how to get Orinoco wireless to scan with WAG?

[peppyy]

What is the location of the existing orinoco_cs driver?
I would think if it were replaced with an updated one that that one would load automatically instead. Right?

If the kernel headers match wouldn't it be interchangeable?

Sorry I haven't been around lately but it is a long sleepless story.

[tempestuous]

peppyy & rarsa,
As you have possibly seen from other threads, I am going through my collection of dedicated Linux wireless drivers at the moment to add some new ones, update the ones that don't work, and update some documentation. So I thought I might as well sort out the Orinoco situation.
I have been trying various Linux wifi sniffers recently (since Keenard's WAG doesn't support my linux-wlan-ng driver) and found some good information about the orinoco patches at the AirSnort website - http://airsnort.shmoo.com/orinocoinfo.html
Guess what ... all versions after 0.13e support monitor mode. No patch required.
The latest version is 0.15rc3, and since it doesn't look like a stable release I downloaded the CVS source instead, from http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/orinoco/
All modules compiled easily, and there's now a few extra modules, including one for Orinoco USB devices.
There's also a Prism USB module, but I just tried it with my Prism2.5-based D-Link DWL-122 adaptor and it doesn't work. For Prism devices, linux-wlan-ng or HostAP drivers are really better options.

I don't know how to get the Orinoco driver(s) into monitor mode, except for this information from the AirSnort site -
The following command is used to enable monitor mode:
iwpriv eth0 monitor <m> <c>
m - one of the following
0 - disable monitor mode
1 - enable monitor mode with Prism2 header info prepended
to packet (ARPHRD_IEEE80211_PRISM)
2 - enable monitor mode with no Prism2 info (ARPHRD_IEEE80211)
c - channel to monitor

To this end, I have included iwpriv in the orinoco driver package.
Be aware that these drivers will OVERWRITE the existing orinoco/hermes modules in Puppy.
You might want to test initially with a liveCD.

[keenerd]

Keenard's WAG doesn't support my (tempestuous) linux-wlan-ng driver

Could I have some details so I could try to fix this?

Can the card output a list of access points from the command line? If so, the fix will be easy.

[tempestuous]

Good question keenerd. You prompted me to find out.

linux-wlan-ng is unique amongst wireless drivers in that it doesn't use iwconfig, because linux-wlan-ng doesn't support the Linux wireless extensions interface. So it has its own configuration utility, wlanctl-ng. This utility has an amazing number of command options, and documentation is hard to come by. I had to discover the commands to connect to my wireless router from Google searches. Same with commands to make an ad-hoc connection, and I have not tested this yet.
So just now, I Googled for commands to achieve a site survey. This is the result -

wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_scan bsstype=any bssid=00:00:00:00:00:00 scantype=both probedelay=0 / channellist="01:02:03:04:05:06:07:08:09:0a:0b:0c:0d:00" minchanneltime=200 maxchanneltime=1000 ssid=""
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_scan_results bssindex=0 ## (then 1, 2, etc for each detected AP)

I just tried these commands, and they do work.

Regarding wifi sniffer applications, Prism2-based adaptors are not supported by several because of the wireless extensions issue. But Prism2 is a common chipset and there are some sniffers that were designed specifically to support it. In theory, PrismStumbler should be a prime choice, but I can't get it to work. I have had partial success with ssidsniff, airfart, and AirSnort, but the real winner has been Kismet.


peppyy,
Does the new orinoco driver now work with WAG?

[peppyy]

I have attemped to set it up running 1.0.5 live without any luck yet but I just got one of my demo-pups back and it is a different breed so perhaps I will have better luck with that one.

It is quite possible that my card's firmware needs to be upgraded and I haven't found a safe way to do that with Puppy yet. I don't have any winows machines with pcmcia so I may be stuck as far as the gold classic goes.

I was looking into other cards with an MC connector for an external antenna but they all seem to have the same basic chipset, just different firmware.

I have a couple other cards that I should check out though. The wpc11 v3 linksys cards seem to be plugn-play and I believe they use the prism2 but I would have to look it up. I also have a dell true mobil b/g and a netgear ma401, an orinoco/proxim a/b that I think is wavelan and a garbage gigafast 11b that doesn't even work right with the xp drivers.

Since it looks like I am not going anywhere after all, I should be able to do some testing soon.

I really want to thank everyone for all the work they are doing to make wireless so user friendly in Puppy. Puppy is so well suited for portables that it is the perfect choice for people on the go.

[tempestuous]

Some new information about your Orinoco Classic Gold cards - some of these, model number 8410 apparently, had a newer version of the Hermes chipset which WON'T WORK with the orinoco_cs driver. This might explain your problems with some of your Classic Gold cards.

In the discovery process, I found the correct Linux driver for these cards, at http://www.agere.com/mobility/wireless_lan_drivers.html
I may eventually compile this driver.

In the meantime, you should be able to try the new orinoco driver with your Netgear MA401 (Prism2) and maybe your Linksys WPC11 v3 (Prism3).
... but not your Dell TrueMobile 1300b/g (Broadcom) nor Proxim a/b (Atheros).

[peppyy]

The V3 now scans and seems to work fine until I try to connect to a cell. Whenever I click on one it just starts flashing and must be ejected phisically and reset before I can get it to respond again. I am working from a HD install of 1.0.5 that I am not too worried about.

Do I have to install the wifi-beta2 ?

[tempestuous]

keenerd might know more about the nuances of WAG that may be causing this problem, or it could just be that your Prism3-based WPC11 v3 is not fully compatible with the orinoco driver. Orinoco is an older driver, and officially only supports Prism2 devices.

Do I have to install the wifi-beta2 ?

Yes, you could consider the wifi-1.0.4-beta-2 package, which uses ndiswrapper. You would use this instead of the orinoco driver, not in addition to.

But since you're already comfortable with adding extra resources to Puppy why not try the optimum driver for Prism3-based adaptors - HostAP. It's here - http://mymirrors.homelinux.org/puppy/wireless/

[keenerd-not-logged-in]

Peppyy, could you run /usr/local/WAG/debug ?

It will launch WAG. Use WAG just as you described, make it crash. Then exit WAG, and upload /usr/local/WAG/debug.txt to the forum.

[Peppyy on 7]

Peppyy, could you run /usr/local/WAG/debug ?

It will launch WAG. Use WAG just as you described, make it crash. Then exit WAG, and upload /usr/local/WAG/debug.txt to the forum.

Code: Select all

loading user data
starting diagnostics
	cardctl test
	wide angle iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

	dhcpcd test
	wifi beta test
ls: /root/.etc/rc.d/*wireless*: No such file or directory
	root user test
	scan test
	ap test
	ip test
forming output
generating buttons
xmessage main dialog
running user action
	action: scan
	action: affect scan
Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :
    SET failed on device eth0 ; Device or resource busy.
loading user data
starting diagnostics
	cardctl test
	wide angle iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

	dhcpcd test
	wifi beta test
ls: /root/.etc/rc.d/*wireless*: No such file or directory
	root user test
	scan test
	ap test
	ip test
forming output
generating buttons
xmessage main dialog
running user action
	action: null

As you see no wifibeta yet.

[peppyy]

I actually ended up with a couple of the same V3 cards and thought I would try them all. They react differently in slot 0 and slot 1. I can't eject or reseat from 0 but I can from 1 until I scan and then I have to remove the card and refresh WAG before starting over.

Even when reporting active they do not find anything untol dhcpcd is on and they are already connected. The only cards I have been able to scan with ar the ones using Ndiswrapper.

I have not installed wifibeta or pearl on this machine, just the new drivers.
Does that help?

[tempestuous]

I think you should go back a step. Troubleshoot your hardware/drivers before troubleshooting applications like WAG.

After "modprobe orinoco_cs" (or ndiswrapper, or hostap_cs, or whatever) run "iwconfig". Can you see a valid interface?
If no, your driver is not working, change driver.
If yes, run "iwlist eth0 scan" (or wlan0). If this works, you know the driver is working and supports scanning. Now you can try WAG.

[keenerd]

Actually, I can tell a lot about his hardware from the WAG diagnostic.

First up, your differences between slot 0 and slot 1: You need to tell WAG which your card uses, since autodecting the proper slot is tricky. You tell WAG to use slot 0, and it will eject/insert from slot 0 just fine. Read the "Help" button.

Now, going through your diagnostics line by line:

The "wide angle iwconfig" is just typing "iwconfig" at the command line.
It says "lo" is your only interface. You don't have any sort of functional drivers. You don't have anything to connect wirelessly to. You'll have more luck trying to boot a Puppy CD on a computer without a CD-ROM drive.

"ls: /root/.etc/rc.d/*wireless*: No such file or directory"
You don't have wifi-beta installed, since it generates this file.

"Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :"
" SET failed on device eth0 ; Device or resource busy."
I'm just amused by this one. I presume you also have an ethernet jack on this computer? WAG just tried to set its frequency

Then it just repeats itself.

So, running "iwconfig" is giving you nothing. Your driver isn't working.

[tempestuous]

peppyy, you seem to have such a "smorgasbord" of wifi adaptors that, even though I'm not a fan of ndiswrapper, I suggest that wifi-beta2 is possibly the best wifi driver package for you - a large collection of drivers (albeit Windows drivers) in one convenient package.

Regarding the new orinoco driver - I would use it for Orinoco-based adaptors only ... even though it has limited compatibility with Prism2 devices. And I'm referring to Orinoco CHIPSETS, not the Orinoco BRAND NAME. Orinoco (the brand name) is associated with Wavelan, Proxim, Lucent, Agere, and Symbol.
This messy situation is explained here - http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tou ... inoco.html

Orinoco (the brand name) may contain chipsets by one of several different manufacturers.
To find out what chip is in what device, see here - http://linux-wless.passys.nl/

[Peppyy on 7]

If I were to remove the linux driver completely and modprobe the xp driver wouldn't it treat the card like all the rest? This card is reported to scan under xp. Might try that and see what happens.

[tempestuous]

I presume you're talking about the new orinoco driver - orinoco_cs, and your Linksys WPC11 v3 adaptor.

...remove the linux driver completely

No need to remove (delete) the orinoco driver, just don't load it, and check that Puppy hasn't automatically loaded it, by running "lsmod". If it is loaded, then unload it like this - "rmmod orinoco_cs". Now you're ready to use the wifi-beta2 drivers.

and modprobe the xp driver

You cannot modprobe a Windows driver. The Windows driver is first installed by ndiswrapper/wifi-beta2, then you modprobe ndiswrapper.
This process is automated to some some extent, I believe, by wifi-beta2. See wifi-beta2's instructions.

wouldn't it treat the card like all the rest?

I don't understand the question. Are you asking if scanning will work? ndiswrapper fully supports scanning.

[peppyy]

I got the orinoco to scan. Is it possible that the new linux driver orinoco_cs did not take effect until I did
rmmod orinoco-cs
rmmod orinoco
rmmod hermes
re-seated the card
dhcp toggle
scan and all the sudden there
are 4 networks available
I know that the last 3 are my neighbor so it is actually only 2 but could this have done the trick?

I am going to try it on another PupTop to make sure or try it with a live cd.

Edit, refering to the orinoco classig gold card with the antenna jack with an antenna connected. Sorry about any confusion.

[peppyy]

Sorry but I can't resist this'
My home connection. this is as fast as my dsl modem will run.
3005k or just over 3 meg/sec on my 4 meg modem.
Connected to my neighbor 300+ feet away across the road through several walls. 1269k or 1.25 meg/sec and he has a 1 meg modem.

This is why I wanted to get these cards to scan. With a range extender I can now stream live from the events hall next door on a PupTop.

Speed tests provided by host rocket via toast.net