Re: DWL-650

[Dave Thayer <dave@thayer-boyle.com>]

On Sun, Feb 03, 2002 at 06:32:36PM -0500, Tom Allison wrote:
> I have been using this card for a while under Linux with the wvlan_cs 
> driver for 802.11b Prism II cards.
> 
> I want to move over to the orinoco_cs driver.  If I change the kernel 
> I have to spend hours fiddling with trying to get this driver working 
> again.
> 
> There used to be a website that had specifics, in great detail, on how 
> to get this D-Link DWL-650 NIC working with the orinoco_cs driver. 
> But I've spent two days looking for it and have come up with nothing. 
>  It was originally a post on a web-zine.
> 
> Does anyone have any help they can throw my way on how to get this 
> working?  I think the biggest hang-up I've got is that I have no clue 
> how to identify this device in the /etc/pcmcia/config file.  I know 
> it's not listed there, I always had to edit that file myself for the 
> wvlan_cs too.

I got it running without a great deal of trouble. First off, my setup
is a HP Pavilion N5490 runnuing sid with a custom 2.4.17 kernel. I am
using the 2.4 kernel PCMCIA modules. 

Sid's /etc/pcmcia/config file contains the following relevent items:

In the device section: 

device "orinoco_cs"
  class "network" module "hermes", "orinoco", "orinoco_cs"

And later:

card "Intersil PRISM2 11 Mbps Wireless Adapter"
  manfid 0x0156, 0x0002
  bind "wvlan_cs"

At first I simply edited /etc/pcmcia/config and changed that last line
to say `` bind "orinoco_cs" '' I was growing tired of doing that each
time I upgraded (the joys of tracking unstable) and then I noticed
that the stock /etc/pcmcia/config file sources *.conf so i copied the
fixed stanza into /etc/dwl650.conf and no more annoying questions
during upgrades. 

After doing this I found that the connection Just Started Working,
much to my surprize. It turns out that the edits I made to
/etc/pcmcia/network.opts to support a PCMCIA NIC under a 2.2.x kernel
which didn't support the internal NIC worked just fine with the
wireless card. I did eventually change it to disable the internal
interface and run wavemon on vc12 upon insertion. This would be best
done in /etc/network/interfaces to quell the remaining annoying
questions bug that's a job for another day.

HTH,
dt
  
-- 
Dave Thayer           | If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about
Denver, Colorado USA  | cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all
dave@thayer-boyle.com | the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey