DSL-N :: That ipw2200 problem



Last night I downloaded the knoppix 4.0.2 dvd, dsl-n's big mamma.

And lo, ipw2200 drivers and firmware on that were loaded without issues, unlike dsl-n's.  Wireless works well.  Someone else posted that it worked on the knoppix cd version, but not well. No issues at all with the dvd and ipw2200 that I can detect from casual surfing.

I  built extensions from the ipw200 drivers, subsystem and firmware from the dvd, and loaded then on dsl-n.  No change, so it's not the drivers/firmware (at least not them alone).

Then I found this:
http://www.openthought.org/blosxom....iteback

which is worth reading.

This shows the same firmware-loading error occurring on a number of systems because of a problem with the udev version. Neither of the two fixes recommended appear to be used on the knoppix dvd (at least not obviously), however reader's comments underneath suggest the problem can arise through misplaced symlinks etc.  

If it's not hotplug, then it may be udev.

When I look on dsl-n, I can't find /etc/udev (perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place).

Is it possible John / Robert accidently stripped out a key udev file(s) or symlink while pruning ....?

(Obviously I'm hoping this might spur John/Robert or another user into looking further into this ....!)
Interesting and a good lead to try to research the difference.
Aside from a quick glance at the wikipedia entry, I don't know much at all about udev.  I did find another reference to problems with udev setting itself as the handler for loading firmware with midi on debian, with a similar type of fix involving rules.

On Fedora udevd is started along with other services during boot, but that does not appear to be the case on Knoppix 4.0.2.  How does it work then ... (Is it even being used?)

I tried passing the knoppix cheatcode noudev when booting dsl-n, but the error was the same.

Google shows udev caused big problems with Knoppix 5 (including with ipw2200), to the point that some users doing hard drive installs were going back to Knoppix 4.0.2 to escape these issues. Also, a number of Vaio models would not boot at all without the noudev cheatcode.
www.damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-n/f/viewtopic.php?t=150&highlight=ipw2200

Never resolved ... check out the above. Disappointing.

original here.