Serious Linux noob trying to get Realtek driver installed

[brakoholic]

Hello out there,

I am REALLY new to Linux and am having a whirlwind of issues just trying to figure out how to run stuff and the like. I'm using Mepis right now, it's version 5.something if that matters.

I have a wireless LAN card I am trying to use for the internet, and initially it obviously wouldn't recognize. I got online on my laptop and found linux drivers for the nic card, it's a realtek RTL8185L. Now, I burned the driver onto a CD, put it in the desktop, extracted the tar fil and don't know what to do from there. I don't even know if extracting it was the right option, or if I did it correctly.

I can go to the folder it was extracted to and I see ten files. One is a readme. I tried some of the command prompts in the read me and none worked. I don't know how to unpack this driver or build it or whatever. Can someone help walk me through this?

Thanks in advance!!!

Luke

[Debian Linux Geek]

First off you didnt need to burn it to a cd you just wasted a cd there. What exactly does the readme say?

[waterhead]

You may need to install more applications before you can install things like a new driver. If something is not installed, you will get an error. When you get an error, make sure you post it exactly as you got it. That way we can tell you what it means.

Two things that you most likely need:
Kernel sources
GCC

You should be able to get these through the Mepis repository. I never used Mepis, so I don't have specific info on that.

It may be that you just need to tweak a few things, and not install drivers. Post the output of this command, if it is a PCI wireless:

lspci

And for USB:

lsusb

This will showw all of the driver modules loaded in your system. Post the output:

lsmod

[brakoholic]

First off you didnt need to burn it to a cd you just wasted a cd there. What exactly does the readme say?

I'm not sure I like your tone! I had to get it from the laptop to the desktop somehow, and I didn't think to use my USB storage. Blank CDs only cost about .05 cents each so I think I'll manage, somehow.

Now to Waterhead's productive post. Here is the output of the lspci command. I did notice that the Wireless controller is, indeed, listed there:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:11.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 437A Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 4379 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 81)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI (rev 80)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 80)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS482 [Radeon Xpress 200]
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20)
02:02.0 Communication controller: Conexant HSF 56k HSFi Modem (rev 01)
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

[brakoholic]

Here is the lsmod output:

Module                  Size  Used by
udf                    73896  0
ipv6                  257384  8
binfmt_misc            11020  1
cpufreq_ondemand        8464  1
cpufreq_userspace       5152  0
cpufreq_powersave       3072  0
powernow_k8            13280  0
freq_table              5184  2 cpufreq_ondemand,powernow_k8
rfcomm                 36776  0
hidp                   18304  2
l2cap                  22144  10 rfcomm,hidp
bluetooth              49796  5 rfcomm,hidp,l2cap
ppdev                   8840  0
lp                     11848  0
thermal                13968  0
fan                     5768  0
button                  8352  0
processor              30216  2 powernow_k8,thermal
ac                      5896  0
battery                10632  0
xt_tcpudp               4608  95
xt_limit                4096  2
nf_conntrack_ipv4      16912  66
xt_state                3584  66
ipt_LOG                 7168  2
ipt_REJECT              5248  2
nf_conntrack_ftp       10336  0
nf_conntrack_irc        7840  0
nf_conntrack           59612  4 nf_conntrack_ipv4,xt_state,nf_conntrack_ftp,nf_conntrack_irc
nfnetlink               6344  2 nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack
iptable_filter          3968  1
ip_tables              17704  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               16392  6 xt_tcpudp,xt_limit,xt_state,ipt_LOG,ipt_REJECT,ip_tables
fuse                   41776  1
ndiswrapper           209792  0
dm_crypt               12432  0
dm_snapshot            15968  0
dm_mirror              19840  0
dm_mod                 51440  3 dm_crypt,dm_snapshot,dm_mirror
usbhid                 25024  0
hid                    26112  2 hidp,usbhid
snd_atiixp             18580  1
snd_ac97_codec        111192  1 snd_atiixp
ac97_bus                3840  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            39840  0
snd_mixer_oss          16256  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                74888  3 snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              21256  1 snd_pcm
serio_raw               7172  0
parport_pc             34984  1
parport                35596  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
psmouse                39964  0
snd                    53608  8 snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               8352  1 snd
k8temp                  6272  0
8139cp                 21120  0
pcspkr                  4096  0
floppy                 59048  0
snd_page_alloc          9744  2 snd_atiixp,snd_pcm
8139too                25088  0
mii                     6016  2 8139cp,8139too
i2c_piix4               9740  0
ohci_hcd               20356  0
i2c_core               22656  1 i2c_piix4
shpchp                 31004  0
pci_hotplug            30084  1 shpchp
evdev                   9984  3

[brakoholic]

Here is the text from the readme file as well:

RTL8185 Linux Driver v1027.0823.2007 for linux kernel 2.6

- Support Client mode for either infrastructure or adhoc mode
- Support WEP and WPAPSK/WPA2PSK connection

================================================== =============================================
< Component >
The driver is composed of several parts:
(1)source code
rtl8185.tar.gz
stack.tar.gz

(2)Script ot build the modules
makedrv

(3)Script to load/unload modules
wlan0up
wlan0down

(4)Script and configuration for DHCP
wlan0dhcp
ifcfg-wlan0

(5)Supplicant source code
wpa_supplicant-0.4.9.tar.gz

(6)Example of supplicant configuration file
wpa1.conf




< Installation >
Running the scripts can finish all operations of building up modules from source code and start the nic:

(1)Build up the driver from the source code
./makedrv

(2)Load the driver module to kernel and start up nic
./wlan0up
(if "insmod: error inserting 'r8180.ko': -File exists." met,
./wlan0rmv
./wlan0down
./wlan0up
should be OK.
)
(3)Refer to < Set wireless lan MIBs > to set Wireless LAN specific parameters.





< Set wireless lan MIBs >
This driver uses Wireless Extension as an interface allowing you to set
Wireless LAN specific parameters.

Current driver supports "iwlist" to show the device status of nic

iwlist wlan0 [parameters]
where

parameter explaination [parameters]
----------------------- -------------
Show available chan and freq freq / channel
Show and Scan BSS and IBSS scan[ning]
Show supported bit-rate rate / bit[rate]
Show Power Management mode power

For example:

iwlist wlan0 channel
iwlist wlan0 scan
iwlist wlan0 rate
iwlist wlan0 power


Driver also supports "iwconfig", manipulate driver private ioctls, to set MIBs.

iwconfig wlan0 [parameters] [val]
where

parameter explaination [parameters] [val] constraints
----------------------- ------------- ------------------
Connect to AP by address ap [essid]
Set the essid, join (I)BSS essid [mac_addr]
Set operation mode mode {Managed|Ad-hoc}
Set keys and security mode key / enc[ryption] {N|open|restricted|off}


For example:

iwconfig wlan0 ap XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
iwconfig wlan0 essid "ap_name"
iwconfig wlan0 mode Ad-hoc
iwconfig wlan0 mode essid "name" mode Ad-hoc
iwconfig wlan0 key 0123456789 [2] open
iwconfig wlan0 key off
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted [3] 0123456789

< Getting IP address >
After start up the nic, the network needs to obtain an IP address before transmit/receive data.
This can be done by setting the static IP via "ifconfig wlan0 IP_ADDRESS" command, or using DHCP.

If using DHCP, setting steps is as below:

(1)connect to an AP via "iwconfig" settings
iwconfig wlan0 essid [name] or
iwconfig wlan0 ap XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

(2)run the script which run the dhclient
./wlan0dhcp
or
dhcpcd wlan0
(Some network admins require that you use the
hostname and domainname provided by the DHCP server.
In that case, use
dhcpcd -HD wlan0)



< WPAPSK >
WPA_SUPPLICANT help the network to communicate under the protection of WPAPSK mechanism

(1)Unpack source code of WPA supplicant:
tar -zxvf wpa_supplicant-0.4.9.tar.gz
cd wpa_supplicant-0.4.9

(2)Create .config file:
cp defconfig .config

(3)Edit .config file, uncomment the following line:
#CONFIG_DRIVER_IPW=y.

(4)Build WPA supplicant:
make

If make error for lack of <include/md5.h>, install the openssl lib:
1. Install the openssl lib from corresponding installation disc:
Fedora Core 2/3/4/5/6/7(openssl-0.9.71x-xx),
Mandrake10.2/Mandriva10.2(openssl-0.9.7x-xmdk),
Debian 3.1(libssl-dev), Suse 9.3/10.0/10.1(openssl_devl),
Gentoo(dev-libs/openssl), etc.
2. Download the openssl open source package from OpenSSL: The Open Source toolkit for SSL/TLS, build and install it.

(5)Edit wpa_supplicant.conf to set up SSID and its passphrase.
For example, the following setting in "wpa1.conf" means SSID to join is "BufAG54_Ch6"
and its passphrase is "87654321".

network={
ssid="BufAG54_Ch6"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40
psk="87654321"
priority=2
}
Note: 1. proto=WPA for WPA, proto=RSN for WPA2.
2. If you want to connect an AP which works under WPA2 mixed mode, you'd better
use Realtek customed wpa_supplicant package.


(6)Execute WPA supplicant (Assume 8185 and related modules had been loaded):
./wpa_supplicant -D ipw -c wpa1.conf -i wlan0 &

[waterhead]

There is a driver in the kernel for your wireless. It is the rtl8180 module. The bad news is that you are running an old version of Mepis. The latest release is version 7. I doubt that the driver is in your kernel, but you could give a try to load it (as root):

modprobe rtl8180

If you get an error about the module not being found, I guess you could try and install it. But you would still have an older version of Mepis. It may be difficult to add anything, because they are not supported for ever.

I would recommend installing a more recent version. It should then have the wireless driver in the kernel.

[waterhead]

If you want to try and run the install, then do this:

Change the terminal window to the folder that the makedrv file is in. To do this you use the cd (change directory) command.

cd /path/to/file

To install something like a driver, you need root privileges. This is usually done with the su (super user) command.

su <enter>
Password: <enter root password>

You then should be able to run the makedrv script by entering this command:

./makedrv

If all goes well, you can run the other scripts listed in the README file the same way.

[waterhead]

One more thing.

I see that you have ndiswrapper installed. If you configured it to use the wireless card, then you should uninstall it before using the rtl8185 driver. Otherwise they will conflict with each other.

[brakoholic]

One more thing.

I see that you have ndiswrapper installed. If you configured it to use the wireless card, then you should uninstall it before using the rtl8185 driver. Otherwise they will conflict with each other.

I didn't install ndiswrapper, it must have come pre-installed. I don't know anything about it.

I'll get to work on these steps and keep posting my progress.

Thanks a ton for your help,

Luke