a rock... Not complete as 6.5.02, but seems it has made more than the occasional wireless user smile...

But maybe another Distro might work, doing a bit of Distro hopping can be educational and sometimes can help you find another solution. Live CD are only a download away...

JR

Quote: "I really don't believe that I should consider replacing hardware to make the OS work." end quote
A windows requirement when a new release appears...

Have you tried another wireless computer to check your router's performance?