DSL on Thinkpad X41

Forum: Networking
Topic: DSL on Thinkpad X41
started by: kenwalker

Posted by kenwalker on Aug. 11 2007,23:13

Hi There,

I love DSL; it's brilliant. I'm trying to totally circumvent the Windows build I have on my work laptop without screwing it up. All I need is Firefox and wifi, and I can get all my non-work stuff done. DSL lets me do just that.

So, here's the problem. When I boot DSL, it doesn't find my ethernet or wifi cards on my Thinkpad X41. I saw that there was < an extension > for the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG card that Windows says I have.

When I install the extension and configure it < per this >, I get some errors when I run depmodscript.sh. Now, here's the deal: the extension seems to be configured for kernel 2.4.31. But the current shipping version of DSL comes with kernel 2.4.26. I tried to correct the problem by changing the path in depmodscript.sh to point to the 2.4.26, which works. But, when I run modprobe ipw2200, I get error messages.

Does anyone know how I can fix this? I presume that I either need to get DSL with 2.4.31 (is this in beta?) or an extension configured for 2.4.26 Is that right, or am I missing something?

I also tried to get this working with ndiswrapper, which is recommended for the ipw2100BG < here >. Still no joy.

Many thanks,
Ken

Posted by lucky13 on Aug. 12 2007,00:00

DSL version 2.1b has 2.4.31.

Posted by kenwalker on Aug. 12 2007,01:00

lucky13,

Thanks for the quick response. Do you think I could somehow rebuild the extension to work for 2.4.26? Or is downgrading to DSL 2.1 my only option?

I just realized that DSL 2.1 is twice as big as 3.4. That means it won't fit on my 64 MB USB key.

Posted by roberts on Aug. 12 2007,02:58

DSL 2.1b, which is in archive section, is not double the size. It is still just under 50MB and should be ok on a 64MB pendrive.

Perhaps you were looking at DSL-N?

Many have tried to compile ipw2x00 drivers. First these drivers were not supported in 2.4.26. I believe that they are not officially supported in 2.4.x. However, there exists a hack which apparently works for the 2.4.31 kernel. Also, it appears that hack no longer works in newer 2.4.x kernels. So, it would appear that DSL v2.1b would be your current solution. I am considering using 2.4.31 for DSL v4.0 for this very reason among others.

Posted by kenwalker on Aug. 12 2007,03:19

Robert,

Thanks again for your help. I'll d/l again and retry -- I could have been moving too quickly and clicked through the dsl-n folders.

I've been reading the thread on DSL 4.0a. Best of luck with it. It's so bizarre that this issue exists with such a popular wifi chipset.

I saw you mention that you don't have ipw2200 hardware; if you need someone to beta test a build, I'd be happy to. Just give me a shout over email.

Thanks,
Ken

P.S. I re-downloaded 2.1b and the zip file was around 50 MB. After unzipping, the folder size was 100MB. The culprit was a 60 MB file in qmenu called harddisk. I deleted it. Let's see if this still works.

Posted by kenwalker on Aug. 12 2007,04:04

Okay, good news, bad news, and more good news.

The Good News: after deleting that file, DSL 2.1b booted. The boot screen also mentioned my eth0 card and appeared to do something with my ipw2200 card.

The Bad News: the wireless card still doesn't work. Running Wlanconfig from the DSL Control Panel says "No wireless network card found." I attempted to do a mydsl-load to try to re-install the extension, but my USB key won't mount at sda1. The mounting GUI tells me it's "irregular" and, when I click on it, the device is mounted at /mnt/cdrom (it's not).

More Good News: I've got a half-six-pack of Sam Adams and some time to solve this tonight if anyone's feeling energetic.

I don't care that much about mounting the USB key for now, just getting wireless working in DSL 2.1b.

Thanks!
Ken

Posted by kenwalker on Aug. 12 2007,04:36

Eureka! It works. I just followed the steps here:

< http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites....sl.info >

Thanks lucky13 and roberts for your help! I'd sure still like to get those bugs worked out with mounting my USB key (mostly because I don't think I can save changes to connect.sh without doing that), but otherwise, I'm a happy camper.

After this experience, I'd definitely consider putting 2.4.31 in DSL 4.0 -- or, at least, doing a cost-benefit to figure out what features you're giving up from 2.4.34 to see if it's worth it.

Best,
Ken