[NBLUG/talk] How do I get RH to recognize wireless card?

[Mark Street]

You are getting close.  I downloaded the source and took a peek at the 
instructions.  I had something similar with my new Dell 5100 and the NIC 
chipset that it came with.  Damn proprietary chipsets!!

Kernel has to recognize/interface with the hardware to utilize it, kernel is 
the interface between the rest of the OS and applications that run.  kernel 
module is the key.  pcmcia card services allow us to add devices to a running 
system thorugh the card bus, we need to tell pcmcia about our card.  Once we 
have proper kernel module and pcmcia knows about our card we need to 
configure our network interface to the card.

Please, anyone else jump in and clarify, correct or add to my steps.    

1.  Download the source from sourceforge.  
http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/

2.  Unpack the source, go into the dir and type;  make config

3.  Answer YES to pcmcia and pcm502rd questions ONLY for the pcmcia drivers.

4.  Check out the .config file that is generated from make config.  Make sure 
the line 
PCMCIA_DES points to your kernel's module dir like so...

/lib/modules/2.4.20"MYKERNELVERSION"/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
save .config and exit.

5.  Run;   make all
if OK, then run;  make install

compiles and installs drivers.

6.  Now we need to tell pcmcia about our wireless card.
edit /etc/pcmcia/atmel.conf and add a line to the end something like this, you 
may have to look at the docs or google around for that card:

Belkin F5D6020u (ver.2) WLAN PC Card
manfid 0x01bf, 0x3302
bind "pcmf502rd"

7.  Now we need a script to define the interface now that we have the proper 
module for the hardware and pcmcia is configured to recognize the card and 
bring it up... we hope.

From the Docs
---------------------
PCMCIA :
                 - Edit the ATMEL WIRELESS entry in
                   /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts by adding your preferences
                   off channel, essid, encryption etc.
---------------------
you can do this here or in your interface definition.  your choice.

edit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0 or whatever name you want to 
give the interface, I use ifcfg-wlan0... whatever.

DEVICE=wlan0
BOOTPRO=dhcp  put STATIC here if you want to assign a static IP to this 
interface
ONBOOT=no  - put YES here if you want it to come up on boot
#  These are pretty much required to keep a bit of security
WIRELESS_MODE=Managed
WIRELESS_ESSID= YOUR SSID NAME
WIRELESS_FREQ= YOUR SSID CHANNEL, Usually 1 or 6 or whatever
WIRELESS_RATE=11M
WIRELESS_ENC_KEY= YOUR 128bit key here.
###

Here is my ifcfg-wlan0 take what you want from it, I have Linksys card prism 3 
chipset, I use wlan-ng packages to manage mine, which is slightly different.

DEVICE=wlan0
ONBOOT=no
#BOOTPROTO=dhcp                # change this to static to specify an IP addr
IPADDR=192.168.1.3
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=192.168.1.0
BROADCAST=192.168.1.255
TYPE=Ethernet
USERCTL=yes
#PEERDNS=yes                   # this lets DHCP define the DNS setup


8.  Restart pcmcia service and see if the card comes up

service pcmcia restart

If you hear two high pitch beeps we are good to go, if you hear high and a 
low, NO go.  TWO HIGH  Then type 

service network restart .....  if you have the interface come up on boot.

If not  ONBOOT=no you can enter 

ifup wlan0

Now, run ifconfig and see if the interface is up.

Laugh or cry......

On Thursday 18 September 2003 11:17, Dave Sisley wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 18, 2003 at 10:55:15AM -0700, Christopher Wagner wrote:
> > Here's a link which may help with some information.
> >
> > http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/hardware.html#HWWIRELESS
> >
> > And this looks a little more specific to what you've got:
> > http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/howto/howto-8.html
> >
> > I don't see any references to it, but there's an RPM package
> > 'wireless-tools' (I think) that gives you tools like iwconfig and
> > whatnot.. You can also compile this from source.
> >
> > - Christopher Wagner
> > chrisw at pacaids.com
>
> Thank you, Christopher.  I took a quick scan of the docs you list (well,
> the atmel ones on sourcforge), and they might help.  I notice that they
> talk about USB devices; mine are pcmcia (laptop) and pci (desktop). There
> might be some hints here nonetheless.
>
> I think I have wirelss-tools installed (I can bring up iwconfig,
> anyway, but I don't know what to do with it!).

-- 
Mark Street, D.C.
Red Hat Certified Engineer
Cert# 807302251406074
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