Baslinux mailing list

["Sheldon Isaac" <sisaac AT netaxs.com>]

On 20 Sep 2004 at 8:55, 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:
> Sheldon Isaac wrote:
> > I bought a WaveBuddy PCMCIA card, 
> > Worked in Windows98 with the supplied driver
> > Now I've put BL 3.21 on that laptop, and have 
> > not been able to have it work with that card.
> 
> Two problems:  
> 
> The kernel
> ^^^^^^^^^^

> In order to keep the BL3 kernel small, many capabilities were were left
> out.  If you look in the BL3 kernel config (on the homepage), you will
> see that "NET_RADIO" and "Wan interfaces" are not in the BL3 kernel.  I
> know little about wireless networking, but I suspect those have
> something to do with it.  If you look in the config for the bare.i
> kernel in Slackware 7.1, you will see that it has both "NET_RADIO" and
> the "Wan interfaces".  Using that kernel might help. 

Oh, sorry, Steven, I realized after  I sent it that I should've said that 
I already am using  bzimage .

> The module for the pcmcia card
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> In order for cardmgr to load the correct module for a pcmcia card, it
> must be listed in /etc/pcmcia/config and the module must be in
> /lib/modules/2.2.16/pcmcia. BL3 comes with only one network module,
> pcnet_cs (which is compatible with most older pcmcia network cards). 
> For other cards, like yours, you will have to add the module from
> Slackware 7.1 (or compile a 2.2.16 version yourself) and record the
> module details in /et/pcmcia/config. 

I couldn't find  pcmf502re  in the Slackware 7.1 pcmcia.tgz (614,979 
bytes)

Not knowing squat about this, I don't know which of the modules might 
work.

> > cardmgr says:
> > -------------
> > initializing socket 1
> > unsupported card in socket 1
> >    product info: "11WAVE", ""11WP611AL-E"
> >    function: 6 (network)
> > -------------
 
> cardmgr reads the product info directly from the pcmcia card and uses
> it to find the appropriate module in /etc/pcmcia/config.  What the
> above message means is it can't match the product info with an entry in
> /etc/pcmcia/config 

> > The instructions in  
> > Z:\WLAN Card & Adapter\Drivers\Linux\ReadMe.pdf   
> > say to add some stuff to a  /scripts/atmel.conf  

> > -----------------
> > card "bla bla"
> >   version "bla", "blah"
> >   bind "pcmf502re"
> > -----------------
> 
> That's approximately what the entry in /etc/pcmcia/config
> should look like.

Plus a  device  statement in the top part?

> > Can I just get a ready to use module from somewhere!!???
 
> Hopefully, Slackware 7.1 will have a module for it. However, it depends
> on the age of your pcmcia card.  New cards are unlikely to be
> compatible (unless they use a long-established standard). 

Unfortunately, this cheapo card apparently uses one of the several 
modules of the "Atmel" kind - I see that people are still developing 
them, finding some fault with the existing ones. As I said, I didn't see 
in in Slackware 7.1.  That doesn't mean none of those modules will work. 
Dunno.
 
> > That also requires compiling or some such activity.
> 
> If the sourcecode for the module is available, it might be possible to
> create a workable module using the BL3 compiler.  At the same time you
> could compile a new version of the kernel (with wireless capabilities
> added).  

Thank you,  Steven, but I am not up to such a task.


Sheldon Isaac