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Kanotix Requests - Native Support for Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter

JimC - 08.07.2006, 18:08 Uhr
Titel: Native Support for Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter

Not a big deal...

But, would it be hard to get the Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter supported in Kanotix?

I switched my desktop to wireless last year to get rid of some of the stuff I had my PC attached to in my office (I was hard wired for an ethernet connection). My wife was already wireless and her card works fine in most distros.

But, I had a hard time finding one that supported the Wireless Cards I found at the local stores here.

I finally ended up using a Netgear WG311 Version 3 to work with ndiswrapper (with a lot of difficulty). lol I couldn't locate a Version 2 card (which is supported in some distros).

Apparently, version 2 cards are relatively easy to get working (but, not version 3). Via trial and error, I figured out that you MUST specify an ESSID to get this one working with ndiswrapper. It won't work if you leave it blank, any/all, etc. It's got to be the exact same ESSID setup in your wireless router to get it working via ndiswrapper (and it only works with the win2000 drivers that were on the included CD).

So, that's the solution I'm using under Kanotix 2006-easter-rc4 (I overwrote a Mepis install yesterday to try out this latest Kanotix RC).

The problem is that this card doesn't really work that well. I get a pretty weak signal where my office is located versus where my wireless router is.

I've got another Wireless Adapter that I've been using with Windows XP, and with SimplyMEPIS 6.0 RCs. It's a Belkin Wirless G USB Adapter.

I get a much better signal with it (probably because I'm using a cord to place it higher up where it's getting a better signal, versus the Netgear PCI Wireless Card).

It's recognized in Mepis 6.0 Release Candidates as rausb0., and I don't need to worry about using a specific ESSID with it either (or messing with ndiswrapper).

Does that have something to do with the kernel differences between Mepis and Kanotix, or are they doing something unique to support this Belkin adapter? I think newer SimplyMepis 6.0 RC's are using an Ubunto base now.

It seems like it would be a good one to nativiely support, since it's a very inexpensive adapter and works well (if memory serves, it was less than $20, and the local office supply stores have it in stock). I must have tried half a dozen different adapters before I found out how nice this one works.

So, if it's not a big deal to support it, it would be nice. Or, if there is another way to get it working, I'll be glad to try it. I have not tried ndiswrapper with this one (and I don't even know what I did with the CD it probably had in the box). I've been looking for it. lol

mzilikazi - 09.07.2006, 15:00 Uhr
Titel: Re: Native Support for Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter

JimC hat folgendes geschrieben::

I've got another Wireless Adapter that I've been using with Windows XP, and with SimplyMEPIS 6.0 RCs. It's a Belkin Wirless G USB Adapter.

I get a much better signal with it (probably because I'm using a cord to place it higher up where it's getting a better signal, versus the Netgear PCI Wireless Card).

It's recognized in Mepis 6.0 Release Candidates as rausb0., and I don't need to worry about using a specific ESSID with it either (or messing with ndiswrapper).

Does that have something to do with the kernel differences between Mepis and Kanotix, or are they doing something unique to support this Belkin adapter? I think newer SimplyMepis 6.0 RC's are using an Ubunto base now.

Well it might already be supported. What chipset is it using? What driver? I'm not much on wireless myself so I may not be of much help beyond the following. The USB adapter I have uses the rt2500 driver and works just fine and is also recognized as rausb0.

JimC - 09.07.2006, 15:36 Uhr
Titel: Re: Native Support for Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter

mzilikazi hat folgendes geschrieben::

How do I tell? I do remember seeing it show up with the rt2500 driver under SimplyMEPIS. So, maybe I just don't know where to look for it.

When I type iwconfig in Kanotix (2006-easter-rc4), I don't see it listed though.

mzilikazi - 09.07.2006, 23:31 Uhr
Titel:

To list the drivers currently loaded:

Code:

lsmod

To probe a driver:

Code:

su

modprobe rt2500

Then see if iwconfig shows any adapters. If there's any sort of LED on the adapter itself it should light up. Also worth a try is netcardconfig as root.

JimC - 09.07.2006, 23:40 Uhr
Titel:

I looked through some Wiki's on other sites and already tried modprobe rt2500

But, the adapter isn't being recognized by anything.

I'm almost positive that it was using an rt2500 driver with Mepis. I didn't need to do anything for it to show up as rausb0 when using iwconfog

I don't know how to tell the chipset or anything in Kanotix.

It shows up under USB devices in one of the utilities (kinfocenter if memory serves), and I figured out how to use lsusb (and see it there).

Bus 005 Device 002: ID 050d:7050 Belkin Components F5D7050 ver 1000 WiFi

I guess I could boot a Mepis live CD and see what it's using.

hubi - 09.07.2006, 23:52 Uhr
Titel:

Maybe somebody can help out, there is a "Befehl/parancs" (just know German and Hungarian by now) in the shell which gives you the chipset, but it is not dmesg and not lsmod (just probed it with an USB-Wlan-stick: cannot get it to work either). Just forgot it, me stupid.

hubi

JimC - 10.07.2006, 00:07 Uhr
Titel:

I don't know much about this stuff at all. lol

I'm picking up bits and pieces here and there. But, not a lot that would be useful in troubleshooting drivers.

I just booted into a Mepis live cd, and iwconfig shows it this way (which is why I assumed it was rt2500).

rausb0 RT2500USB WLAN ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.412 GHz
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Link Quality=0/70 Signal level:-120 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

But, if you use lsmod, it looks like it's actually using rt2570 as the driver (it's installed with hardware associated with it).

But, it doesn't look rt2570 is in this Kanotix 2006-easter-rc4 distro, since modprobe rt2570 didn't work. I tried modprobe RT2500USB just for the heck of it (since that's what iwconfig shows), and it's not there either. lol

Edit/Added --

OK - I googled for rt2570 and it looks like this is the RT2500usb driver and a lot of wireless usb adapters use this chipset now.

Could anyone talk me through how to find the driver and do whatever I need to do to get it working in kanotix 2006-easter-rc4? I'm very linux illiterate, so I've never tried to do anything like compile a driver before (and from what I understand, drivers have to be compiled specifically to a kernel or sometthing like that).

Or, is there a simpler solution (can I just grab from somewhere arleady compiled and install it)?

JimC - 10.07.2006, 00:29 Uhr
Titel:

I searched the forums for rt2570 and found 14 matches. But, most are in German.

I did find one thread on it in English, and it sounds like some kind of special kernel may be needed. Most of that kind of thing over my head.

Here's one thread in English, with someone implying that it doesn't work with 2.6.16. But, aren't we using 2.6.17? From what I can tell looking at distrowatch.co, SimplyMEPIS 6.0 RC2 is stil on a 2.6.15 kernel.. They got rt2570 working in that kernel.

What does this mean about getting a up marked kernel in this thread, and what this be a big thing for a newbie to figure out how to get working?

http://www.kanotix.com/PNphpBB2-viewtop ... t2570.html

hubi - 10.07.2006, 00:39 Uhr
Titel:

JimC,

"up" means uniprocessor, slh does the kernels here on Kanotix. Just have a look to the left, in the menu-bar under "stable kernels" you find slh's kernel which has "up" in it. But I am not sure if it helps. Did not help with my USB-Wlan-sticks.

hubi

JimC - 10.07.2006, 00:47 Uhr
Titel:

I'd probably be better off just waiting until it gets added at some point then.

From what I can tell from google searches, rt2570 is a popular chipset in many usb wirless g adapters now. It works quite well in Mepis and in Windows XP (I get a much better signal compared to the Netgear Wireless G card I'm using right now via ndiswrapper).

But, I can live with the Netgear for now.

JimC - 10.07.2006, 02:33 Uhr
Titel:

hubi hat folgendes geschrieben::

[snip]
Did not help with my USB-Wlan-sticks.
hubi

They might be using the same rt2570 chipset. lol Try booting into a SimplyMEPIS 6.0 RC1 CD and see if it shows up (I'd avoid RC2 because of monitor setttings problems, but RC1 should work). Here's a good mirror to pull 6.0 RC1 from:

ftp://ftp-linux.cc.gatech.edu/pub/linux ... is/testing

This Belkin can plugin directy to a USB port, or it can be used with an included cradle (more like a small stand), that has a cord with it for plugging into a USB port. So, yours may be using the same chipset. I understand that it's used in a lot of USB Wireless Adapters now.

If yours is the same (rt2570), maybe you can figure out a way to get it working for us in Kanotix, since you know more about this stuff than I do. Lachen

slam - 10.07.2006, 08:58 Uhr
Titel:

RT2570 drivers are included and the chip is supported in Kanotix since a long time. However, Kanotix has decided to enable SMP-support in it's default kernel some months ago. Some drivers might have problems with that, and the rt2570 is definitely one of them. That's why we always provide an additional "UP" kernel for upgrading, which has SMP-support turned off.

So, simply do as suggested already above and upgrade to the newest "UP" kernel http://debian.tu-bs.de/project/kanotix/kernel/kernel-2.6.17.3-slh-up-1.zip, install the new kernel as described here http://kanotix.com/FAQ-id_cat-15.html#q109, and install the driver delivered together with the new kernel by

Code:

dpkg -i rt2570*deb

.

Then plug in the stick and use the Kanotix menu to configure it.

Greetings,
Chris

JimC - 10.07.2006, 13:07 Uhr
Titel:

Thanks Chris. I don't understand much of this stuff yet.

I searched the kanotix partition for rt2578 and didn't find anything. So, I assumed it wasn't there.

What is the downside to using the UP kernel? I do notice that the 2006-easter-rc4 reports two CPUs with my PC now. I'm running a 3Ghz P4 with HT. So, I guess that means it's taking advantage of the hyperthreading (since Windows XP reports two CPUs also)..

If I use the UP kernel, does that mean I'll lose any performance advantages of this CPU? If so, is the difference neglible anyway?

slam - 10.07.2006, 14:17 Uhr
Titel:

Well, I used the same processor in my old Sony notebook (fortunately sold recently). The HT function that comes with the 3Ghz P4 does not give you a real second processor, actually you will not recognize any performance difference when turning it off. So, yes you will have to give up HT, but you will not miss it. Winken

In the very rare case you do something very special with your pc that urgently needs HT, keep the smp-kernel and use the Ndiswrapper to load the Win-driver instead. That works fine with your card, too.

Otherwise simply follow the steps described above.

Greetings,
Chris

JimC - 10.07.2006, 14:42 Uhr
Titel:

Thanks Chris. I'll give it a try.

I've got a feeling that the kernel I'm using is conflicting with something anyway.

I've noticed my system appears to be unstable. I've had to power it down twice in the past two days after something appeared to hog all the resources. I can't recall ever needing to do that with any other distribution I've tried before.

I almost had to do that a little while ago while downloading the new kernel (I couldn't do anything else, and it took a LONG time to even bring up a task list to try and shut down firefox). It finally finished and the PC started responding again.

I've noticed similar problems multiple times in the past few days. For example, if I load KSysv, it won't close (I have to kill it), and once, a search for a file looked like it was causing the PC to hang (minutes between selecting a menu choice and it actually pulling up).

I'm using ndiswrapper with my Netgear wg311v3 wireless card now. I've got a feeling that's where the conflict is coming from (even though it seems to work fine most of the time and I've used this same card before under ndiswrapper with other distros I've tried).

So, the UP Kernel is probably going to be more stable on my PC anyway, and I'd have the advantage of a wireless adapter with a stronger signal compared to my Netgear card.

JimC - 10.07.2006, 16:37 Uhr
Titel:

I "crashed and burned" trying to change to the UP kernel. I'm back into XP now.

I managed to get everything working with the kernel install, and rebooted and everything worked fine (correct kernel showin in grub, pc loaded, belkin wireless g usb adapter working, etc).

But, when I tried the install-nvidia-debian.sh I got errors and I can't get back into a KDE gui again (and I don't know enough about using any command line tools to recover from it).

Is there a way to use a live CD to reinstall x or something (SimplyMEPIS has a feature that lets you recover from problems like that)?

If not, is there a way I can use some kind of editor from command line and change it so that it's not trying to load the nvidia driver (my install attempt failed with errors, but it's still trying to load it, so I never get to any GUI screens)?

mzilikazi - 10.07.2006, 17:15 Uhr
Titel:

JimC hat folgendes geschrieben::

If not, is there a way I can use some kind of editor from command line and change it so that it's not trying to load the nvidia driver (my install attempt failed with errors, but it's still trying to load it, so I never get to any GUI screens)?

Sure. mc is your friend. The file to edit is

Code:

mcedit -b /etc/X11/xorg.conf

The line to change is the

Code:

Driver "nvidia"

Change "nvidia" to "nv"
Restart your desktop manager:

Code:

su

/etc/init.d/kdm restart

This is the second case I have heard of this happening in as many days.......hmmm.......

JimC - 10.07.2006, 17:41 Uhr
Titel:

Thanks!

That worked. I'm back in now using the nv versus nvidia driver.

I'm not sure what went wrong. Maybe I missed a step somewhere, or performed a step I shouldn't have.

I checked /var/log/nvidia-installer.log and see some errors. But, I tried repeating a number of steps in the FAQ for updating the kernel, and it looks like only my last attempt is in the log. So, that may not be the real problem.

Anyway, here is it's contents if that can help figure out why I can't get the nvidia driver to install:

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Mon Jul 10 11:57:24 2006

option status:
license pre-accepted : true
update : false
force update : false
expert : false
uninstall : false
driver info : false
no precompiled interface: false
no ncurses color : false
query latest driver ver : false
OpenGL header files : true
no questions : true
silent : true
no backup : false
kernel module only : false
sanity : false
add this kernel : false
no runlevel check : false
no network : true
no ABI note : false
no RPMs : false
force tls : (not specified)
force compat32 tls : (not specified)
X install prefix : /usr/X11R6
OpenGL install prefix : /usr
compat32 install prefix : (not specified)
installer install prefix: /usr
utility install prefix : /usr
kernel name : (not specified)
kernel include path : (not specified)
kernel source path : (not specified)
kernel output path : (not specified)
kernel install path : (not specified)
proc mount point : /proc
ui : none
tmpdir : /tmp
ftp mirror : ftp://download.nvidia.com
RPM file list : (not specified)

Using built-in stream user interface
-> License accepted by command line option.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; this means
that the installer will need to compile a new kernel interface.
-> Performing CC test with CC="".
-> Kernel source path: '/lib/modules/2.6.17.3-slh-up-1/build'
-> Kernel output path: '/lib/modules/2.6.17.3-slh-up-1/build'
-> Performing rivafb check.
-> Performing nvidiafb check.
ERROR: Unable to determine the NVIDIA kernel module filename.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
'/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions
on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

mzilikazi - 12.07.2006, 00:47 Uhr
Titel:

Well it's always worth a second attempt. I did speak with someone else having the same issue, his solution was a complete reinstallation which IMHO is not such a great solution. I realy really hate to tell you to do that. Before reinstalling this individual reburned the Kanotix iso making sure to use the -dao switch in K3B then the drivers installed fine.

JimC - 12.07.2006, 01:49 Uhr
Titel:

I may try it again later. The NV driver seems to be working fine, though.

Actually, I think it's redendering color better than the Nvidia driver did. I had to tweak the Nvidia driver to get colors working right (which is odd, since the Nvdia driver running under Windows XP doesn't need any tweaking from defaults on my system for "close enough" color calibration.

The NV driver seems to be OK just like it is.

The UP kernel runs much better on this PC, too (everything is running faster on it, and I haven't experienced any stability problems like I did running the kernel included with the kanotix-2006-easter-rc4 distro).

Maybe I did get a bad burn or something.

mzilikazi - 12.07.2006, 13:16 Uhr
Titel:

JimC hat folgendes geschrieben::

The NV driver seems to be OK just like it is.

Sure that driver is just fine if you don't need 3d acceleration.

JimC - 12.07.2006, 18:16 Uhr
Titel:

mzilikazi hat folgendes geschrieben::

JimC hat folgendes geschrieben::

The NV driver seems to be OK just like it is.

Sure that driver is just fine if you don't need 3d acceleration.

Nope. I don't need 3d graphics. It doesn't help a thing for image editing applications from tests I've seen. I just though the Nvidia driver may be sharper or something. But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

The Nvidia driver also seemed to have color rendering problems on my hardware (at least with the default kernel before I changed it). Interestingly, I noticed that simply loading the Nvidia X Server settings utility would cause my colors to immediately shift, even *before* I'd change anything in the menus. lol Something about it was "flaky" on my PC anyway. So, I'll just use the NV driver instead.

mzilikazi - 12.07.2006, 22:18 Uhr
Titel:

JimC hat folgendes geschrieben::

Interestingly, I noticed that simply loading the Nvidia X Server settings utility would cause my colors to immediately shift, even *before* I'd change anything in the menus. lol Something about it was "flaky" on my PC anyway. So, I'll just use the NV driver instead.

Actually, that's the expected behavior. The nvidia-settings has no effect until it's started. You must tell it to run on log in if that's the behavior you want. Well no worries if you don't need 3d. Smilie

JimC - 12.07.2006, 23:35 Uhr
Titel:

Now that's strange. Smilie

The driver was loading (screen change with Nvidia logo in the middle and everything). So, why in the world would loading the Nvidia X Server Settings utility shift the colors, unless you changed something from defaults?

Or, are the defaults in the utility different from the defaults the driver would normally use (perhaps based on some kind of settings elsewhere)?

I'm not sure I want to know. Smilie

I'll run the NV driver for now. It's working just fine.

mzilikazi - 13.07.2006, 00:28 Uhr
Titel:

JimC hat folgendes geschrieben::

So, why in the world would loading the Nvidia X Server Settings utility shift the colors, unless you changed something from defaults?

Your question is also your answer. Winken

JimC - 16.09.2006, 06:03 Uhr
Titel: rt2570 working using 2006-01-RC1

I just installed Kanotix 2006-01-RC1

I am now online via my Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter (F5D7050) using the built in rt2570 driver with the kernel that is included with the distro. It was already installed with this USB adapter up as eth1 when using iwconfig

Something is not right with it yet. But, it works fine once you get an IP Address with it using dhclient (which takes two tries due to some kind of strange behavior).

I've got a feeling that some portion of the Operating System is trying to treat it like a wired versus wireless connection because I see odd settings like 11mb/s come up as the speed when using iwconfing the first time around. But, after you get an IP Address using dhclient, it displays the connected speed.

Note that it takes two attempts for some reason (the first attempt seems to correct the speed settings problem, even though it times out, and the second attempt grabs the IP Address quickly as it should).

Using netcardconfig and configuring it the way I'd normally configure a wireless adapter does not solve it. I also played with the Wireless Connection Settings in KDE Control Center and see some odd "can't set speed" errors (again, leading me to believe something is trying to interpret as a wired versus wireless connection).

So, I just left it disabled in KDE Control Center (I just went into it to see if setting it there would make any difference, since using netcardcofig to set it to start at bootup does not work with it).

This adapter shows up as eth1 in Kantoix 2006-01-RC1. In most other distros that support it (including Kanotix 2005-04), it shows up as rausb0 instead.

I'll play with it and try to figure out way it's behaving strangely on startup.

But, at least it does work (and once you get it connected it appears to continue working just fine from what I can tell so far).

So, I'll disable using netcardconfig for now and just use dhclient eth1 (twice) to start it until I can figure out what's happening with it.

Thanks for including support for it.