Damn Small Linux - Not!

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

This wireless card use Intersil Prism3 chipset.
Have been unable to get it to work with prism 2 gui or ndiswrapper ( using netprism.inf XP driver). Here are the lsmod and iwconfig files

lsmod

ad1848 20812 0 [cs4232]
sound 55244 0 [cs4232 uart401 ad1848]
soundcore 3428 4 [sound]
mousedev 3832 0 (unused)
hid 22372 0 (unused)
input 3168 0 [mousedev hid]
cloop 8900 0 (unused)
nls_iso8859-1 2844 1 (autoclean)
ntfs 50944 0 (autoclean)
msdos 4684 0 (autoclean)
reiserfs 169616 0 (autoclean)
ext3 64452 0 (autoclean)
jbd 46516 0 (autoclean) [ext3]
usb-uhci 21836 0 (unused)
usbcore 57824 1 [hid usb-uhci]
serial_cs 4528 0 (unused)
serial 52068 0 [serial_cs]
ds 6536 2 [serial_cs]
yenta_socket 9504 2
pcmcia_core 39840 0 [serial_cs ds yenta_socket]
ide-cd 28704 0
ide-scsi 9040 0
rtc 7004 0 (autoclean)

iwconfig

lo no wireless extensions.

any suggestion on getting this card to work. [/list]

roberts · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 320 Location: OC CA USA

Please provide more detail on how you are attempting to use with ndiswrapper, i.e. the .sys and .inf files used and sequence of commands.

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

thanks for the prompt reply

I used ndiswrapper ot command line and dsl panel tool. At command line used commands suggested in dwl-630 post namely

ndiswrapper -i /mnt/hda1/drivers/netprism.inf
ndiswapper -i /mnt/hda1/drivers/prismnds.sys
modprobe ndiswrapper
iwconfig wlan0 essid Homenetwork key xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

get error here -- "error for wireless request "setEssid(8B1A):Set failed on device wlan0; No such device. "

roberts · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 320 Location: OC CA USA

OK. Good to see that the .sys file is present and in the same location as the .inf. This is what I would suggest:

1. Boot with the option nodhcp or as root run pkill pump

2. # ndiswrapper -i /mnt/hda1/drivers/netprism.inf

3. # ndiswrapper -l ( That is a minus and the lowercase letter L )
You should see device present message

4. # modprobe ndiswrapper

5. # iwconfig
( You should see an unconfigured wireless card. )

6. # iwconfig wlan0 essid Homenetwork key xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
( Be sure to enter the key as colon separated pairs.

7. # pump -i wlan0

8. # ifconfig
( you should be up with an ip fetched from your dhcp server/router)

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

Once again appreciate your prompt help/reply

at ndiswrapper -l command get

Installed ndis drivers:
netcard hardware NOT present
netprism hardware not present
prismnds hardware not present

note when check pcmia tool in dsl panel it shows care in socket 0 with manfid 0x000b, 0x7110 if that helps

Juanito · Joined: 11 Sep 2006 Posts: 88 Location: Dubai, U.A.E.

Whilst I always manage to connect without problems on my wireless network at home, I never managed to connect when travelling - no matter what variation of terminal commands, control panel buttons, etc etc, I tried - nothing worked.

This time I disabled the usual one line script (myndis.sh) which ran on boot, and instead called it from a terminal window after modifying it suitably - it worked on 3 different networks so I guess this method is OK.

with WEP (all on one line)
-----------------------------
/usr/local/bin/ndiswrapper.sh /path/bcmwl5a.inf wlan0 ssid XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX 2>&1 >/dev/null

without WEP (all on one line)
---------------------------------
/usr/local/bin/ndiswrapper.sh /path/bcmwl5a.inf wlan0 ssid 2>&1 >/dev/null

As mentioned above, the *.sys file - in my case bcmwl5a.sys - needs to be in the same directory as the *.inf file. I assume the ndiswrapper.sh script is the default dsl/dsl-n file.

If you substitute your card's *.inf file in the above, it might work. Note also, I had to try five or six bcmwl5a.inf files from various sites on the web before I found one that worked...

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

Thanks Juanito

Followed your suggestions no difference. Shell schtipt myndis.sh at any rate identical to your wep instructions. Did a little research in other forums apparently this card D-Link DWL-650 VerP a problem for other distros. The problem may lie in the fact that no PMCIA controller driver loaded at boot as card unsupported. I tried loading orinoco_cs no difference. Anyone have any ideas on getting PMCIA controller driver/drivers to work.

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

Mnaged to find an old siemans wireless card model ss1021 that works out of the box with dsl . When i compare the lsmod output of both at PCMIA-core line only difference is that Orinoco_cs listed for working card. As per previous posting modprobe Orinoco_cs but didn't seem to do anything. Orinoco_cs is supposed to be the driver set that will support PRISMII/PrismIII cards. Anyway without doing a kernal build to get this working.

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

just because i hate threads that go nowhere solved or unsolved thought I would post more on D-Link DWL-650 v.P. It seems one should stay away from this card for linux.

From the linux-wlan-ng FAQ page:

>Q: I have a D-Link DWL-650P or a DWL-520E, why doesn't it work?
>
> These cards are the first generally-available ones that use a
> short serial flash, or SSF. In layspeek, it means that there
> is no onboard firmware, and thus need the firmware loaded
> into the card on startup.
>
> linux-wlan-ng 0.2.1-pre17 supports SSF hardware, though you
> will need to obtain the firmware images elsewhere.

I have the 520E, so same story.(see thread DWL 520 E-rev firmware?)
The linux-wlan-ng and host_ap drivers should both work, but the card is a brainwipe until firmware is installed.
There is info on the host_ap site about where to get the firmware, and a tool to install it comes with the host_ap driver. Linux-wlan had a firmware tool, but I think it's been discontinued for liability reasons

Spend your time and money on an easier to configure card

Cheers nostrdamm

roberts · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 320 Location: OC CA USA

Thanks for sharing your experience.

First controllerless modems, now firmwareless net cards.

I guess they don't build them like they used too.

tempest · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

Yes, these types of devices are becoming more common. Newer PrismGT chipsets have the same firmware situation, too.

As nostrdamm memntioned, the linux-wlan-ng driver DOES support SSF (Short Serial Flash) firmware loading ... but it's a messy process. You first need to extract the necessary firmware from the Windows driver.
Then you need to put the device into firmware load state like this -
# ifstate=fwload
Then there are some extra commands which I'm uncertain about. And I read somewhere that at one stage linux-wlan-ng removed the all-important "prism2dl" utility for legal reasons, thus breaking support.

The HostAP driver is a much better option. SSF devices such as the DWL-520E and DWL-650P are definitely supported and known to work ... it just takes a little extra preparation:
- as well as the HostAP PCMCIA driver itself (hostap_cs) you also need the HostAP utilities package, from
http//hostap.epitest.fi/releases/hostap-utils-0.4.7.tar.gz
This provides the "prism2_srec" firmware loader utility and "hostap_fw_load" script.

- now get the firmware from http//www.red-bean.com/~proski/firmware/
Download "Latest-prism.tar.bz2" and uncompress it. From this package you need just 2 firmware files - pm010102.hex and rf010804.hex. The "hostap_fw_load" script expects to find these firmware files in /etc/firmware, so put them here, and take careful note that the naming of the firmware files in "hostap_fw_load" matches correctly, including uppercase/lowercase status.

Now you can go ahead and load the HostAP driver -

# modprobe hostap_cs
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# hostap_fw_load wlan0
# ifconfig wlan0 up

Now you can connect to your wifi network with "iwconfig" and obtain an IP address with "pump"

nostrdamm · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pittsburgh PA

Tempest

I agree hostap best loading firmware with prism2-srec It appears hostap driver already loaded in 2.6 kernel but I have been unable to "make" hostap ultils properly. Would appreciate if you could outline the process for me in DSL-N. I still have the card and would like to make it work. Be as specific as you can, seems that the little things always mess me up.

tempest · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

You may need to search this forum for information about how to add the compiler tools to DSL-N, and maybe the configured kernel source as well(?)
Or just send me a private message with your email address and I will send you the compiled utilities ready-to-go. I compiled these in Vector Linux. There are no (kernel-specific) modules involved, so compatibility should not be a problem.

redsfan · Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 2

tempest,
I am trying to get a D-Link DWL-650 P1 network card installed. I was following the instructions in your post. I downloaded the firmware and put the firmware files in /etc/firmware. I downloaded and installed the hostap-utils-0.4.7 utility. The hostap_cs driver is included in the distribution I am using (Fedora Core 6). With the card installed, I typed the commands you listed. Here is what I get.

[root@lightning ~]# modprobe hostap_cs
[root@lightning ~]# ifconfig wlan0 up
wlan0: unknown interface: No such device

I can't get past this error. Can you help?

Thanks,
redsfan

tempest · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

Maybe "ifconfig wlan0" up will not work before the firmware is loaded? Just try the next command;
hostap_fw_load wlan0

But more importantly, I just had a look at the HostAP configuration in my 2.6.18 kernel (HostAP is a standard kernel module) ... HostAP firmware loading support needs to be explicitly enabled.
In "menuconfig" this can be found under Device Drivers > Network device support > Wireless LAN > "Support downloading firmware images with Host AP driver".
If this option is not enabled, the hostap_cs module needs to be recompiled.

In redsfans' case, it's quite easy to get the necessary developer files for FedoraCore6, but in nostrdamm's case, you might need to lobby the DSL-N developers to change this.