miniPCI WLAN card on RoBoard with Ubuntu Linux

[Marsman]

Hi all,

I got my RoBoard that far:
- installed Ubunutu 9.04 following the excellent howto http://forums.trossenrobotics.com/tutor ... of-3-3268/
- configured Grub to go only to runlevel 3 (ssh)
- fixed IP LAN address for the RoBaord in my home network
- able to log into the RoBoard from my PC using XMing; can start X-Applications
- replaced miniPCI Volari graphic card with miniPCI WLAN card (Via VT6655)
- started RoBoard (w/o graphic card)
- again, able to log into the RoBoard from my PC using XMing; can start X-Applications
.....
The only issue is that Linux did not recognize the VT6655 WLAN card. So I still have to use the LAN cable to connect. Does someone know if there is a driver available for this WLAN card under Linux?

Would appreciate any support.

Thanks,

Thorsten

[limor]

http://www.viaarena.com/displaydrivers. ... bCatID=179

[Marsman]

Hi limor,

thanks a lot for that valuable link. I downloaded the driver and installed it.

Now the obvious challenge is to start the RoBoard without graphic card but with WLAN card, instead. Is there a way to monitor the kernel messages so I can see if it starts up and what the IP over WLAN will be (iwconfig)?

Cheers,

Marsman

[PedroR]

The Roboard has a console redirection feature that lets you see all output through the COM port.

I am not too familiar with this but I know you need to enable console redirection in the BIOS and I believe there is also a switch you need to use on the Roboard.
Not sure which though; check out the download section on the Roboard website as you may be able to find that info there.

Console output is redirected to COM1 which is RS232.

[crane]

I am also trying to use the wifi card, but having trouble installing the driver. I am running Debian 5.0.

I downloaded the VIA driver and tried to compile the driver, but getting this error. Same error for both "make clean" and "make install".

rb-100:/home/roboard/Drivers/Wifi/VT6655_Linux_src_v1.20.02_x86# make clean
set -e; for d in driver ; do make -C $d clean ; done
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/roboard/Drivers/Wifi/VT6655_Linux_src_v1.20.02_x86/driver'
Makefile:93: /lib/modules/2.6.29.1-vortex86dx/build/.config: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `/lib/modules/2.6.29.1-vortex86dx/build/.config'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/roboard/Drivers/Wifi/VT6655_Linux_src_v1.20.02_x86/driver'
make: *** [clean] Error 2

Basically it says it cannot find the .config file.
/lib/modules/2.6.29.1-vortex86dx/build/.config

Any tips? Or, can anyone uploaded the compiled .ko file?

Thanks.

[ea4ps]

Do you found the answer?

I'm in same situation. I would be very appreciated if you shared your solution.

Thank you

[Chaosmann]

Do you have installed the kernel sources from roboard.com or only the kernel?

[ea4ps]

Do you have installed the kernel sources from roboard.com or only the kernel?

Thank for your answer! Actually not! because always I tried download it I can't extract it. Now I'm going to download it again, I hope to be more lucky this time.
Take the opportunity to ask you something, is normal to install package or libreries with aptitude or is better to do compiling them?

Thank you!

[Chaosmann]

Do you have installed the kernel sources from roboard.com or only the kernel?

Thank for your answer! Actually not! because always I tried download it I can't extract it. Now I'm going to download it again, I hope to be more lucky this time.
Take the opportunity to ask you something, is normal to install package or libreries with aptitude or is better to do compiling them?

Thank you!

tar xzfvp linux-2.6.29.1.tar.gz
With this command it should go.

I normaly prefere to install things over apt, yum or zypper. Depending on the System. In fact that they take care of the dependencies.

[ea4ps]

Ok, finally I have been able extract it renaming extension (tar.gz --> tar.bz2).
Now, I will try to compile the kernel source... Im reading README.txt and I can see that you can do a couple of ways. You recommend me something? some change into the kernel?

EDIT: I need copy in the root directory (in the SD card) the source full and I will can't delete this directory after the installation? I say this because I have only 1GB capacity

[SoBot]

I also want to get the VNT6655 working. So I am trying to install the Linux Kernel package 2.6.34.1 and the source to install the driver. But if I install the Kernel package 2.6.34.1 I cant start up, it gives the error: kernel panic - not syncing : VFS: unable to mount root FS on unknown-block. Do I need this kernel and the source to make the VNT6655 wifi card work?

[dragonax]

Install ubuntu 10.04 follow same tutorial as ubuntu 9.04. Only thing I changed was the file system as ext4 instead of ext3.
I got usb wirelss, webcam and bluetooth working this way. Then you can just add the roboard kernal (if you want) after into your grub menu so you can choose which kernal to boot from.

Only problem was I couldn't set the screen resolution to more than 800*600 and the wired network card is not working

Hope this helps

[SoBot]

Does your Ubuntu 10.04 run fast enough? I have Xubuntu installed to get better performance because 10.04 runs very slow on my roboard? Anycase, I have a lot of stuff installed now and I dont want to re-install them all. So I'll have to stick with Xubuntu. I got the kernel installed now and boot up with it. I still need to install the kernel source to get past this error: "Makefile:93: /lib/modules/2.6.34.1-vortex86-sg/build/.config: No such file or directory", but I dont know how. I only kow the basics of linux. I have the tar.bz2 file extracted, now what? Please help!

[dragonax]

Yes ur right ubuntu 10.04 doesn't run as fast but what I do is run it in command line mode without the gnome gui. If you like you can back up all the partitions on ur sd card on to your pc and install again. To back up I just used ubuntu on a desktop pc (vmware) connec sd card then use "sudo partitionmanager" and select each partition and backup. It took about 15mins to backup 8gb sc card. also I have restored is successfully onto same sd card but not sure if you can restore to different sd card

[SoBot]

Ok, I wil try this now. So How did you manage to get ubuntu to start up in console mode automatically?