RTL8187 success

[davfel]

Hi,

well here it is. This is the way that I have gotten the Realtek RTL8187 driver to work.

Step 1 : Add to modprobe.conf

gedit /etc/modprobe.conf

alias wlan0 r8187

Step 2: Remove existing ieee80211 stack modules

find /lib/modules/`uname -r` -name ieee80211

If this returns a result remove these file or copy them to a backup location, I used the rm command

Step 3: Install sourceforge RTL8187 drivers


I put them in a directory under my home directory

su -
Password:

cd /home
mkdir realtek
cd /home/realtek
svn co https://rtl-wifi.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/rtl-wifi

(**NOTE** very important- to use the svn command you MUST have subversion installed and I believe you can do that by yum install subverion)

Step 4: edit their Makefile

Step 3 makes a directory called rtl-wifi

cd /home/realtek/rtl-wifi
gedit Makefile

(comment out line 6)

//* obj-m += rtl818x-newstack/ *//

(goto to the end of file and add this line)

install:
$(MAKE) -C $(KSRC) M=$(PWD) modules_install


(then save the file)

the new Makefile will look like this >>>

ifneq ($(KERNELRELEASE),)

# kbuild part of makefile
obj-m += ieee80211/
obj-m += rtl8187-newstack/
//* obj-m += rtl818x-newstack/ *//


else

KVER := $(shell uname -r)
KSRC := /lib/modules/$(KVER)/build

all: modules

clean:
$(MAKE) -C $(KSRC) M=$(PWD) clean

modules:
$(MAKE) -C $(KSRC) M=$(PWD) modules

install:
$(MAKE) -C $(KSRC) M=$(PWD) modules_install

endif


Step 5: compile driver and insert modules

make clean

make

make install

(this should compile and insert modules)

Step 6: Reboot

reboot

Step 7: Add driver to system-config-network

(At the top click on System Administration Network and type your password
(Click on New)
(Select Wireless Connection)
(Click Foward)
(r8187 (wlan0) should be there high light that and click Foward)
(Select Managed mode)
(Select Network (SSID) name specified button and enter you network name)
(Click Foward)
(Select Automatically obtain ip address with DHCP)
(check the box next to Automatically obtain DNS information from provider
(check the MTU box and set to 1500)
(Click Foward)
(Click Apply)
(check box next to wlan0 and click on ACTIVATE)
(go to Wireless settings tab and check your settings)
(go to General tab and check the box next to activate this device when computer starts)
(check other settings on this page they should be what you set them to)

Step 8:Reboot Again

(reboot and your connection should come up)

Hope this helps everyone

Also beware this driver is still some what buggy so it may hang your system

I am sure our friends at sourceforge will help us out with a more stable driver shortly

Good luck,
dave

[davfel]

HI again,

Also I have this working in both the 2.6.18-1.2798 and 2.6.20-1.2925 kernels.
Please let me know if this works for you

thanks,
dave

[davfel]

Hi,

One other thing I was getting alot of system freezes when I first installed this driver, I resolved this by removing all of the old driver files (*.ko) including the ieee80211 files

I have not had a freeze since doing that
I guess there are some conflicts going on here.
I would assume that our friends at sourceforge will fix these problems soon

Dave

[tamathumper]

After several days of @#$! I do have partial success, many thanks to your directions, especially on how to update the MAKE file! I don't have any lockups yet, but I also don't have any Link light I have the activity light blinking on my CompUsa card which uses the RealTek 8185 chipset. Progress.

I have the activity light when I insmod the drivers manually, and I'm working on how to get that to work at bootup automatically (the alias command doesn't seem to work when added to modprobe.conf, and I don't know if the /etc/rc.d/rc.local will work with MEPISLite, but I'll keep trying.)

I can see the wlan0 interface, but I cannot seem to get a connection to an AP. I have several to choose from, with both simple WEP and also WPA-PSK with TKIP to choose from.

I did follow the instructions and remove the ieee80211 directory from /lib/modules/2.6.12-1-586tsc. Does it matter than the new drivers are under the 'extra' directory as opposed to the 'net' directory? Hopefully not, and apparently not, as my wired connection is still working? The MAKE file tried to add the new drivers under /lib/modules/2.6.12, so I moved them under /lib/modules/2.6.12-1-586tsc as that's the version of the kernel I'm booting.

Sorry, been in the IT biz a long time, but not expert with Linux yet. Any help would be tremendously appreciated!

[tamathumper]

Just a quick confirmation -

'iwlist wlan0 scanning' returns two access points, with ESSID:"<hidden>" as they should be,

and iwconfig wlan0 returns the config of the wlan0 interface with the ESSID of my WEP network shown correctly, but with Access point: 00:00:00:00:00:00, and Encryption Key:off even though I have specified to enable it...

Any further suggestions?

[ColinA]

Hi Dave. I followed you original post with kernel 2.6.20-1.2925 and it was ok up to the point when I did "make install" at which it gave the message "No rule to make install". However the various modules had been built so I used a modified version of the "wlan0up" file from the original Realtek driver package. This then iinstalled the modules and evrything worked. It still failed to install the modules at boot so I tried your old idea of copying the modules to /ib/modules and doing depmod -a. This fouled the whole thing up as the modules didn't load at boot and couldn't be loaded using insmod. Removing the modules from /lib/modules did not recoiver the situation. I have now ditched the 2925 kernel and it's dev package and installed 2933 which does work but I still have to run wlan0up manually. Still this is a big step forward, thanks for you persistance. Incidently how did you find the SVN package as I thought I had checked Sourceforge withiut finding anything usefull

[ColinA]

In case anyone has the same problem as me here is the modified version of wlan0up:


#!/bin/sh

cd ieee80211/
insmod ieee80211_crypt-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211_crypt_wep-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211_crypt_tkip-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211_crypt_ccmp-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211-rtl.ko

cd ../rtl8187-newstack/
insmod r8187.ko

cd ../

ifconfig wlan0 up


Add this as a text file to rtl-wifi.

Run the shellscript from rtl-wifi with ./wlan0up

At the moment I have to do this at every boot (as su)

Colin

[ColinA]

Hi all.
Further to my last message I have now got the wireless system to come up at boot time. I added the script shown in my last message to /etc/rc.d/rc.local with the addition of a line at the before the first cd " cd xxxx/rtl-wifi" so that it could find rtl-wifi. xxxx is wherever it is located.
Colin

[davfel]

hi all.
sorry for the felayed response I was away.
Glad to hear that you got things going colin but you should not have to run the script file at all.
if the modules are in the right directory the system will load them for you. then using system-config-network and checking the start up at boot time box will bring them up.

try that and let me know
dave

[davfel]

hi colin,

by changing the Makefile as shown above it takes away the "No rule to make install" error. then ut will install modules properly and if you put the "alias wlan0 r8187" in modprobe you should be able to get this device to show in the system-config-network.

try that amd let me know please
thanks,
good luck
dave

[redger]

Hi guys,
Your discussions and instructions have been very helpful ..... I just seem to be technologically challenged :-(
I've installed the software ok on my Fedora 6 X86-64 machine, it all compiles ok and I can bring the service up (ifup wlan0) ok. I can also scan successfully using either iwlist or wifi-radar but i just cannot get it to connect and communicate successfully.
I've tried installing the modules in /lib/modules/'uname -r'/extra and I've tried loading them from the compile directory (using the above wlan0up script ... for which i've also created a mirror image wlan0down script)
I've tried executing the wlan0up script from /etc/rc.d/rc.local and I've tried executing it manually after logon.
Nothing seems to work .... I can successfully scan for networks, but can't connect to them.

Any advice gratefully received :-)

[davfel]

hi redger,

I have not tried thid on x64 yet but soon I will be doing that. Also, I have tried with encryption but was not successful. I have heard that some are getting this to work but I do not believe the drivers support encryption quite yet. Can you gives us listings of iwscan list?

Thanks,
dave

[redger]

Hi Dave,
thanks for your response

aha, the encryption may be the reason .... I have set 128 bit WEP encryption on

I'm at work at present and the machine is at home, so I'll send the iwscan info thru when I get home (in about 8 hours or so)
btw I'm using the latest version of the 64 bit FC6 kernel (as of Sunday April 1) ... can't remember the version

Regards
Rob

[redger]

Success (once I disabled encryption ie. WEP and WAP) !

Running FC6 Kernel 2.6.20-1.2933.fc6 (x86-64) and Netgear WG111 v2 (USB 802.11g adapter)
The software compiles ok, tho I had to create empty file /usr/src/kernels/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6-x86_64/include/linux/config.h to get it to compile cleanly

After creating the network-config entry I updated /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ to look like this
# Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8187
# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
GATEWAY=192.168.0.1
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=wlan0
BOOTPROTO=none
BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
#HWADDR=
HWADDR=00:11:3a:9e:a5:bd
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=192.168.0.0
#DHCP_HOSTNAME=192.168.0.1
DHCP_HOSTNAME=
IPADDR=192.168.0.18
DOMAIN=
ONBOOT=no
USERCTL=yes
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
ESSID=my_essid
CHANNEL=7
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto
MTU=1500


Without WEP it now connects (tho it's a bit slow) and I'm writing this note using the connection

Here's the wlaln0up file
cd ieee80211/
insmod ieee80211_crypt-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211_crypt_wep-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211_crypt_tkip-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211_crypt_ccmp-rtl.ko
insmod ieee80211-rtl.ko
cd ../rtl8187-newstack/
insmod r8187.ko
cd ../
depmod -a
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up

And here's the wlan0down file
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 down
rmmod r8187
rmmod ieee80211-rtl
rmmod ieee80211_crypt_ccmp-rtl
rmmod ieee80211_crypt_tkip-rtl
rmmod ieee80211_crypt_wep-rtl
rmmod ieee80211_crypt-rtl
depmod -a

Both the up and down files are designe d to be executed (eg ./wlan0up) from the base directory from which the software was compiled.

Note sure how I'm going to secure this link and stop the link teenagers linking in ..... sadly my router doesn't support MAC address identification.

Thanks for your help ... it seems to be working ok ... better than using ndiswrapper with win98 drivers (and 32 bit OS). Hopefully the mass of detail will help someone

Regards
Rob

[ColinA]

Hi Dave. In one of your previous messages you said that changing the makefile as above would allow the makefile to install the modules. I take it that you mean adding the line with make_install at the end. I did do this modification but got the error message I reported when I tried to"make install" The modules are in the directories where they were built. I already had the wireless lan entry set up in system config network as a left over from previously using the original Realtek driver with the old 2.6.18 kernel. The main thing now is that the wireless link is up and running as soon as the desktop comes up! I have now moved on to trying to get this machine to print to my old machines printers via Cups. This is another can(cup) of worms. For the record I am using WEP which was also set up on the old version and seems to have carried over! Thanks for your assistance

Colin