Slackware 12.1 and Wireless Network: Almost There!!

andrew.46 · 05-04-2008, 05:19 AM

Hi,

I am so close to having wireless networking set up under Slackware 12.1 that it is a little infuriating that I cannot finish the job :-) The problem is that although I can start the wireless connection manually from a script I cannot place the settings 'formally' in the normal manner.

The wireless chip is a Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11a/b/g (rev 01) and I have downloaded and installed the Broadcom firmware from Linux Wireless. I have cleaned out the /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf and the total file contents are:

Code:

# Wireless LAN adapter configuration

00:1c:26:97:bd:d0)
    INFO="Speedtouch 585 ADSL Router"
    ESSID="SpeedTouch688ADB"
    KEY="C***-****-**"
    ;;

although I have masked the KEY section. After booting on this I get only:

Code:

bash-3.1# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.
eth0      no wireless extensions.
wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=0 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

and:

Code:

bash-3.1# dmesg | grep Broadcom
eth0: Broadcom 44xx/47xx 10/100BaseT Ethernet 00:1c:23:9e:f1:63
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4311 WLAN found

But after running this script that I have cobbled together the network springs successfully to life:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid "SpeedTouch688ADB"
iwconfig wlan0 key C*********F
dhcpcd wlan0

and wireless performance is flawless. The same commands now show:

Code:

bash-3.1# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.
eth0      no wireless extensions.
wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"SpeedTouch688ADB"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:7F:8B:B2:DD   
          Bit Rate=2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:C*******F
          Link Quality=66/100  Signal level=-65 dBm  Noise level=-72 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

I suspect I am missing something very basic here and I would be grateful to anybody who can show me what I am missing.

Andrew

introuble · 05-04-2008, 06:07 AM

[Note: I don't currently use Slackware nor have I ever set up wireless networking on Slackware.]

#1. You borked your /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf file. There's supposed to be a bash "case" in there (i.e. a C "switch", etc.). Try:

Code:

# Wireless LAN adapter configuration

case "$HWADDR" in
00:1c:26:97:bd:d0)
    INFO="Speedtouch 585 ADSL Router"
    ESSID="SpeedTouch688ADB"
    KEY="C***-****-**"
    ;;
esac

#2. What does `ls -al /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless` say ?

mRgOBLIN · 05-04-2008, 06:41 AM

I'd highly Recommend wicd.

If you decide to try this you should use rworkmans' slackbuild here http://slackbuilds.org/repository/12.1/network/wicd/.

Just make sure you fulfill the dependencies, apply the patches and read the instructions and you'll be managing your wireless connections with ease in no time at all.

andrew.46 · 05-04-2008, 07:08 AM

Hi,

Can I say that this is a very tempting thought:

Quote:

Originally Posted by mRgOBLIN

I'd highly Recommend wicd.

If you decide to try this you should use rworkmans' slackbuild here http://slackbuilds.org/repository/12.1/network/wicd/.

Just make sure you fulfill the dependencies, apply the patches and read the instructions and you'll be managing your wireless connections with ease in no time at all.

But I am so close now! I have managed to get the connection set but I am having some trouble with automatically getting a dhcp address.

Andrew

Bruce Hill · 05-04-2008, 07:13 AM

What does your /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf look like?

We have three comps with wireless and I have never
touched /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf

Okie · 05-04-2008, 07:16 AM

i been silently lurking here as i have found slackware's wifi configuration a bit of a mystery, i have debian lenny running wifi great but i been a slackware user for years (just new to wifi) and i am going to give wicd a shot, thanks mRgOBLIN

andrew.46 · 05-04-2008, 08:06 AM

As you have suggested I returned the /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf file to its original state and altered only the /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf as follows:

Code:

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
#IPADDR[4]=""
#NETMASK[4]=""
USE_DHCP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_HOSTNAME[4]="icculus-wireless"
#DHCP_KEEPRESOLV[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPNTP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPGW[4]="yes"
#DHCP_IPADDR[4]=""
WLAN_ESSID[4]=SpeedTouch688ADB
#WLAN_MODE[4]=Managed
##WLAN_RATE[4]="54M auto"
##WLAN_CHANNEL[4]="auto"
WLAN_KEY[4]="C**-****-**"

All other settings intact. This gave me the following:

Code:

root@skamandros~# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"SpeedTouch688ADB"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:7F:8B:B2:DD   
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:**********F
          Link Quality=66/100  Signal level=-65 dBm  Noise level=-71 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

But no connection to the router. Seems to be a dhcp problem? As usual my little script gets the connecton going:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid "SpeedTouch688ADB"
iwconfig wlan0 key ********F
dhcpcd wlan0

Tried wicd which worked fine but I would prefer to work this one out so it is uninstalled at the moment.

Andrew

jimX86 · 05-04-2008, 10:17 AM

This problem keeps coming up with Broadcom cards (especially the 4312) and mac80211. Other threads have suggested that it's a timing issue, but in any event, these cards seem to need a bit of manual intervention.

Bruce Hill · 05-04-2008, 11:01 AM

Check out this post ...

Although in Slackware-12.1 that is supposedly fixed in the wireless tools pkg.

I believe it's a bug in the kernel driver.

Okie · 05-04-2008, 12:05 PM

i tried wicd and it did not work, what i did do though that worked perfectly was add my info to /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf using a static IP and the nameserver IP#s in to /etc/resolv.conf since this PC is the only wireless in the house, the rest are wired and the router wants to put the wireless on the first IP address...

Code:

# Default gateway IP address:
GATEWAY="192.168.1.1"

IFNAME[0]="wlan0"
IPADDR[0]="192.168.1.100"
NETMASK[0]="255.255.255.0"
USE_DHCP[0]="no"
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]="cpe.cableone.net"
#DHCP_KEEPRESOLV[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPNTP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPGW[4]="yes"
#DHCP_IPADDR[4]=""
WLAN_ESSID[0]=sooner
WLAN_MODE[0]=Managed
WLAN_RATE[0]="54M auto"
WLAN_CHANNEL[0]="1"
WLAN_KEY[0]="##########"

andrew.46 · 05-04-2008, 09:29 PM

Well I have achieved success of a sort and I thought I would post my solution here for the record; it is a bit of a hack but it seems to guarantee when I turn the laptop on there is a wireless network waiting for me.

So for the BCM4312 (rev 01) under Slackware 12.1 I followed the following steps:

1. Downloaded the appropriate firmware (broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0) and fwcutter tool (b43-fwcutter-011) and loaded these as per the directions on Linux Wireless.

2. Altered only /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf wih the following (after futzing around in my ignorance with other config files):

Code:

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
USE_DHCP[4]="yes"
WLAN_ESSID[4]=SpeedTouch688ADB
WLAN_KEY[4]="C***-****-**"

However this worked about twice in every 10 boots: wlan0 was active but had not been allocated an address from the router. Hence the ugliness of this:

3. Added the following script (wireless.sh) to be called from /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid "SpeedTouch688ADB"
iwconfig wlan0 key C*******
dhcpcd wlan0

And now wlan0 coughs into life every boot, although I suspect that on some boots it coughs into life twice :-) I would still dearly love a neater solution to this but what I am doing works on this computer.

Edit: Actually running dhcpcd twice at times caused wlan0 to become non-responsive so I spent another hour or two on this in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

Code:

if [ -e /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-wlan0.pid ]; then
  echo "---> dhcpcd-wlan0.pid already exists! <---"
else
  /home/andrew/scripts/wireless.sh
fi

Andrew

dugan · 05-10-2008, 02:25 AM

What happens if you revert your rc.inet1.conf and rc.wireless.conf to the default ones, and only run your shell script? Does wireless work then?

Alstare · 05-10-2008, 02:37 AM

Also to save you some time and waiting, when you make changes to your "rc.wireless.conf" & "rc.inet1.conf" files you don't need to restart each time.

You can issue a restart command for the network instead.

Code:

cd /etc/rc.d/
./rc.inet1 restart

andrew.46 · 05-10-2008, 02:58 AM

I am afraid that I abandoned my attempts at getting wireless to run effectively on this laptop:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

What happens if you revert your rc.inet1.conf and rc.wireless.conf to the default ones, and only run your shell script? Does wireless work then?

And made a choice to run slackware on my desktop and an 'easier' distro on my laptop. It was fascinating investigating all of this but I have time constraints.

Maybe when I have some extended leave I will return ...

Andrew

BCarey · 05-10-2008, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrew.46

I am afraid that I abandoned my attempts at getting wireless to run effectively on this laptop:

And made a choice to run slackware on my desktop and an 'easier' distro on my laptop. It was fascinating investigating all of this but I have time constraints.

Maybe when I have some extended leave I will return ...

Andrew

Andrew,

Please report back your results with whatever other distro you choose. I think that the problem you are experiencing is related to the kernel and not to Slackware. There are many problems with broadcom cards on recent kernels (2.6.23 and later, I believe), both using ndiswrapper and native drivers. You might also try Slack 12.0, which uses an earlier kernel that does not have these problems.

Your steps 1 and 2, which are quite simple, should be enough to get wireless working on Slackware.

So let us know if you get it working on another distro with a 2.6.23 or later kernel.

Brian