Does ndiswrapper work on Opensuse 11.1?

English Network/Internet
#1

Hello
Yesterday I upgraded my 11 box to 11.1. All went fine, a part from ndiswrapper configuration.

The same steps that worked with 11.0 now does not work anymore; I’m using a wg111v2 usb stick. When using ndiswrapper, the device WLAN0 is never created (if I use rtl8187 do works, but the connection is so slow to be useless).

Here my /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules, when using rtl8187:

USB device 0x0846:0x6a00 (rtl8187)

SUBSYSTEM==“net”, ACTION==“add”, DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:18:4d:6c:19:8

RPM version (upgraded):
ndiswrapper-1.54-4.1

Any idea? Are there bugs?

Thank to you all.
rob

#2

Typo; Here the exact udev rule:

SUBSYSTEM==“net”, ACTION==“add”, DRIVERS=="?", ATTR{address}==“00:18:4d:6c:19:8e”, ATTR{type}==“1”, KERNEL=="wlan", NAME=“wlan0”

#3

I haven’t done ndiswrapper since 10.3, so I’m very rusty. You list only one ndiswrapper RPM. But I think there are two ndiswrapper RPMs needed. Have you got both? Look at the results from this console probe of RPMs:

rpm -qa | grep ndiswrapper

and the kernel probe:

 uname -r

I seem to recall you need to match the second ndsiwrapper RPM to the kernel. Did you do that?

#4

I think they match; I have the following:


# uname -r
2.6.27.7-9-pae



# rpm -qa | grep ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper-kmp-default-1.53_2.6.27.7_9.1-12.36
kndiswrapper-0.3.7-0.pm.2
ndiswrapper-kmp-pae-1.54_2.6.27.7_9.1-4.1
ndiswrapper-1.54-4.1

Ciao
rob

#5

You have doubled up by installing “ndiswrapper-kmp-pae” and “ndiswrapper-kmp-default”. Of those two you need only yhr one that matches the kernel “pae”. So use the software manage,ment module in Yast to uninstall the superfluous RPM “ndiswrapper-kmp-default”.

You might also have an added problem after installing or setting up something associated with rtl8187 (if I use rtl8187 do works). I don’t know what you mean by “if I use rtl8187 do works” but if you installed another driver along with ndiswrapper, they might conflict with each other.

So first remove the extra ndiswrapper RPM then see if it is fixed. If it is not fixed, then also get rid of the driver associated with “if I use rtl8187 do works” and try again.

Reference: Madwifi or Ndiswrapper Wireless Network Drivers - Suse/openSUSE 10, 11 - LAN & Internet access

#6

I removed the other rpms: now I have:


# rpm -aq | grep ndiswrapper
kndiswrapper-0.3.7-0.pm.2
ndiswrapper-kmp-pae-1.54_2.6.27.7_9.1-4.1
ndiswrapper-1.54-4.1

ndiswrapper still doesn not work. Coming to the other module, rtl8187, it is not loaded: if I want to use it, I can either load manually with modprobe, or automatically on boot. The point is I would like not to use it (too slow) :slight_smile:

ciao
rob

#7

robermann79 wrote:
>
> ndiswrapper still doesn not work. Coming to the other module, rtl8187,
> it is not loaded: if I want to use it, I can either load manually with
> modprobe, or automatically on boot. The point is I would like not to use
> it (too slow) :slight_smile:

There is a known problem with rtl8187 in 2.6.27 that keeps the rate at 1 Mb/s.
You can fix that by either downloading the compat-wireless driver set, which has
this problem fixed, or by manually entering the command

sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 rate 24M

If 24M works OK, you can try 36M, 48M, or 54M.

If you really want to use the Windows driver, then you need to blacklist rtl8187
(see /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist).

Larry

#8

Hi Larry
Is that just specific versions of USB adaptor that use the rtl8187
module?

I have a Belkin and it works fine ( Bus 001 Device 002: ID 050d:705e
Belkin Components ) and runs at 54M with the rtl8187?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-default
up 6:42, 2 users, load average: 0.04, 0.08, 0.12
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 180.29

#9

Malcolm wrote:
> Is that just specific versions of USB adaptor that use the rtl8187
> module?
>
> I have a Belkin and it works fine ( Bus 001 Device 002: ID 050d:705e
> Belkin Components ) and runs at 54M with the rtl8187?

You have an RTL8187B - they work OK. Only the RTL8187L has the problem, although
they use the same driver.

Larry

#10

Hi Larry
Ahh ok, many thanks for that :slight_smile:

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-default
up 7:32, 1 user, load average: 0.06, 0.45, 0.46
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 180.29

#11

Hi Larry
very thanks for your suggestions, but the connection by the rtl8187 module turns off and turns on in a seemly random way.

Ciao
rob

#12

If you want an rtl8187 driver that works well, you will need to use the
compat-wireless package, or upgrade to a 2.6.29 kernel.

With the latest kernel, mine runs for days with no interruptions in service.
There are a few disconnect/reconnect sequences, but they happen automatically.
The transmit rate through my network using the utility tcpperf is 21-22 Mb/s,
which is about the most one can expect for 802.11g.

Larry

#13

Ok. I’m going to try install the compat-wireless package. Do I have to do anything of particular, besides installing it? Should I install compat-wireless-kmp-pae, too?

#14

Hi Larry
with the compat-wireless package still do I have to run the following command?

sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 rate 24M

If yes, do you suggest me to add that line into /etc/init.d/after.local?

#15

robermann79 wrote:
> Hi Larry
> with the compat-wireless package still do I have to run the following
> command?
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 rate 24M
> --------------------
>
>
> If yes, do you suggest me to add that line into
> /etc/init.d/after.local?

You shouldn’t have to. My rtl8187 devices both rapidly rate adjust up to 48 or
54 Mb/s on their own.

Larry

#16

Thank you Larry, compat-wireless package works very well!