Antix not finding my pcmcia card (SOLVED)

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-03 00:40

I'm a newbie not sure what I'm doing wrong but I can't get my pcmcia wireless card to power up let alone work. It works with Mepis 8 but that is to big & slow for this old laptop I'm trying to rescue.
Laptop is an IBM thinkpad600e pentiumII 333mhs with 256MB of ram. The pcmcia card is a Texas instruments ACX 111 54mbps wireless interface.
I've tried every driver included with antix 8.5 & it doesnot power up the card.
Not sure what else you need to know but understand that I am a" NEWBIE" and command line is an alien language to me.
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Phil

plvera · posted: 2011-01-03 01:50

Phil,

I found some info about your card,

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page"
linktext was:"http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page"
====================================

Look under Debian for further instructions on how to install the appropriate driver.

Good luck!

Pedro

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-03 04:43

according to Debian
ACX111
To install all version 1.2.1.34 firmware for the ACX111 chipset: *
$ su
# mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
# for i in"" c16 c17 r16 r17 ; do wget -P /usr/local/lib/firmware
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://acx100.erley.org"
linktext was:"http://acx100.erley.org"
====================================
fw/acx111_1.2.1.34/tiacx111$i ; done
Driver
The acx driver is required to be compiled and installed, which can be automated via module-assistant.
Lenny
1. Add a"contrib" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:
# Debian Lenny/5.0
deb
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian"
linktext was:"http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian"
====================================
lenny main contrib non-free
2. Update the list of available packages and install the module-assistant and wireless-tools packages:
aptitude update
aptitude install module-assistant wireless-tools
3. Build and install an acx100-* package within your system:
m-a a-i acx100
4. If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
5. Load the acx module:
modprobe acx

This module will be automatically loaded when your system is restarted and the device is connected.
6. Verify your device has an available interface:
iwconfig

This looks slightly over my talent level. I know nothing of command lines. I have no idea where any of this goes or how to compile a kernel. In short I'm not a programmer ... I'm just a user trying to save an old laptop. I tried putting the files on a cd to transfer them to the laptop but the laptop will not read the cd.
Confused ,bewildered, & about to give up.
Philip

anticapitalista · posted: 2011-01-03 09:37

Philip,

I made a deb file. Hope it works. It is the acx100.deb

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.mepisimo.com/antix/Tarballs/"
linktext was:"http://www.mepisimo.com/antix/Tarballs/"
====================================

Download it to your hope folder.
Open a terminal, type root and its password, then dpkg -i acx (hit TAB button to complete or write out the whole .deb file name)
If there are any error messages, in that same terminal type apt-get -f install.

You'll need to modprobe (probably) in steps 4,5 and 6 above. Also you'll probably need to reboot.

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-03 14:52

opened a terminal
typed root
got bash: root: command not found

typed root password
got bash: root: command not found

Like I said command like is alien to me. I'm completely lost.
Oh I should also tell u that I cannot download anything to the laptop at present time because antix cannot find the dial up modem either. And 1 last thing is there really a hope folder in the program?
I do appreciate what you are trying to do for me.
Philip

anticapitalista · posted: 2011-01-03 14:56

Sorry, my mistakes

You will have to download that file I linked to somehow to a usb stick or whatever and then copy it to antiX /home folder.
Then
type sux
then your root password
dpkg -i acx (hit TAB button to complete or write out the whole .deb file name)

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-03 23:55

Ok remember me saying I wasn't brilliant (can't spell either) with command lines. Well here's what happened.
I burned the acx100 file you made on a cd. Finally had a stroke of brilliance & used file manager to copy it to / home .
sux & pass got me in command line worked, file unpacked & successfully loaded , almost proud of myself. Rebooted computer. Still not working. Thinking I have to install the firmware. I have it & already have it on cd just need to know where in the system it should go. Is" /lib/firmware/" the correct place & is there anything needed to be done to activate any of this?
Almost hopeful
Philip

anticapitalista · posted: 2011-01-04 12:38

That .deb file 'installs' the firmware. Did you do steps 5 and 6 in your list of steps? (In a terminal, sux, root password, like before then type the commands)

Post the results, or tell us the eaxct result.

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-04 13:38

sorry 5 & 6?
I can't even get 4 to work, if 4 is" apt-get -f install".
I get reply of Reading Pkg lists...done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information ...done
0 upgraded, 0newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded

typing in modprobe gives me a bunch of garbled letters in brackets.

I said that command line was above me.... I meant it.
Philip

oldhoghead · posted: 2011-01-04 13:52

nailbangr,

If you did all the steps to install, then you need to load the acx module, you do that by going to terminal and type:

sux
(enter root pword)

then type

modprobe acx

if you get no errors, then

type

iwconfig

if all went well then you should be able to run ceni, or wicd and get online

cheers,
ohh

oldhoghead · posted: 2011-01-04 17:08

nailbangr,

after talking with anti, here's what you need to do

to install 1.2.1.34 firmware for the ACX111 chipset:

Code: Select all

 $ cd $HOME
 $ wget <nowiki>http://www.hauke-m.de/fileadmin/acx/fw.tar.bz2</nowiki>
 $ tar jxvf fw.tar.bz2
 $ sux
(enter your root pword)
 # cp -v fw/acx111_1.2.1.34/* /lib/firmware/

then providing all went well

as root in terminal

modprobe acx

then

iwconfig

and you should see your wireless interface

Then run ceni or wicd to get online.

cheers,
ohh

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-05 01:09

sorry guys but
$ wget <nowiki>
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.hauke-m.de/fileadmin/acx/fw.tar.bz2%3C/nowiki"
linktext was:"http://www.hauke-m.de/fileadmin/acx/fw.tar.bz2</nowiki"
====================================
>
gives me an error message.
I have fw.tar.bz2 on a cd do I need to copy it to the lib/firmware or extract it to lib/firmware
Thanks
Philip

oldhoghead · posted: 2011-01-05 03:23

Ok, if you have that on a cd then copy to your home directory and in terminal run (you need to cd to your home, cd /home/joeblow/) to extract run:
tar jxvf fw.tar.bz2

then
sux
(enter your root pword)
cp -v fw/acx111_1.2.1.34/* /lib/firmware/

then do

modprobe acx

then try to connect with ceni or wicd

cheers.
ohh

nailbangr · posted: 2011-01-05 20:03

firmware seemed to load.
modprobe says module not found

I used file manager to copy & paste the files to home/joeblow/. That shouldn't cause the problem though.
Antix just seem to not be finding my pcmcia card. Maybe not the cards fault maybe antix isn't finding the pcmcia slot. Is that possible? As I have said many times I'm a user not a programmer.
Still confused
Philip

oldhoghead · posted: 2011-01-06 18:12

nailbangr,

Well, the acx.ko I had was built with the 2.6.22 kernel, so no go on it, I tried to build a module but it failed, so unless someone else can chime in I regret that I have exhausted the limits of my abilities on this issue. Good luck and we will hope that someone else has a solution.

cheers,
ohh