How to connect and use wireless adapters on slackware?

burning · 09-12-2020, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enorbet

Probably a stupid question on my part but does your WiFi LED light up? Since you know the proper firmware comes with Slackware can you confirm it and the proper module/driver is actually loading?

Not a stupid question at all. My laptop's does, but the wireless adapter's doesn't. I'd assume the module isn't loading by default. How can I check/enable this?

burning · 09-12-2020, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcore

Might not be relevant, but ifconfig will only show enabled interfaces by default. There's "ifconfig -a" switch for listing all interfaces.

Forgot to specify I also tried it with the -a argument. No new devices. Just eth0, lo and wlan0 (laptop's standard wireless card).

enorbet · 09-13-2020, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burning

Not a stupid question at all. My laptop's does, but the wireless adapter's doesn't. I'd assume the module isn't loading by default. How can I check/enable this?

I really don't know very much about wifi 'cuz I hardwire everything, but my ancient Thinkpad needs to use wifi sometimes and it did not initially load by default. I tried "modprobe <module name>" and it would load but it didn't light up or work. Then I downloaded the firmware for that wifi nic and installed it and from then on no modprobe was needed. It was detected and loaded, lit up and worked ever since. So I'm thinking your first order of business is to get the firmware installed, although admittedly I am a bit confused why a USB device needs loadable firmware but whatever.

onebuck · 09-13-2020, 10:56 AM

Hi,

One note is that you cannot use network manager & rc.inet1.conf ;

Quote:

From https://wiki.alienbase.nl/doku.php?i...eless_networks

If you want to use NetworkManager, you will have to remove any network interface configuration information from /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf in order to prevent a struggle for power between NetworkManager and Slackware's rc.inet1 script.

Some people forget this and wonder why there are issues.
Plus remember if you use rc.inet1.conf is that the last configure index Number [recommend not to use more than 6] then if you wanted index [0] to be the functioning and spec further down another index than the last will be the one used.

I typically setup my laptops with manual configures with '/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf' & /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

I use 'networkmanager' with the Slacklive ISO for ease of use on testing laptops.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy Slackware!

bassmadrigal · 09-15-2020, 10:35 AM

Let's get some more details on your wireless adapter and we'll go from there:

Code:

lspci -k | grep -iA 3 net

burning · 10-03-2020, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmadrigal

Let's get some more details on your wireless adapter and we'll go from there:

Code:

lspci -k | grep -iA 3 net

Trying the above outputs:

Code:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60
        Kernel driver in use: e1000e
        Kernel modules: e1000e
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation ThinkPad T60/R60e/X60s/R61
        Kernel driver in use: iwl3945
        Kernel modules: iwl3945

The adapter is connected via usb. Trying the above command while the device is connected gives identical output as if it was disconnected. The adapter can still be detected using lsusb however:

Code:

root@slacker:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0cf3:9271 Qualcomm Atheros Communications AR9271 802.11n
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Just to clarify in case there's any confusion, my laptop's wireless card works just fine. I'm connected to wifi as I type this. My question is regarding how to get the Alfa Network wireless adapter to work with my laptop so I can maybe get a better signal from my room. I think I just need to find drivers for it, for some reason linux drivers for AWUS036NHA weren't included on the disc that came with the device, the closest I could find on disc were AWUS036NH but I believe that's a different model.

crts · 10-04-2020, 12:15 PM

I am not sure if this may apply because I never used a USB wireless adapter. But one issue I regularly face with my wireless is that it is soft-blocked and I have to explicitly unblock it with

Code:

# rfkill unblock 1

The number may vary, depending on your setup.

After plugging in your USB wireless adapter, wait a few seconds and then post the output of (as root)

Code:

# dmesg | tail
# rfkill list

colorpurple21859 · 10-04-2020, 07:50 PM

open a terminal, plug in the wifi usb and post the output of the following

Code:

dmesg | tail -20

burning · 10-05-2020, 09:59 AM

Output of dmesg | tail

Code:

[ 3708.689084] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-pci
[ 3708.838908] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0cf3, idProduct=9271, bcdDevice= 1.08
[ 3708.838912] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=16, Product=32, SerialNumber=48
[ 3708.838915] usb 1-5: Product: UB91C
[ 3708.838918] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: ATHEROS
[ 3708.838920] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 12345
[ 3709.256611] usb 1-5: ath9k_htc: Firmware ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.4.0.fw requested
[ 3709.256854] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc
[ 3709.579807] usb 1-5: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.4.0.fw, size: 51008
[ 3709.832290] ath9k_htc 1-5:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits

output of rfkill list

Code:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

colorpurple21859 · 10-06-2020, 07:52 AM

post the output of

Code:

uname -r

bassmadrigal · 10-06-2020, 01:59 PM

A Mint user seemed to have a similar problem on this thread. One of the responders mentioned this is a kernel bug and the user was able to fix it by upgrading to a newer kernel.

What version of Slackware are you using? Are you able to try and build a newer kernel to see if it fixes the issue?

justwantin · 10-08-2020, 09:01 PM

I know I'm late to the party, however, I believe the driver for that usb wireless dongle would be carl9170.ko which is available on my "current" desktop (kernel 5.4.67). Is that module being loaded? Try

Code:

lsmod | grep carl9170

to see if it is. If not try loading it with

Code:

modprobe carl9170

burning · 10-12-2020, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

post the output of

Code:

uname -r

5.4.47-smp

burning · 10-12-2020, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justwantin

I know I'm late to the party, however, I believe the driver for that usb wireless dongle would be carl9170.ko which is available on my "current" desktop (kernel 5.4.67). Is that module being loaded? Try

Code:

lsmod | grep carl9170

to see if it is. If not try loading it with

Code:

modprobe carl9170

Looks like it loads fine.

enorbet · 10-12-2020, 09:31 AM

IOf the driver loads but the light remains off or if it is still unrecognized then it appears it is indeed a firmware issue. If that is so you will need to install the firmware by searching for what blob your card needs and the instructions to install it..