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wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 10 Jan 2012, 22:52
by francois
I have an impression for 32bit with the alternative use of the same modules installations under porteus 1.0 and porteus 1.1 rc and final editions, that wifi reception is less robust under porteus 1.1 editions. I had made that comment under the xfce porteus thread:

And since then I have used v 1.1 editions at the officen under kde only, under a condition where the wifi reception is variable going many times around the wicd receptivity of 50%, that impression becomes more clear.

I wanted to report. Even though this condition was not tested always fresh. I have done that with recently fresh save changes folders and with a minimum of modules.

Does these comments merit more investigations? My office duties do not permit extensive testing of the situation. However, I could try if pertinent to bring a second machine and give some testing a try.

For sure at present upgrading to porteus 32 bit 1.1 for me is not a possible option, given its instability. :(

Re: wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 10 Jan 2012, 23:24
by brokenman
The difference between versions (in this situation) would only be the development of the wireless firmware. Without knowing your wireless card i can't say ... however the rt2860 and rt2870 were moved from staging to development. rt3070 and rt3090 are links to the former.

Broadcom was dropped from 000-kernel as most drivers are now catered for in kernel.

The output of lsmod would help some.

Re: wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 10 Jan 2012, 23:29
by Ahau
francois, is this the same card:

04:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03)

That you were dealing with in this thread:

http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=758& ?

I don't know how to solve the problem, but that thread might give some good background for those who do.

Re: wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 11 Jan 2012, 00:56
by brokenman
Thanks Ahau.

Francois you may consider compiling the broadcom drivers and using those. I can't say for sure that they will work better ... but it's the best i can offer. Grab the crippled sources from the server first and activate them.

Download your driver:
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

Unpack 000-kernel.xzm or copy live files over
mkdir /tmp/000
cp -a /mnt/live/memory/images/000-kernel.xzm/* /tmp/000


Unpack your broadcom file and change into the resulting directory and run:
make && makeinstall
cp -r /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net /tmp/000/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel


# Update the modules.dep
depmod -b /tmp/000
dir2xzm /tmp/000 /path/to/your/modules/folder/000-kernel.xzm


Now you will need to reboot and make sure that the correct driver is being loaded.

Re: wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 12 Jan 2012, 18:08
by francois
Excuse me for not giving the specs. I am talking of my MSI 340X ultraslim laptop, specs:
http://www.msimobile.com/level3_product ... d=4&id=168

root@slax:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller
Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Int
egrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
...
...
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100
root@slax:~#

I did not test the hp pavilion 2713ca laptop at the office yet. This is the box with the bcm driver.

So this comment is about the MSI.

Posted after 1 day 1 hour 3 minutes 56 seconds:
By less robust, I mean that sometime it connects and at others not, and not for a long time.

Re: wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 12 Jan 2012, 18:29
by fanthom
@francois
maybe we can find something useful in system log?
please boot porteus-1.1 and stay on it some time (till you get few disconnects) then please upload /var/log/messages to pastebin.com for review.

Re: wifi less robust for 32bit porteus v 1.1 than v 1.0

Posted: 13 Jan 2012, 00:12
by francois
Hi fanthom. .

We will have to wait for monday next week, as I am out of office until then. I will report then.