Morgan Read wrote:
> Thanks very much for your response & help. Hope this isn't too long &
> detailed, but it just got deeper & deeper... But, some success by the
> end.
I'm no expert.
It sounds to me as though you know as much about this subject as I do!
> So, the "device" name is a function of the driver (hostap being wlan* &
> orinoco being eth*), not the device?
Yes, it is up to the author of the driver to decide what /dev/* he uses.
I take it that by using the standard /dev/eth? the kernel WiFi modules
share the usual Ethernet code, which I find reassuring.
> Yes, there's an onboard ethernet device at eth0, but started manually -
> not at boot (more on that below).
I'm not sure if this is your point,
but in my experience the first ethernet device the kernel meets
will be called eth0, the second eth1, and so on.
I don't think there is anything one can do about this,
so if you want one device to be called eth0 you just have to ensure
that it is encountered first by judicious use of rc.local, etc.
> Hmm. Did iwconfig eth0 and expected to get nothing, but got the card...
> So, if I don't start my ethernet as boot, as I don't, and do put in
> my card then it'll take eth0 which has been set up for the wired
> ethernet. And, so if I start the ethernet now it'll take eth1?... Well
> actually system-config-network says eth0 not found and then shows it as
> active, but I'd expect some weirdness wouldn't I?
As I said, I think that is Life.
I have 3 ethernet devices on my desktop -
eth0 for my Ethernet ADSL modem, eth1 for a local ethernet network,
and eth2 for WiFi.
If eth0 or eth1 don't start for some reason everything becomes confused.
> Is this going to be as much of a pain as it seems now - can I give an
> alias or something to take the card off the "eth*" devices and put it on
> the "wlan*" devices?
With respect, you seem to me to be making your life complicated.
I would just stick to the kernel driver and see if you can get that working,
and if you can't then go over to wlan-ng.
> [root@morgansmachine morgan]# /sbin/ifconfig eth1
> eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:30:84:1F:AE:F7
> BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
> RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
> RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
> Interrupt:3 Base address:0x100
>
> [root@morgansmachine morgan]# /sbin/iwconfig eth1
> eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"" Nickname:"Prism I"
> Mode:Managed Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00 Bit Rate:11Mb/s
> Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3
> Retry min limit:8 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
> Encryption key:off
> Power Management:off
> Link Quality:0/92 Signal level:-68 dBm Noise level:-122 dBm
> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
> *******************************************************
This looks to me as though your card is working,
but doesn't have an IP address associated to it.
Eg on the laptop I'm using now (with WiFi) I get
===========================================================
[tim@william net]$ iwconfig eth0
eth0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"maths.tcd.ie" Nickname:"william.murphy.ie"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457GHz Access Point: 02:02:2D:4A:52:80
Bit Rate=11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3
Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:74/92 Signal level:-74 dBm Noise level:-121 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:62
Tx excessive retries:307 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
[tim@william net]$ ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:3F:2D:4D
inet addr:192.168.3.5 Bcast:192.168.3.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5450 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5873 errors:20 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2052448 (1.9 Mb) TX bytes:1777084 (1.6 Mb)
Interrupt:3 Base address:0x100
===========================================================
I get this IP address because /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
reads
===========================================================
[tim@william net]$ cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=no
GATEWAY=192.168.3.1
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=eth0
HWADDR=00:02:2d:3f:2d:4d
BOOTPROTO=none
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
ONBOOT=no
DHCP_HOSTNAME=william
IPADDR=192.168.3.5
NAME=
DOMAIN=
ESSID=maths.tcd.ie
CHANNEL=1
MODE=Managed
RATE=11Mb/s
NETWORK=192.168.3.0
BROADCAST=192.168.3.255
IPV6INIT=no
===========================================================
(Nb this must have been created for me by system-config-network
or the equivalent GUI program on the System Settings menu,
as I would never have put in all that info!)
> Aug 18 22:56:19 localhost kernel: hermes @ IO 0x100: Timeout waiting for
> command completion.
> Aug 18 22:56:19 localhost kernel: hermes @ IO 0x100: Error -16 issuing
> command.
> Aug 18 22:56:51 localhost last message repeated 417 times
I'm not sure what these messages mean.
There is an Orinoco-Users mailing list
<https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/orinoco-users>
which the author of the kernel code reads I believe.
Also the great expert on the kernel WiFi modules is this guy
<http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/>
He has a list of WiFi cards and appropriate drivers.
--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
