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Installing Madwifi without an internet connection

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
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wifihelp

Installing Madwifi without an internet connection

#1 Post by wifihelp »

Hi, I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100 laptop. It currently has Ubuntu on it, I wanted to install Debian so that can get better preformance by only putting what I need on it. I have a wireless card that is an Atheros chipset and this is the only way I can connect to the internet on it.

Can someone please tell me how to get the card working without an existing internet connection?

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BioTube
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#2 Post by BioTube »

You'll need the kernel module source, the dependencies of build-essential and the headers for your kernel version. Use packages.debian.org to figure out what you need and ftp.debian.org to download the packages. Stick them on a flash drive or CD and use dpkg to install them. The Etch versions are the ones with the lowest version numbers.

EDIT: You may also want the module-assistant package.
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#3 Post by Guest »

Ok, thank you for your help! I have a few more questions about this though. First, the kernel module source would be the source for the driver right?
Next, The dependencies of build-essential all have dependencies themselves so is there a way to check which ones come with the distro's cd?
Lastly, I'm really not an expert in linux but aren't completely new to it either, but I don't know how to check which kernel version iI have. I am currently downloading Debian Etch so that is the version of debian I'll be using but how would I figure out the kernel version number?

Once again, thanks for your help.

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alleluia20
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#4 Post by alleluia20 »

There is a former post:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=13852

The first reply is enough, the discussion following is useless

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mzilikazi
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#5 Post by mzilikazi »

If the wireless card is working in Ubuntu then you could do a bootstrap of Debian from Ubuntu. Use cdebootstrap something like so:

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cdebootstrap --arch=i386 --flavor=minimal etch /some/directory http://a_debian_mirror_here 
Alternatively you could get the madwifi source package from Debian and build the driver in your new installation w/ module-assistant.
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alleluia20
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#6 Post by alleluia20 »

By the way, this attitude of not including the propietary drivers in the installations CDs sucks :evil:

Imagine that this guy has nothing but a wifi connection, not a wired one (eg, he lives in a University). How would he manage? And don't tell me that computers come with Windows installed and he can download the package in Windows, because we are always complaining about being enforced to purchase windows with new computers.

There would be absolutely no problem in including propietary drivers in the installation CDs. Many other distros do so. If it is legal to include them in the repositories in non-free, it is legal to include them in the CDs as well.

In order to satisfy Stallman's fans, two versions of the install CDs could be offered: with and without propietary drivers. (And you'll see which version is most downloaded).

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#7 Post by Guest »

After I do the cdebootstrap, what would I need to do afterward to be able to boot into that and possibly erase the existing ubuntu install?

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#8 Post by mzilikazi »

Well you'd have to chroot in and build the wifi driver. The nice part is that you can do it from a GUI and still get help from the web (or where ever) Then just add an entry to grub or install grub from the chroot.
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#9 Post by rickh »

By the way, this attitude of not including the propietary drivers in the installations CDs sucks
The drivers for the RT2500 wireless chipset are in the Main repositories, so I assume they are included on one of the CDs. (Not CD1, I just checked.) The reason they are included is simple. They are free (libre).

Debian's rules are simple enough. If you want your application included, make it free. Drivers for some chipsets are included in the kernel. I think Orinoco, for example. Madwifi, the Intel drivers, etc. have chosen not to do so.

This is not rocket science. Before selecting a distro, check for compatibility with your hardware. If installing it yourself is too difficult, choose another Distro.

Debian's Social Contract includes the promise that no non-free software will be included. Live with it.
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#10 Post by Guest »

Ok, thank you mzilikazi. One last question before I'm off to set it all up. How would I delete everything from the ubuntu install after Debian was setup and included in grub?

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#11 Post by mzilikazi »

Anonymous wrote:Ok, thank you mzilikazi. One last question before I'm off to set it all up. How would I delete everything from the ubuntu install after Debian was setup and included in grub?
Well that's quite simple but don't be in a hurry to delete anything. Make sure everything is as you'd like then just reformat the partition(s) that Ubuntu is installed on.

Sorry I'm out of time or I'd try to give you more details on how to do cdebootstrap. Just don't be in a hurry and read some documentation on the subject and be willing to try a few times. You won't break anything.

So if your free partition was /dev/sda7 you could do it like this:

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cdebootstrap --arch=i386 --flavor=minimal etch /media/sda7 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian
Then chroot in

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su
chroot /media/sda7
m-a update
m-a a-i madwifi
To exit the chroot:

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CTRL+D
Then just add an entry in your existing /boot/grub/menu.lst that points to /dev/sda7 and title it Etch or something.

Post complete errors from the shell for assistance.
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#12 Post by dtwwtd »

Ok, so I decided to register since i'll be using Debian regularly now and hopefully as I learn more I'll be able to help other people someday.

So anyway, my harddrive is 6 gigs and I only made 2 partitions when partitioning for Ubuntu. So I don't have a free partition to do the cdebootstrap to. I didn't have many files on this computer and what I did have were backed up so I'm not afraid of loosing anything. My question now is am I able to boot into the Ubuntu live CD so that my wireless card works and then do the cdebootstrap process from in the live cd?

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#13 Post by BioTube »

Yes. Since LiveCDs typically provide a RAMdisk for you to work with, you should be able to download the package and install it(you can find it here). Just remember to mount the partition first.
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jambamkin
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#14 Post by jambamkin »

Similar problem but i have no CD either.I used one to install but debian won't recognise it (it's on a port replicator) I have a toshiba portege 3400ct pIII, and an wireless card that has worked with madwifi drivers previously on other distros. I have another computer (mac) with net connection but the toshiba has no other means. I have tried getting the madwifi debs and installed many dependences but now i'm stuck with the module assistant bits. I have three debs all seeing each other as dependencies. I tried setting a folder on the system as a source on sources.list.

but also when i open the networks window no connections are shown. and the gnome networking manager window won't stay open it just closes. in the install i choose to "setup networking later".

any clues?

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#15 Post by mzilikazi »

jambamkin wrote:Similar problem but i have no CD either.I used one to install but debian won't recognise it (it's on a port replicator) I have a toshiba portege 3400ct pIII, and an wireless card that has worked with madwifi drivers previously on other distros. I have another computer (mac) with net connection but the toshiba has no other means. I have tried getting the madwifi debs and installed many dependences but now i'm stuck with the module assistant bits. I have three debs all seeing each other as dependencies. I tried setting a folder on the system as a source on sources.list.

but also when i open the networks window no connections are shown. and the gnome networking manager window won't stay open it just closes. in the install i choose to "setup networking later".

any clues?
dpkg is your friend.
As root:

Code: Select all

dpkg -i some_file.deb
Or if you have a folder with multiple debs you could do this:

Code: Select all

cd /some/dir
dpkg -i *.deb
Debian Sid Laptops:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55 / 1.5G
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2390 @ 1.86GHz / 3G

dtwwtd
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#16 Post by dtwwtd »

Ok, currently, I am booted into a kubuntu live cd. I formated my hda1 partition. Then I mounted and cdebootstraped it. I just chrooted into it and then I go to install the madwifi drivers from the distro guide in their wiki.
when I do apt-get update this is what I get:

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Err http://ftp.us.debian.org etch Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Reading package lists... Done
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ftp.us.debian.org etch/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_etch_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Is there something that I have to do to the DNS settings after chrooting?

edit:
I also had to remove the --flavor=minimal in order to get the cdebootstrap program to run.

edit edit:
I found the needed fix for DNS through google

jambamkin
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#17 Post by jambamkin »

thank you -fixed

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#18 Post by mzilikazi »

Well since you've removed your grub you can install it from your chroot:

Code: Select all

apt-get install grub
grub-install /dev/hda
update-grub
Also I'm not certain which packages you've decided to install but this should get you started. Just skip the beginning until you reach the apt-get install part.
Debian Sid Laptops:
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dtwwtd
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#19 Post by dtwwtd »

Ok thanks for the tip, although I'm not quite ready to leave my live cd yet.
When I follow the instructions on the madwifi site for installing on debian I get warnings from perl.

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perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
        LANGUAGE = (unset),
        LC_ALL = (unset),
        LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

I get that sometime during every step of the module-assist method.
and then finally when i type:
m-a a-i madwifi
which is the last installation step I get the same per warnings and then it tells me it can't find the linux headers

Code: Select all


Updated infos about 1 packages
Getting source for kernel version: 2.6.20-15-generic
apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic
Which then later during the same command ends up not letting it build the drivers.
Is there something that I'm missing here?
Thanks again for your help.

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#20 Post by BioTube »

Did you remember to install the linux-headers package for your kernel?
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