rtl8180 network card driver??

Forum: Networking
Topic: rtl8180 network card driver??
started by: hawki

Posted by hawki on Feb. 10 2004,17:13

I purchased a generic wireless card that uses the Realtek rtl8180 chipset. I finally got it working with RH9.0 using their supplied binary driver. This driver does not work with DSL. They also supply source to create the driver for other releases. My environment does not allow me to compile the code. My system resources are very limited. Could anyone produce the binary for DSL and make it available? The download is at:

< http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-3.aspx?Keyword=rtl8180 >

Any help would be appreciated.

Posted by hawki on Feb. 11 2004,00:27

Nevermind

I got it working. It occurred to me that I had a Knoppix 3.2 CD around here. I downloaded the files and built them on the desktop then transferred them to my DSL hd install. Made the necessary changes to the ./wlanup script and it's magic.

The downside to this driver is that it does not use any hotplug facilities. You have to run ./wlanup and ./wlandown to control the card. If you forget to run ./wlandown before trying to shutdown it hangs.

Posted by Pitabu on May 30 2004,19:19

Can you tell me, a noob, in the simplest way, how you compiled it with Knoppix? I'd like to get this working with DSL and would be happy to compile directly on the machine but have no idea.
Thanks!!!

Posted by jbdww on July 07 2004,15:59

Quote (hawki @ Feb. 10 2004,19:27)

Can I get the .o file that you created. I do not have access to a 3.2 KNOPPIX cd.

Thanks
Joe Doran

Posted by jbdww on July 11 2004,00:59

Quote (Guest @ July 07 2004,11:59)

Quote (hawki @ Feb. 10 2004,19:27)

Can I get the .o file that you created. I do not have access to a 3.2 KNOPPIX cd.

Thanks
Joe Doran

Opps. I forgot to login.

Posted by hawki on July 13 2004,12:45

I don't have imediate access to the laptop I set up. I should be able to send you a copy in a couple days.

Posted by dvdljns on Feb. 25 2006,08:15

Can you tell me how to compile it. I have never compiled anything. Or done anything on linux.

Posted by dare2dreamer on Feb. 26 2006,01:26

Better yet, why not submit an extension to the repositories so everyone can benefit from having access to the driver?

I'll be happy to help you package it if you need help.

Posted by dvdljns on Feb. 26 2006,02:38

Talk me through it and I will submit it to the dsl site.

Posted by dare2dreamer on Feb. 27 2006,05:53

There's an excellent tutorial in the dsl-wiki on basic extension making, that should get you started. You're probably looking at the easier to make .tar.gz style extensions, as opposed to the .uci ones.

Beyond the making menu items and such, which is covered by the tutorial, you pretty much just need to drop the modules in a directory (/opt/rtl8180 for example) and then have your mydsl.menu item insmod the modules directly as root. From there, any reasonably savvy user should be able to use iwconfig to get it going.

I did a similar "kernel module as an extension" for shfs and submitted it to the repository, feel free to download it and use it as an example.

If you get stuck, im/email/pm me and we'll see if we can't work it out.

Posted by dvdljns on Feb. 27 2006,18:52

Ok! I will check out. I have the drivers in a tar.gz form I downloadeed from a site. does that mean I might be able to drop them in a directory and get them to work . It was sugested that I this was the drivers i needed for thr 2.4.26 kernal. Also I read on a couple websites that to get the gcc version I run gcc -v. I tried that from both the run command and xterm but from the run command I get no responce. and from xterm I get no command found. how do I do this and get back the gcc version Or do you know what the gcc version is on the downlad under current.