Puppy 4.2.1 wireless not working

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of networking hardware.
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eightbitz
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat 06 Dec 2008, 13:42
Location: Where Hell froze over AKA- Michigan

Puppy 4.2.1 wireless not working

#1 Post by eightbitz »

Just a question. I've been using Puppy 4.2 for a while and recently installed 4.2.1. When I did this my wireless stopped working. I have Linksys WMP11 PCI card. Puppy 4.2 uses the "Intersil 2.5 Wavelan chipset". Puppy 4.2.1 shows wlan0 in the network wizard, but nothing in the description. Any ideas?

belfasteddie
Posts: 122
Joined: Wed 11 Mar 2009, 09:13

#2 Post by belfasteddie »

I have come across this prob several times. I have played around with a lot of Puppy versions and am always amazed that in one version something will work and then doesn't in the next version.
I fully appreciate that versions/derivatives are made up by individuals who might want something or not. But why do they remove something like the Wireless setup is beyond me.
I just wish that it was possible to have a check list as to what was included in a particular version. Such as in Distrowatch.

sindi
Posts: 1087
Joined: Sun 16 Aug 2009, 13:30
Location: Ann Arbor MI USA

Linksys WMP11 semi-working with Puppy 4.3.1

#3 Post by sindi »

Recognized in Puppy 4.3.1 as using bcm43xx (broadcom) driver.
Scan finds 9 local signals including my router, but then when I
try to connect "failed to raise interface eth0". Two other cards
worked when I followed the same procedure - D-Link 520+ acx_pci
(but it only finds a signal from a router 6" away) and
a USB wireless card using prism2-usb (Microsoft....).
DWL-520 (hostap_pci, Intersil 2.5) and DELL Aironet (airo)
"no networks were detected". Including my nearby router.
(I don't know if they work with other OSes). Does the
Linksys WMP11 work with 4.3.1 for other people? Is there
some way to make it work? Is there a recent list of
PCI wireless cards easily usable in Puppy 4.3.1? I am setting
up two computers for people who need wireless (to share a signal
for free) unless the landlord will accept holes in floor or wall.
So I want to steer them to something on ebay that is known to work.

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darkcity
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#4 Post by darkcity »

if your using wireless i would have thought you were raising a wlan0 connection not eth0 as that is used for ethernet connection.

Roy
Posts: 451
Joined: Wed 31 Dec 2008, 18:31

#5 Post by Roy »

Actually, my own Puppy Linux shows eth0 and eth1 -- one of them being my wired LAN, the other one is wireless... so 'wlan' is not always a valid assumption.

If you have a broadcom 43xx wireless card and are not able to connect to the internet, you might try jrb's Special Puppy431 for broadcom 4312 (and other?) wifi cards from this thread
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=50570

jrb went out of his way to put a proprietary broadcom wireless driver in that version that many open source linux distributions refuse to include because it is proprietary. The newer linux kernels (such as the kernel used by Barry's Quirky 1.x) have a modified B43 open source broadcom wireless driver that works with some of the newer broadcom wireless cards.

I know that this post probably doesn't clear up anyone's specific problem in this thread, but it may shed a little more light on the subject and add to further understanding.

I am not sure which wireless chips Linksys uses in their product and don't really know how to research it or find out what chip is being used. (I'm still a bit wet behind my Linux ears, myself, at this stage.)

with best regards,
-Roy

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darkcity
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#6 Post by darkcity »

Thanks for the information Roy. Which version of puppy are you using?

In puppy 5.0.x there are three tools to connect to internet which seems abit messy - they being Simple Network Setup, Network Wizard and Pwireless2.

I've managed to connect using Network Wizard and a usb rtl8188s, However the connection is intermittent. Simple Network Setup does not detect the card.

Roy
Posts: 451
Joined: Wed 31 Dec 2008, 18:31

#7 Post by Roy »

darkcity,

I'm actually using a modified version of Gray's Boxpup 431 ATM, but highly recommend jrb's Special Puppy431 for broadcom 4312 (and other?) wifi cards as well as big_bass' Slaxer_Pup 412 for folks who have Broadcom 4312 wireless cards. (big_bass has a .pet for the proprietary broadcom wireless card buried in one of his threads -- but it is only for his Slaxer_Pup, I think.) You will even see a link in jrb's thread (referenced above) to getting the (non-free but zero-cost) proprietary Broadcom wireless wl.ko driver to work in Puppy 4.2x....

As I do not know what Linksys uses for chips in their brand of equipment, none of that may be relevant to this thread. However, attempting to use an early-kernel bcm43xx driver for a wireless card that requires the wl.ko driver will produce some of the same symptoms mentioned earlier in this thread. Could it be as simple as just using the wrong driver?

How does one find out which chips are actually being used in their Linksys add-ons? Hopefully, I will come across that answer in someone else's post one of these days... but am fully operational for the time being, so I can wait.

My primary reason for posting above was to prevent a new-to-Linux person from pulling out all their hair in the search for 'wlan' -- which may not necessarily show up as such in their particular version.

-Roy

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rjbrewer
Posts: 4405
Joined: Tue 22 Jan 2008, 21:41
Location: merriam, kansas

#8 Post by rjbrewer »

Roy wrote:darkcity,

I'm actually using a modified version of Gray's Boxpup 431 ATM, but highly recommend jrb's Special Puppy431 for broadcom 4312 (and other?) wifi cards as well as big_bass' Slaxer_Pup 412 for folks who have Broadcom 4312 wireless cards. (big_bass has a .pet for the proprietary broadcom wireless card buried in one of his threads -- but it is only for his Slaxer_Pup, I think.) You will even see a link in jrb's thread (referenced above) to getting the (non-free but zero-cost) proprietary Broadcom wireless wl.ko driver to work in Puppy 4.2x....

As I do not know what Linksys uses for chips in their brand of equipment, none of that may be relevant to this thread. However, attempting to use an early-kernel bcm43xx driver for a wireless card that requires the wl.ko driver will produce some of the same symptoms mentioned earlier in this thread. Could it be as simple as just using the wrong driver?

How does one find out which chips are actually being used in their Linksys add-ons? Hopefully, I will come across that answer in someone else's post one of these days... but am fully operational for the time being, so I can wait.

My primary reason for posting above was to prevent a new-to-Linux person from pulling out all their hair in the search for 'wlan' -- which may not necessarily show up as such in their particular version.

-Roy
This site isn't completely up to date, but helps a lot in identifying
cards:


http://linux-wless.passys.nl/

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

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