modprobe

Suse11 and wireless 1a: (quick review and detailed enough for nOObs, i hope)

from a previous post Suse 10.3 works great with my wireless.

stay away from suse 11 and the KDE4, it's DOA.(kde4 only)
[ to be fair, it says kde4 is , experimental or such]

I am running 11 with KDE3 now.
testing. (installed from DVD iso)

the KDE 4 , cant even produce a desk top without having
many the icons shown as Question marks. (even open office !)

and the knetworkmanager tray icon is grayed out and is doa. (more later)
(kinternet installed or not)



so i installed (clean) Suse 11 , with KDE3 only.

it could not find my RTL-8169 wired lan, (but yast could activate it , easy the card is directly suported by S11)
yast :
applications + system + configuration + admistrator settings +network devices;
+network settings. [admin pass word needed during many steps here]

i found the wifi chip in the upper box and enambled it and found smpppd and kinernet missing ( i wanted kinternet).



keep DVD suse 11 in the tray or have a wired link or you will not be able load

these two modules. (noob warning)

to get wifi going, you must kill ath5k model and install madwifi.
i have the atheros ar5212 chip. (it is one of the best for LINUX)
the ath5k must be black listed

go to "http://en.opensuse.org/Atheros_madwifi"

follow the instructions (you need a wired connection , sorry)

install madwifi 11. (finished ,no errors)
go to yast control center and paste in the url shown.
add , specify URL bulleted,
next; i then copy link location and paste it to the URL box.
click finish

say yes to secure key question.

go to yast2 software control center.(simular to above method shown)

search = madwifi
see 8 items in the right window., madwifi on top and same + pae , are checked.
Finish and it loads with no problems.


now at the desktop , click and open a console window.
type su ,the pw. (or open a root console)
type modprobe ath_pci, you will see no errors.
cd /etc/modprobe.d
cp blacklist blacklist.old
vi blacklist
go to end of file
insert blacklist ath5k
:wq [write and save/quit]
[ noobs, if vi scars you [it can] , then load nano, nano is much easier]
[go to software managment and install nano now, search nano ,rc install] a 2 minute task. 1.4mb file.

nano blacklist (has commands on bottom, easy huh?)
you have a new blacklist . (save it , see command at bottom)

reboot. (RESTART)

goto: (ONE LAST TIME)
applications + system + configuration + admistrator settings +network devices;
+network settings.


you will see your card (ar5212 in my case) in the upper cell with the wired

connection.
select it and hit edit
there are 3 tabs
general, address and hardware
hit general. select the kinternet (boot, automatic and kinternet box.)
hit address , dynamic is already set.
hit hardware ,
device name is ath0, ok.
module name is wrong, change it from ath5k to ath_pci (roll the right arrow)
next
see new page, see operating mode, i need managed.
then esidd , if you know your esidd (you must) then enter it.
if you are connectING to random wifi routers, just leave it blank.
auth mode. wpa-psk ( or no encryption if at "StarDoe's" cafe') (i guess)
me i used wpa-psk (AT HOME)
passphrase: mine is a secret so type in yours in the box.
{please get the case correct, ok}
click expert and turn off power management if a desk top pc.

click next and finish, watch for errors , none. happy feet.


KINTERNET:
in my right tray. i see kinternet (says dial up for some weird reason )
it has a lightning bolt, (means disconnected)
right click it.
then pick interface and move the bar from eth0 to ath0 (wireless= ath0) (connection

icon now changes to CLOSED ! see it ?)

then pick wireless connection; you can see the signal strength. 71%
mine is ar5212 to a wrt54g cisco.

it works perfect and it only took 15min to deploy.

the one secret here:

they killed Knetworkmanager in suse 11, and you must run kinternet.


kinternet is really nice and all items in its menu work perfect.


Suse 11 is aok for with KDE 3.5.9 rel.49.1

fast , smart , and way better than any Windoz

May God bless "OpenSuse", and please do send them money.
IMHO, YMMV, etc.



jerry, "modprobe"

if i discover any other horrors i will post them and to bugzilla.

modprobe

more data on wireless

USB: DonGull support
best of best is : chips first.
zydas zd1211 chip based device.
followed by, Prism54, Ralink73, Ralink rt2x00,rt2570,rt2870 , and rt818x.

a classic example of a device maker.
airlink101 , AWLL3025 or ..26

just about ever distro has zd1211 in the /lib/module folders.

linksys has lots of dongulls that work.
WUSB54G
stay away from dash GP-BP suffixed devices.

see this great link;
Linux wireless LAN support http://linux-wless.passys.nl

no mater what card , the Atheros,Prism and Ralink are the prime
working devices.

this is a living list. Thanks to the Dutch ! Bravo.

that is my USB research.

I will be testing my zd1211 usb dongull soon.
got my pci atheros ar5212 running on suse 10.3 and 11 this weekend.
no compiles ! just load and go , off the open suse web site.

hope that helps.

waterhead

I have no problems with KNetworkManager in SUSE 11.0 using KDE 4. I don't know why it didn't work for you, but this does not mean that it is "broken".

__________________
Paul

Please do not PM me with requests for help. I will not reply.

modprobe

must be operator error, been known happen.
most likely my expectations were not realised.

i said the killed it , not broken.
so , correction.
Knetworkmanager in Suse 11 (not 10.3) has issues out of the box.
it will not function with my wireless or allow me to configure it.

after successful loading and modprobing and subsequent usage with other tools.

i will try deleting in and installing a fresh new , latest verson of it.

I also loaded kwifimanager off the suse repository and it works perfect.
mybe my expectations for KNM is too much , i will read up on that.