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Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

waldron
Grafter
Posts: 348
Registered: ‎28-07-2007

Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

On another thread about Ubuntu (which I tried out earlier this year) there was a recommendation for PCLinuxOS. So I have today been playing around with the LiveCD, with some measure of success. Having used Windows for a number of years, I think I prefer the feel of it to Ubuntu.
However, the one problem I have is internet access. I have to use Wifi, as my pc is too far from the router. I am using a Zonet ZEW2500P USB adaptor, which worked successfully with Ubuntu. But it doesn't seem to be working with PCLOS, and I have so far been unable to find any help.
At startup time, I am using the following for the Wireless setup:
Choose the connection you want to configure………….Wireless
Select the network interface to configure………………..Ralink 802.11g WAN (the only selection in the drop down menu)
Please select your network……………………………….Unlisted – edit manually
Wireless settings        Operating Mode……………....….Auto
                                        Network name (ESSID)…...……[my router name]
                                        Encryption mode...........................WPA Pre-Shared Key
                                        Encryption key…………….......…xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Please select your connection protocol…………………Automatic IP (BOOTP/DHCP)
IP settings…………………………………………………..Get DNS servers from DHCP
……………………………………………………………….Assign host name from DHCP address
Connection control…………………………………………Start the connection at boot
Do you want to start the connection now………….…….Yes
It appears to have been successful but when I try to start Firefox, I get     “Server not found”
I suspect it is something to do with drivers, but I have no idea where to start.
20 REPLIES 20
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

pop on over to pclinuxos.com/forum and sign up.  you'll get the help you need from a lot of knowledgable and friendly people.
MickKi
Grafter
Posts: 543
Registered: ‎30-09-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Quote from: waldron
Select the network interface to configure………………..Ralink 802.11g WAN (the only selection in the drop down menu)

The ralink drivers are now part of the Linux kernel (of course I am not sure how fresh your PCLOS kernel is), but in any case if they do not play nicely with your adaptor you will need to install and run ndiswrapper - the PCLOS forums should explain how to do that.
Quote from: waldron
It appears to have been successful but when I try to start Firefox, I get     “Server not found”

There must be a GUI way to tell if you have an IP address, but if you don't mind opening a terminal run:
sudo ifconfig
and tell us what you see.
Wheel_nut
Grafter
Posts: 893
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Waldron,
I had exactly the same problem when I tried PCLinuxOS 2007 on my Thinkpad X21 with a 3Com PC Card. It appears to be connected but Firefox cannot see a connection.
After some discussion on the UBUNTU thread here, I realised that I needed to download some 220MB of updates to bring the PCLOS 2007 distro up to date. I baulked at that and decided to wait for the immintly expected PCLOS 2008 distro.
With UBUNTU, the only niggle I have is that the 3Com PC Card does not turn off when I shut down the Thinkpad. It switches off correctly when Hibernated or put into Standby. Now, It used to shut down correctly until I applied all the updates!
I was also able to get Network Printing to work with UBUNTU so I have no urgent need to switch and would rather wait for PCLOS 2008.
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

pclinuxos does not use sudo by default; it uses su.  it is also important to fully update your install before installing any more applications.
waldron
Grafter
Posts: 348
Registered: ‎28-07-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

MickKi
Using [root@localhost root]#    I got
lo    Link encap:Local Loopback
      inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
      inet6 addr:  : :1/128 Scope:Host
      UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436    Metric:1
      RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
      TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
      collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
      RX bytes:0  (0,0 b)    TX bytes:0  (0,0 b)
A problem I have is that my router is fairly inaccessible for ethernet connection, since a BT engineer split the line at the master socket. Wifi is now the only viable connection. I downloaded PCLOS two days ago (using Vista), but haven't been able to get the updates so far.
grimme
Grafter
Posts: 241
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

If you have a driver cd for the Zonet with Windows XP/2000 drivers on it you should be able to set it up using ndiswrapper.
From the PC Linux Control Center choose Network & Internet,
then choose Setup a new network interface, select Wireless then click Next.
Choose Use a windows driver (with ndis wrapper) click Next,
then choose Install a new driver, click OK - find the correct folder with the windows .inf file for the wifi card.
You should then be able to see the wireless connection and be able to set it up to connect to your router.
waldron
Grafter
Posts: 348
Registered: ‎28-07-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Grimme.
I've just tried that, and when I got through it all, there was a message "The selected device has already been configured with the rt2500usb driver. Do you really want to use a ndiswrapper driver."  I replied "Yes", just to try something different.
The final message was "Congratulations, the network and internet configuration is finished.
After this is done, we recommend that you restart your X environment to avoid any hostname-related problems".
sudo ifconfig    still gives me the same response as earlier.
Maybe I need to find a way of connecting via ethernet to get the latest updates?
MickKi
Grafter
Posts: 543
Registered: ‎30-09-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Once a network interface is recognised and a driver activates it, you will see something like:
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1A:50:1B:55:3F  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-1A-50-1B8-55-3F-70-F5-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

The top one is my ralink usb device (the second you can ignore - it is when you have configured it to act as a WiFi Access Point in master mode).  With my WiFi USB stick (Belkin) both the rt2500usb kernel driver and the ndiswrapper driver show a wlan0 device coming up.  If you don't get that then this means that your device driver is not loaded.  Have you tried to reboot the machine?
To see what modules have loaded you can run something like:
sudo lsmod |  grep rt2500
rt2500usb              22112  0
rt2x00usb              8928  1 rt2500usb
rt2x00lib              16480  2 rt2500usb,rt2x00usb
  or instead of rt2500 try ndiswrapper.
An update/upgrade often resolves hardware issues.
HTH.
Heloman
Grafter
Posts: 519
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Quote from: waldron
Maybe I need to find a way of connecting via ethernet to get the latest updates?

That's the way I did it and I'm sure it would help if you can.
I then copy/pasted the .inf files from the wifi card cdrom to my /home file, and did exactly as "gimme" suggested.
If you can overcome this problem, I'm sure you'll find PCLOS worthwhile.
FWIW I find all this discussion about su or sudo(Ubuntu) meaningless. In two years of using PCLOS I have never needed to use the Command Line. Problem is the geeks/techies  just love it and want everyone to know their expertise  Smiley
As for waiting for PCLOS2008, the word is that it is only 2007 with all subsequent updates included.
Waldo
Grafter
Posts: 473
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Quote from: Heloman
FWIW I find all this discussion about su or sudo(Ubuntu) meaningless. In two years of using PCLOS I have never needed to use the Command Line. Problem is the geeks/techies  just love it and want everyone to know their expertise  Smiley

I  find it so much quicker & easier than your 'boot into root' method  Roll_eyes
waldron
Grafter
Posts: 348
Registered: ‎28-07-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Quote from: grimme
From the PC Linux Control Center choose Network & Internet,
then choose Setup a new network interface, select Wireless then click Next.
Choose Use a windows driver (with ndis wrapper) click Next,
then choose Install a new driver, click OK - find the correct folder with the windows .inf file for the wifi card.

Today I've managed to install PCLOS successfully and have moved the pc adjacent to the router temporarily (although it's far from ideal as I have to crawl into a corner to access it). However, it has enabled me to download all the updates, and I now have a working system, which I am currently using.
However, I do need to get the wifi working so that I can move the pc to its proper home. I've tried using ndiswrapper, but when I select "Use a Windows driver", I get a window "drakconnect.......Choose an ndiswrapper driver" with "Use the ndiswrapper driver my computer.desktop" already selected.  The next message is an Error - "No device supporting the my computer.desktop ndiswrapper driver is present!
The next window displayed is "Firmware files are required for this device. The required files can also be installed from this URL: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforfe.net/mediawiki/index.php/List"
I've downloaded from that site, but I have no idea how to install the software. Can anyone help, or point me to an installation guide please
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

try setting up wifi without encryption first to establish that it will work.  then try wep before wpa.  you may find that an updated kernel with turn the trick for you.  open synaptic, click reload and search on kernel.  mark for install and it will pull in any other packages it needs.  reboot and wait for the dkms packages to build.  the first boot on a new kernel always takes a while.
reports on the pclinuxos.com forum have shown that those who've installed pclinuxos 2007 and been unable to configure wifi and then moved onto minime 2008 found that with the latter wifi was automagically set up.
waldron
Grafter
Posts: 348
Registered: ‎28-07-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Thanks for the latest advice. There are two other PCs already accessing the router with wifi using WPA, and the PCLOS PC also uses WPA when running Windows/XP. So I am reluctant to change the access mode on the router. However, I have made some progress.
I reloaded/updated the kernel and also ndiswrapper. The latest is that when I set up the wireless configuration (without ndiswrapper) it shows me the available networks, including mine which I select. After entering the WPA key etc and selecting Connect Now, it says it has been successful. However, it still doesn't appear to be working, as I can't connect to the internet, and I notice that the Link light on the adaptor is not lit.
the command 'iwconfig' shows the following (the actual ESSID is correct)
lo        no wireless extensions.
rausb0    RT2500USB WLAN  ESSID:"xxxxxxxxxxxx"  Nickname:"localhost"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.412 GHz  Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
          RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=0/100  Signal level:-120 dBm  Noise level:44 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0  Missed beacon:0
sit0      no wireless extensions.
eth0      no wireless extensions.
waldron
Grafter
Posts: 348
Registered: ‎28-07-2007

Re: Problems trying out PCLinuxOS

Oh well. It's been a frustrating couple of days getting virtually nowhere. I've read on the PCLOS forum about similar problems others have had with the same device, and their solution has been to edit files in /etc - which I certainly don't feel competent to do.
So I have given up, and ordered a PCI adaptor which is stated to be supported by PCLOS without any amendments. Hopefully that will solve my problem. If not, it's back to Windows.