Configure Wireless HP Compaq Mini 700

[Rich J]

Hi Everyone! I'm brand new to Puppy so please bear with me!

Specs are:
HP Compaq Mini 700
2 x Intel Atom N270 1.60GHz
1026 MB RAM
Puppy Linux 2.6.33.2 (i686)
Network controller Broadcom BCM4312 802.11 b/g LP-PHY (Rev01)
ISP Virgin Media

I'm trying to set up wireless on the above but with no success so far. Network Manager reports wlan0 is found and will connect to my router briefly, but drop out. Then, when I check Network Config/Wireless again, it says 'no wireless extensions detected'.

I had similar issues with this network card in another distro (Peppermint 5) and was advised to download and install this -

firmware-b43-lpphy-installer

which I assume would correct the issue in Puppy also as it is network card specific and not distro?

My problem is - Peppermint (and other distros) use apt-get to download and install other software via console - Puppy does not. Extensive searching on this site (and others) hasn't come up with a solution. Nor does searching in PPM.

Question: Is it possible to download and install other software via console? If yes, what are the commands one needs to invoke the action?

If no, how do I get this software on to the Mini? (I have downloaded it via a browser and run the installer which reports it IS installed but says 'note, this package does not have a menu entry' thus is not found in Network Manager/Load module.

The network card is functional as it worked fine in Peppermint and is detected by Puppy. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as the Mini is ideal for use when travelling (especially abroad) due to its small size, but without wireless.........

Comment: I'm very impressed with Puppy - it's small footprint seems ideally suited to Netbooks and the speed at which it loads is amazing. Looking forward to working with it very much!

Thanks in advance

Rich

[cthisbear]

Rich J...welcome to Puppy.

Thanks for supplying your hardware specs mate,
but Oops....what exact Puppy version?

Also....Is your wireless light on???????????

" A neat little switch that HP have incorporated is the wireless
communications, the flick switch at the front right either disables
or enables all wireless communications depending on the current state
of the adaptors. Nice if you realise that you have a potential intruder - flick the switch and hey presto secured
it before any further damage is done. "

http://h30379.www3.hp.com/8844-en_gb/38 ... eviews.htm

And try Frisbee to connect your wireless.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/Frisbee

Sorry.. missed this >>>Puppy Linux 2.6.33.2 (i686)
so Wary-020.

Ok!...but not my favourite.

Chris.

[tempestuous]

Ah frisbee. The cure-all for people who don't understand wifi configuration.
I think not.

Rich, yes, you may require the alternative "LP-PHY" firmware to work in conjunction with the b43 Broadcom driver.
I provided it as a dotpet here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 464#448464
Make sure you do a full power down after installing this dotpet. Once booted up again, run the full network wizard, not the "Simple" network wizard.

which I assume would correct the issue in Puppy also as it is network card specific and not distro?

The differences between distros, as they relate to driver support, is a case of kernel compatibility. Drivers are kernel-specific, so you can't interchange them from one kernel to another ...
but in this case we're dealing with the associated firmware, which has no compatibility issues.

[cthisbear]

tempestuous ..." Ah frisbee. "

Although I have stirred him up, tempestuous always offers solid advice and is a Puppy master at network problems.

Ah! indeed....thanks Sir Tempe.

Chris.

[Rich J]

Hi Fellas! And G'day from the old country!

@ cthisbear

Wireless light is illuminated blue - (blue on, red off) but the curious thing is, on every 5th attempt or so at config, wireless will load and connect but only for a few seconds. On the next effort afterwards, Network Manager can't find any networks to connect to! Hmmm......... And Frisbee didn't do the job either........

As regards my version (Wary) - would you recommend another version for speed, stability etc? I assume they are all as easy to install?

EDIT: Mine says Lucid on the Grub screen

@ tempestuous

Thanks for the pointer - I downloaded the file as instructed, ran the installer and it says the file is installed but also says - 'note, this package does not have a menu entry', therefore does not appear in Network Manager 'Load' list. Have I missed something or is there a procedure for moving the file from it's saved location into Network Manager?

Also, is there a method to install 3rd party software directly through console? (I ask only because I'm used to other distros which use apt-get. Does Puppy have a similar method for this?) I realise one has to be careful about downloading from non-recommended sources but sometimes software isn't available in the repositories.

Finally - congrats to the Aussie RU team on a great World Cup! Best of luck in the semis!

Thanks again

Rich

[rokytnji]

No need to run Wary on that Atom PC with 1 gig of ram.

I own 4 atom netbooks and Carolina Vangaurd, Slack0, Tahr, all the newer kernel puppies work real well on them.

The Broadcom chip can a be a small PITA. But just a small one. Not a show stopper.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=96863

Read the thread. I am pretty sure your wireless chip is covered in that thread also and it will run just fine on your gear.

Edit: Just another I run http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=88846

[cthisbear]

" Wireless light is illuminated blue - (blue on, red off) but the curious thing is, on every 5th attempt or so at config, wireless will load and connect but only for a few seconds. "

Interference???...change your wireless channel...here.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 893#865893

Chris.

[tempestuous]

Rich, it's unclear from your response whether, after installing the LP-PHY firmware dotpet, you actually attempted a wifi connection? If not, do so now.

I downloaded the file as instructed, ran the installer and it says the file is installed but also says - 'note, this package does not have a menu entry'

That's correct, the LP-PHY firmware is an underlying driver component, it's not an application, and has no menu entry.

therefore does not appear in Network Manager 'Load' list.

That's correct, the LP-PHY firmware is a "support file" for the b43 wifi driver. There will be no new driver available in the Network Wizard, it should simply make the b43 driver behave correctly for your particular Broadcom wifi hardware.

And be careful, it sounds like you are attempting to manually load a driver. Generally you should NEVER do this.
At bootup Puppy will automatically load all relevant drivers. In your case, this means the b43 driver, which should hopefully behave better with the alternative firmware.

You seem confused about which version of Puppy you're running, I suggest in the future you carefully label your Puppy installation CD's. Wary or Lucid, neither are necessary for the respectable hardware you have. There's no reason you shouldn't be running the latest official Puppy - Tahrpup 6.0.2.

[Rich J]

Rich, it's unclear from your response whether, after installing the LP-PHY firmware dotpet, you actually attempted a wifi connection? If not, do so now.

Yes, connection attempted several times - no change.

I downloaded the file as instructed, ran the installer and it says the file is installed but also says - 'note, this package does not have a menu entry'

That's correct, the LP-PHY firmware is an underlying driver component, it's not an application, and has no menu entry.

Right! Got it!

therefore does not appear in Network Manager 'Load' list.

That's correct, the LP-PHY firmware is a "support file" for the b43 wifi driver. There will be no new driver available in the Network Wizard, it should simply make the b43 driver behave correctly for your particular Broadcom wifi hardware.

Ah - now I see how it (should) work! Once downloaded and installed the 'new' software 'overrides' the old and still appears as b43 in the NM list - is that more or less the case?

And be careful, it sounds like you are attempting to manually load a driver. Generally you should NEVER do this.
At bootup Puppy will automatically load all relevant drivers. In your case, this means the b43 driver, which should hopefully behave better with the alternative firmware.

Only because I thought it hadn't loaded!

You seem confused about which version of Puppy you're running, I suggest in the future you carefully label your Puppy installation CD's. Wary or Lucid, neither are necessary for the respectable hardware you have.

No confusion here! I chose Lucid from a list of downloads (iirc from Distrowatch) for no reason other than it was (I believed) recent and a LTS version. Our good friend cthisbear assumed it was Wary - Grub says Lucid!


There's no reason you shouldn't be running the latest official Puppy - Tahrpup 6.0.2.

Ok, thank you for the advice. To save further problems I'll start again from the beginning. I'll download Tahrpup and install it then see where I am with wireless. If I do encounter problems, shall I continue in this thread or start a new one?

Thank you to everyone who contributed thus far - it's much appreciated.

Rich

[tempestuous]

connection attempted several times - no change.

OK, the b43 driver is simply not playing well with your wifi device. That's a fairly common story, and the solution is usually to change to the vendor version Broadcom wifi driver ... but I see you are about to change Puppy version -

I'll download Tahrpup

In case you can't find the download location, it's here -
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu ... 20-6.0-CE/
Since you have less than 4GB of RAM you may prefer to use the "noPAE" version, but I have found that the "PAE" versions work just fine with my various RAM-challenged computers.
Once installed, run the Network Wizard and see if you have any luck, but chances are it will still be flaky, since Tahrpup still uses the official b43 driver.
So if still no success with wifi, install the vendor driver provided by forum member peebee, from here -
https://www.copy.com/s/qWQ1BkPMDnPPFk7C

for tahr-6.0.2_noPAE the correct driver is -
broadcom_sta_v6.30.223.248_x86_32-k3.14.20_2_nopae_tahr.pet

and for tahr-6.0.2_PAE the correct driver is -
broadcom_sta_v6.30.223.248_x86_32-k3.14.20_2_pae_tahr.pet

[Rich J]

Hi again tempestuous!

Tahrpup 6 now downloaded and installed on the netbook. Everything done and dusted in under 10 minutes start to finish with wireless configured and running. I know it's early days but I'm so impressed, I've installed it on my old Dell laptop too. This m/c doesn't have a Broadcom card, thank goodness! I'll give Puppy a good run as I'm keen to learn Linux properly and will probably be posting on a regular basis on here!

One additional question, if you don't mind - what is the Puppy
philosophy regarding updating? Is it an automated process or are regular reminders sent out - or is there no need for it at all?

Thanks again for the welcome advice - there's a cold 'tinny' waiting any time you like!

Regards

Rich

[tempestuous]

what is the Puppy philosophy regarding updating?

I don't have much time to play with Puppies these days, so others may have a better idea than I do ...
but as I understand it there's NO automatic update process.

The Puppy Package Manager does seem to have some form of prompt to encourage you to install critical fixes for an individual release, as I discovered when I was running the very first release of Tahrpup 6.0.2, which was discovered to have a problem with certain mouse devices, and required a complete kernel rebuild.

But otherwise the only form of upgrade is when you choose to download a new version and install it. Within the same series of Puppies ie. 5.1/5.2, 5.6.x, 6.0.x etc, when you install a new version OVER an existing version, there's code in the installer which detects this and offers to keep your settings from the old version. I have read reports here of that process giving various and significant errors, so I have never attempted an "upgrade". Whenever I install a new version of Puppy, I always partition/format, and do a completely fresh installation.

Generally, I suggest you choose a Puppy, and if happy with it, stick with it.

[bigpup]

Tahrpup 6.0.2 has Quickpet->Info Tahrpup updates
Slacko 5.7 has a menu->Setup->Upgrade Manager.

These you can use to get updates, bug fixes, improved programs that the developer feels you need.

In general, Puppy updates by the release of a newer version, of a specific Puppy or the release of a new named version of Puppy.

The use of a new named version of Puppy usually indicates, it is built using different package repositories and by a different developer.
The developer gets to choose the name.
It is his work.

At present Puppy is at version number 6.0
Thus, Tahrpup 6.0.2 is newer than Slacko 5.7
However, there is some work on a Slacko 6.0

Confused yet

[greengeek]

what is the Puppy philosophy regarding updating? Is it an automated process or are regular reminders sent out - or is there no need for it at all?

I would suggest the following:

1) If you have done your basic configuration and are happy that it is running well then make a copy of your savefile (or savefolder) which carries the personalisations you have made. This way you can quickly get back to a known good condition if future updates (manual or automatic) negatively affect your system

2) Once the initial personalisation and configuration is done some puppians like to run with no further updates or changes at all. ("If it ain't broke don't fix it"). If you subscribe to that philosophy (I do) then don't do any updates. It is definitely not a requirement

3) Some puppys (or components thereof) are set up to autoupdate or to grab the latest versions of software (eg Flashplayer, browser etc). There can be some value in doing this because you may prefer to run a browser that stays current and keeps up with the changes as the web "matures" (unavoidable changes not always for the better). If you choose to set up or permit any automatic updates it is worth considering point 1 above and keeping a backup (or more than one backup) for various correctly functioning snapshots of your personal savefile (or savefolder). There is never any guarantee that an update will suit your hardware or your intended purposes so it is wise to be able to step back to a known good state.

4) When you get familiar with puppy you may decide to "remaster" the structure of your puppy so that your preferred changes are "burned in" to the main file rather than remaining in the changeable savefile. People do this when they have decided that they like the way their system runs, and they dont want any further updates at all. This method means that you don't need to use a savefile to remember the alterations accompanying each session - you save whatever external data you want to keep separately ("outside of the Puppy savefile"), and dump any "session specific" changes so that every boot is exactly like the one before - no nasties, malware, corruptions or alterations.

5) There is a method ("sfs loading") which allows you to temporarily load a new piece of software (eg a newer browser) and use it without it becoming a permanent part of your installation. This can be a great alternative to updating your basic system - just "plug in" a new sfs and give it a whirl. Once you have decided you want that functionality permanently then you can tell your Puppy to load that sfs at every boot or else you can just load it when you want it. This is a great way to keep your basic puppy lean and mean, yet switch between different needs as required.

Overall the best recommendation I could make is is to have good backups you can switch back to!

Good luck!

[Rich J]

@ bigpup Thanks for the heads-up, the info is very useful.

I've run the updater as it recommended the latest service pack and all appears to be as it should be so fingers crossed!

'Confused' is a permanent state with me so nothing to be afraid of!

Regards

Rich

[Rich J]

@ greengeek

Many thanks to you also - great info and there's a lot there to occupy me for the next few weeks!

Part of the reason in my switching to Puppy is the desire to 'learn' Linux as well as I can, configure my system to be as lean as possible and keep equipment - otherwise redundant - in circulation.

I'm amazed at how an OS can have such a small footprint yet be so powerful! All credit to those who developed it. Looking forward to a rewarding experience!

Regards

Rich