Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless Ethernet Adapter (8420-WD) onRH9

Julian wrote:

> I've been trying to get my new wireless card to work in Linux. So far,
> no luck. It is a Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless card. It has an
> Agere chipset. Its detected by the PCMCIA card manager, but I'm having
> problems with the driver. I'm running the 2.4.22 kernel on a Vaio GRT
> laptop.
>
> The drivers I got from proxim require using the pcmcia-cs package off
> SourceForge. I followed the instructions to compile and install the
> driver. No problem doing that. However when I restart pcmcia card
> manager, etc. (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) modprobe fails. It says that
> the module was compiled on a version 2 compiler while the kernel was
> compiled on a version 3 compiler.
>
> Anyone have any experience with this card? I bought the card because
> everything said that the Orinoco cards worked. I'm beginning to think
> that Proxim changed the chipset or something in the newer cards. Any
> info would be much appreciated.
>
> Julian


Julian, listen to what your computer is telling you. The kernel in your
laptop was compiled with a compiler, newer than than what was used to
compile the pcmcia support files. Your answer is to use what ever version
compiler is on your laptop to compile both the pcmcia drivers and kernel.

That said, if you run up against a brick wall with your Orinoco, I'll
happily buy it from you. They work beautifully.


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I've been trying to get my new wireless card to work in Linux. So far,
no luck. It is a Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless card. It has an
Agere chipset. Its detected by the PCMCIA card manager, but I'm having
problems with the driver. I'm running the 2.4.22 kernel on a Vaio GRT
laptop.

The drivers I got from proxim require using the pcmcia-cs package off
SourceForge. I followed the instructions to compile and install the
driver. No problem doing that. However when I restart pcmcia card
manager, etc. (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) modprobe fails. It says that
the module was compiled on a version 2 compiler while the kernel was
compiled on a version 3 compiler.

Anyone have any experience with this card? I bought the card because
everything said that the Orinoco cards worked. I'm beginning to think
that Proxim changed the chipset or something in the newer cards. Any
info would be much appreciated.

Julian

Jerry McBride wrote:

> Julian wrote:
>
>
>>I've been trying to get my new wireless card to work in Linux. So far,
>>no luck. It is a Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless card. It has an
>>Agere chipset. Its detected by the PCMCIA card manager, but I'm having
>>problems with the driver. I'm running the 2.4.22 kernel on a Vaio GRT
>>laptop.
>>
>>The drivers I got from proxim require using the pcmcia-cs package off
>>SourceForge. I followed the instructions to compile and install the
>>driver. No problem doing that. However when I restart pcmcia card
>>manager, etc. (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) modprobe fails. It says that
>>the module was compiled on a version 2 compiler while the kernel was
>>compiled on a version 3 compiler.
>>
>>Anyone have any experience with this card? I bought the card because
>>everything said that the Orinoco cards worked. I'm beginning to think
>>that Proxim changed the chipset or something in the newer cards. Any
>>info would be much appreciated.
>>
>>Julian
>
>
>
> Julian, listen to what your computer is telling you. The kernel in your
> laptop was compiled with a compiler, newer than than what was used to
> compile the pcmcia support files. Your answer is to use what ever version
> compiler is on your laptop to compile both the pcmcia drivers and kernel.

Did you read what I said? I compiled the kernel with gcc 3.2.2 *and* I
compiled the module with the same gcc. Hence I don't understand the error.

> That said, if you run up against a brick wall with your Orinoco, I'll
> happily buy it from you. They work beautifully.
>

This is a brand new orinoco card (not classic). I've tried modprobing
every orinoco, prism2, and wavelan driver that exists. None work. Kudzu
id's the card as an Agere wireless but states that the driver is unknown.

Julian

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:43:55 -0700, Julian wrote:

>
>
> Jerry McBride wrote:
>
>> Julian wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I've been trying to get my new wireless card to work in Linux. So far,
>>>no luck. It is a Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless card. It has an
>>>Agere chipset. Its detected by the PCMCIA card manager, but I'm having
>>>problems with the driver. I'm running the 2.4.22 kernel on a Vaio GRT
>>>laptop.
>>>
>>>The drivers I got from proxim require using the pcmcia-cs package off
>>>SourceForge. I followed the instructions to compile and install the
>>>driver. No problem doing that. However when I restart pcmcia card
>>>manager, etc. (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) modprobe fails. It says that
>>>the module was compiled on a version 2 compiler while the kernel was
>>>compiled on a version 3 compiler.
>>>
>>>Anyone have any experience with this card? I bought the card because
>>>everything said that the Orinoco cards worked. I'm beginning to think
>>>that Proxim changed the chipset or something in the newer cards. Any
>>>info would be much appreciated.
>>>
>>>Julian
>>
>>
>>

> This is a brand new orinoco card (not classic). I've tried modprobing
> every orinoco, prism2, and wavelan driver that exists. None work. Kudzu
> id's the card as an Agere wireless but states that the driver is unknown.
>
> Julian

Julian,

The 2.4 kernels come with the pcmcia-cs drivers, so the modules should
already be there. What distribution are you running? RedHat provides
iwconfig, which is much like ifconfig, but for wireless interfaces. That
should get you going. I use an Orinoco Silver (classic) card, and the orinoco_cs
driver. Do the pcmcia drivers load?

Ritwik

In article <G7-dndq7YIoWhPKiU-(E-Mail Removed)>, Julian wrote:
> Jerry McBride wrote:
>
>> Julian wrote:
>>
>>>no luck. It is a Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless card. It has an
>>> [snip]
>>>The drivers I got from proxim require using the pcmcia-cs package off
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Why are you using a driver from a manufacturer? Did you try the kernel
driver? I don't know Proxim or Orinoco, but I *do* know that 98% of what
I've read at manufacturers' site pertaining to "Linux support" is at
least misleading, if not outright wrong.

>>>SourceForge. I followed the instructions to compile and install the
>>>driver. No problem doing that. However when I restart pcmcia card
>>>manager, etc. (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) modprobe fails. It says that
>>>the module was compiled on a version 2 compiler while the kernel was
>>>compiled on a version 3 compiler.

Look in the Makefile. Look at the package from the manufacturer. They
have given you a binary driver for some reason. THEY compiled it with a
version 2 gcc!

It may be possible for you to take a hex editor and change the GCC
version string in the .o file they gave you. Then recompile. However I
would recommend trying the kernel driver first. What do the pcmcia-cs
people recommend for your card? Go to someone who has a clue about
Linux for good information. Manufacturers usually don't.

>>>everything said that the Orinoco cards worked. I'm beginning to think
>>>that Proxim changed the chipset or something in the newer cards. Any

This does happen quite often. Perhaps this is why they've released a
binary-only driver: they don't want to release spcifications which could
be used to write a REAL driver. In that case you are stuck with
downgrading your GCC or waiting for them to release a newer version of
the driver. Good luck trying to explain the problem to them.

In the meantime, perhaps others should note this as a piece of hardware
to avoid.

>> Julian, listen to what your computer is telling you. The kernel in your
>> laptop was compiled with a compiler, newer than than what was used to
>> compile the pcmcia support files. Your answer is to use what ever version
>> compiler is on your laptop to compile both the pcmcia drivers and kernel.
>
> Did you read what I said? I compiled the kernel with gcc 3.2.2 *and* I
> compiled the module with the same gcc. Hence I don't understand the error.

The answer was there, or at least implied, in what you had written.
--
/dev/rob0 - preferred_email=i$((28*28+28))@softhome.net
or put "not-spam" or "/dev/rob0" in Subject header to reply

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 22:04:11 -0700, Julian wrote:

> I've been trying to get my new wireless card to work in Linux. So far,
> no luck. It is a Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold Wireless card. It has an
> Agere chipset. Its detected by the PCMCIA card manager, but I'm having
> problems with the driver. I'm running the 2.4.22 kernel on a Vaio GRT
> laptop.
>
> The drivers I got from proxim require using the pcmcia-cs package off
> SourceForge. I followed the instructions to compile and install the
> driver. No problem doing that. However when I restart pcmcia card
> manager, etc. (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart) modprobe fails. It says that
> the module was compiled on a version 2 compiler while the kernel was
> compiled on a version 3 compiler.
>
> Anyone have any experience with this card? I bought the card because
> everything said that the Orinoco cards worked. I'm beginning to think
> that Proxim changed the chipset or something in the newer cards. Any
> info would be much appreciated.
>
> Julian

I've solved the issue. It turns out that I was right, the chipset is
different from the original orinoco cards. The new Proxim Orinoco cards
use the HermesII chipset, that as far as I know is not supported. Oddly
enough, the manufacturer was the best source for the driver. They are
apparently working on a new driver and by some luck someone acquired it
from Proxim tech support. It is a beta driver and can be found here

http://www.greenblaze.com/proxim.html

I got it to work without much difficulty. /dev/rob0 was right though,
there is a binary component to both drivers. The newer one however is more
flexible and can be built on multiple systems.

Also like /dev/rob0 said, I would suggest staying away from this card. At
least for now. Hopefully, they will release a more developed driver in the
future. If anyone knows of a better, more stable driver for this chipset
please let me know.

Julian