WLAN HOWTO for prism2 pcmcia cards on kernel-version 2.6

[_loki_]

I don't know if there already is a real HOWTO on that topic, but as I can remeber how difficult it was to me to set up my card I thought it might be helpful..

First of all you should compile pcmcia support in your kernel, this is different to kernel-versions 2.4.. if you choose to compile as a module don't forget to load it while booting, e.g. put it in /etc/modules.autoload/kernel-2.6; most card-adapters will also need the yenta-cardbus-support, but this is dependent on your certain cardbus.

Even if pcmcia support is now builded in the kernel, you'll still need the pcmcia-cs tools, therefore do an

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emerge pcmcia-cs

and

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rc-update add pcmcia default

.
Also hotplug might be helpful loading the right modules on startup;

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emerge hotplug

followed by

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rc-update add hotplug default

.

Now it comes to wlan. you can use the linux-wlan-ng package in portage, for me it's working perfectly! It's just not compiling with sandbox using kernel 2.6, though the command is

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FEATURES="-sandbox" emerge linux-wlan-ng

Now you need a script for your new network-device.

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cp /etc/init.d/net.eth0 /etc/init.d/net.wlan0

followed by

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rc-update add net.wlan0 default

(if you want to start the device every boot-sequenze) will do it. Don't forget to add a iface configuration in

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nano /etc/conf.d/net

; if you're using dhcp

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dhcpcd_wlan0="-t 2"

is a nice feature, as dhcp seems to be much faster while being kicked a bit..

While booting hotplug should now load the right module for your prism card, but you'll still get a nasty error-message saying there is no module called wlan. You can avoid that by setting an alias in

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nano /etc/modules.d/aliases

, just add the line

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alias wlan0 prism2_cs

and do a

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modules-update

afterwards.

Last thing to do is setting up the wlan configuration. Having the linux-wlan-ng package installed by "emerge" to configuration-files are in

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/etc/conf.d/

, insert your SSID in wlan.conf and make yourself a copy of wlancfg-DEFAULT to wlancfg-yourSSID. Modify wlancfg-yourSSID (WEP-Keys and stuff..)

Now everything shoulf work fine! Try a

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/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart

and hope I didn't forget anything!

I hope this is pretty complete, but if there is something missing please add!

I corrected writting-misstakes and added a 2 in the Headline, like comments recommanded.
I think setting up an iface is explained in

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 /etc/conf.d/net 

itself good enough, of course the timeout option doesn't make any sense not having a dhcp server. I just made the experience that many dhcp servers are faster giving an IP-Adr. being forced by you..
Greetz §Miro§

[GhostTyper]

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rc-update add net-wlan0 default

shuldt be

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rc-update add net.wlan0 default

[epretorious]

Don't forget to add a iface configuration in

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nano /etc/conf.d/net

; if you're using dhcp

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dhcpcd_wlan0="-t 2"

is a nice feature, as dhcp seems to be much faster while being kicked a bit.

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iface_wlan0="dhcp"

...Should be added the thenano /etc/conf.d/net along with...

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dhcpcd_wlan0="-t 2"

[epretorious]

Just for clarification, it might be useful to change this topic's title to "WLAN HOWTO for prism2-based cards on kernel-version 2.6" since the linux-wlan-ng driver (prism2_cs) does not support Prism 2.5/3.

[rush_ad]

might want to put this in

Documentation, Tips & Tricks


nice howto, by the way.

[epretorious]

might want to put this in

Documentation, Tips & Tricks

I'd recommend Networking & Security...

[Obsidian_MH]

Hmmm...

Prism2_cs isn't found...

Something I'm missing here?

[usingloser]

I am getting the same error now, and I had it working for awhile...

[Obsidian_MH]

I'm running 2.6.8, so I'm wondering if it's because I compiled Hermes support in? So when emerging it doesn't compile the prism driver?

Really need to get this bloody card working (Belkin)

[_loki_]

did you change the kernel? If though you have to remerge the linux-wlan-ng package.. whats your exact error message? Did you have have any problems emerging linux-wlan-ng in the first place?

[_loki_]

updating on pcmcia-cs - 3.2.7-r1 yesterday, my wlan wasn't working anymore. Restartig pcmcia the card was trying to load the orinoco-module witch I haven't compiled in the kernel. That was because

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 emerge linux-wlan-ng

didn't compile the pcmcia drivers, but only those for pci.. I don't know why that happed as the ebuild shouldn't have been changed; anyway a solution to that is to change the ebuild.

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nano -w /usr/portage/net-wireless/linux-wlan-ng/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1_pre20.ebuild 

The setup is made from line 61 up to line 87. There is a line for each of the different driver modules, eg pci, plx, pcmcia and usb. You can change the setup by changing

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sed -i -e 's:PRISM2_PCMCIA=y:PRISM2_PCMCIA=n:' \ 

into

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sed -i -e 's:PRISM2_PCMCIA=n:PRISM2_PCMCIA=y:' \

in line 78.
By switching n's and y's you can also turn off pci support if you don't need it..

[pilla]

Moved from K&H

[CyD]

linux-wlan-ng now supports prism2.5

[g1um]

thx for nice howto

[CyD]

hi, I've used this tutorial twice now, and have found I cannot get to work unless I add

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rc-update add wlan default && /etc/init.d/wlan start

this is the script provided by the wlan driver. After running this script, I still have to manually run

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dhcpcd wlan0

this should be taken care of by /etc/init.d/net.wlan0, but the script is run before the first wlan script, which causes dhcp failure.

I followed the tutorial exactly i believe, and nobody else seems to mention this problem. Any suggestions? Thnx!

[dedicated]

For some reason, I can't seem to get an interface to show up for my card. It is a D-Link DWL-650 (rev V.P1). Apparently it has the prism3 chipset, but linux-wlan.org had it on the list of working cards, so I don't think that's the problem. For some reason, though, I can't load prism2_cs. I get the following error:

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WARNING: Error inserting p80211 (/lib/modules/2.6.10/kernel/drivers/net/p80211.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
FATAL: Error inserting prism2_cs (/lib/modules/2.6.10/kernel/drivers/net/prism2_cs.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

And dmesg shows the following:

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p80211: Unknown symbol hotplug_path
p80211: Unknown symbol dev_get
prism2_cs: Unknown symbol p80211netdev_rx
prism2_cs: Unknown symbol register_wlandev
prism2_cs: Unknown symbol wlan_unsetup
prism2_cs: Unknown symbol unregister_wlandev
prism2_cs: Unknown symbol p80211netdev_hwremoved
prism2_cs: Unknown symbol wlan_setup

Anyone have any ideas?

[snakattak3]

Try using the drivers from the kernel sources. I think they are new for prism2 cards in 2.6.10.