topic title: Kernel Module and ndisWrapper Issue antiX-12
Posts: 1,028
SamK
Joined: 21 Aug 2011
#1
Using ndiswrapper with the stock antix-12 kernel fails as outlined below.

As a reference point, the NIC works OK when loaded via ndiswrapper in TinyCore using the Windows XP driver from the card manufacturer.

In antiX-12
The card is recognised by the system

Code: Select all

inxi -i
...
Network:   Card-1: Texas Instruments ACX 100 22Mbps Wireless Interface 
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
...

First attempt to load was made via ndisgtk (shipped in antiX)
The .inf file is entered and accepted but generates an error message

Code: Select all

 Module could not be loaded.  Error was
FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.
Is the ndiswrapper module installed?

Second attempt to load follows the procedure used at the TinyCore CLI

Code: Select all

sudo ndiswrapper -i AIRPLUS.INF
installing airplus ...
Verify driver installed

Code: Select all

sudo ndiswrapper -l
airplus : driver installed
        device (104C:8400) present
Write the module configuration for modprobe

Code: Select all

sudo ndiswrapper -m
module configuration already contains alias direcetive
module configuration already contains alias direcetive
module configuration already contains alias direcetive
These are not reported in TinyCore

Load the ndiswrapper module

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.
According to this page ndiswrapper-dkms is needed
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://wiki.debian.org/NdisWrapper"
linktext was:"http://wiki.debian.org/NdisWrapper"
====================================

Code: Select all

apt-cache policy ndiswrapper-dkms
ndiswrapper-dkms:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1.57-1
  Version table:
     1.57-1 0
        500 http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ wheezy/main i386 Packages
Install and build ndiswrapper module

Code: Select all

apt-get install ndiswrapper-dkms
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ndiswrapper-dkms
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 180 not upgraded.
Need to get 192 kB of archives.
After this operation, 746 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp.gr.debian.org/debian/ wheezy/main ndiswrapper-dkms all 1.57-1 [192 kB]
Fetched 192 kB in 1s (164 kB/s)            
Selecting previously unselected package ndiswrapper-dkms.
(Reading database ... 101873 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ndiswrapper-dkms (from .../ndiswrapper-dkms_1.57-1_all.deb) ...
Setting up ndiswrapper-dkms (1.57-1) ...
Loading new ndiswrapper-1.57 DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.5.0-antix.2-486-smp
Building initial module for 3.5.0-antix.2-486-smp
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.5.0-antix.2-486-smp (i686)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.57/build/make.log for more information.
make.log attached.
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#2
Irrelevant to ndiswrapper issue, but have you tried method that does not use ndiswrapper this instead.


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://wiki.debian.org/acx"
linktext was:"http://wiki.debian.org/acx"
====================================
Posts: 1,028
SamK
Joined: 21 Aug 2011
#3
anticapitalista wrote:Irrelevant to ndiswrapper issue, but have you tried method that does not use ndiswrapper this instead.


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://wiki.debian.org/acx"
linktext was:"http://wiki.debian.org/acx"
====================================
Thanks for the idea. I did explore it before looking at ndiswrapper, and decided against it when it became clear that there are various firmwares for it which are indicated as may or may not work, then also discovered the driver needs to be separately compiled.

Although ndiswrapper is my least preferred method, it has the advantage of being a consistent way to obtain a working NIC. This is particularly helpful when dealing with a range of hardware running on various distros.

This was really a test of how to get ndiswrapper working in antiX. Having installed some of the required but missing software, it seems that it is the compilation that is automatically conducted when installing ndiswrapper-dkms that is causing the latest problem.

I'm begining to suspect something is also missing in the compilation tool-chain. Perhaps some linux-headers, but I have no idea which may be needed.
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#4
Seems to be a bug in Debian.


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=198&t=116401#p648962"
linktext was:"http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 01#p648962"
====================================
Posts: 1,028
SamK
Joined: 21 Aug 2011
#5
This is slightly more recent and encouraging news particularly post #16 onwards

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ndiswrapper/+bug/1023645/comments/16"
linktext was:"https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... omments/16"
====================================