(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hello Everyone

I have a real dinosaur, a Pentium III Coppermine laptop with 128MB of memory. Just for fun, I have Puppy 3.1 running from the CD with a save file. It runs very well. I have the 2.6.24 kernel (about 8 years old, I think.) My problem is, as you might expect, this thing has no wireless capability. It still has a floppy drive and an infrared, if that gives you an idea how old it is. It DOES have a PCIMA slot and I have an old Belkin wireless card. This laptop has Windows 2000 on it, and I did find a driver for it for Windows (the lights come on, but it doesn't detect any networks.) I know from research that it uses the linux ath5k module, which this old kernel does not have. And I am supposing that even if I found it, it would have to be compile against this kernel, which I don't know how to do.

Anyway, the windows driver was an .exe file. I thought I would use ndiswrapper within Puppy, but I can't find the .inf file from the driver. Does anyone know how to find this file in windows? I could mount the drive in Puppy and point ndiswrapper to it.

This is just for fun, and if it can't be done, do big deal. It was fun getting it running anyway.

Many thanks for any help

Bob

Hey Bob, how you doing there? Can you link me to your executable?

Hi

Thanks for replying. I have it on a USB stick. It won't let me paste on this reply. Not sure how to link you to it.

Bob

Upload here and leave me a link.

Thanks, but doesn't seem to work. The file is only 15mb and it just loops and stays in "File upload in progress." Never finishes.

Bob

It would go but your connection must be slow.

Grab this and rename it peazip. Right click + permissions + make executable.

If it runs on that system of yours, it should be able to extract the driver from your package.

Thank you. That just seems to create a ZIP file, and when extracted just goes back to the exe file. It's me not knowing what I am doing.

Thanks for your help

Bob

It's a Broadcom file, correct? Link me to the file on their download page.

This or give DataFile more time --it'll go.

No, it's atheros, I'm sure. The download page I got it from is here:

http://www.belkin.com/uk/support-articl ... Num=208675

The upload timed out.

Bob, don't wait around. I'll be back.

Hallo, Bob.

It's a right case of 'Sod's law', this. The 'ath5k' module was included in the very next point release of the 2.6 kernel; the k2.6.25. Early versions were flaky, though, and it's recommended you use at least 2.6.31.

I use this driver myself, on a 15-yr old Dell lappie; an original Inspiron 1100, from 2002.....running a NetGear WPN-511 PCMCIA wireless adapter. But then I do have a Pentium 4, so I can run as new as Xenialpup.....

It's possible you could get around this by swapping kernels, from, say, one of the 4-series Pups. I know this is do-able in more recent Puppies; I'm not so sure about 3-series and backwards.

I wish I could simply point you to a page offering the 'ath5k' compiled for your Puppy, but, alas, that's not possible, I'm afraid.

Perhaps this may be of some use. This dates from about the sort of time-period you're talking about, when these kernels were still current. I've no idea how much effort you want to put into this, but it's perhaps worth a look:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60180

If not, carry on with matchpoint, trying to get ndiswrapper working. (It's probably easier, from your point of view...)


Mike.

The kernel 2.6.30.5 of puppy 4.31 has the ath5k.ko module.

Thanks Everyone,

Like I mentioned, this was just for fun. I have had a hobby for a while now taking old laptops and trying to bring them back to life. I tried Slacko 5.3, but it would only load to a partial desktop, something called "XLOAD" in the top left corner, and the task bar. No apps would open.

I think I finally found one that is "un-ressurectable" Besides, it ran great with Puppy 3.1 (takes a while to load, obviously). I probably shouldn't go on the net with a computer this old. If I really wanted to get on, I just plug in the ethernet cable.

Thanks everyone for your help. On the to next antique.

Bob