# Another ACX100/DWL650+ guide

## larand54

I just would like to share my latest effort start using my wlan on linux.

On my laptop I've been using a slackware dist for a long time as my second os. In windows XP I have always been able to use the wlan adapter DWL650+ from Dlink.

I thought it was a pity not beeing able to use it on linux and finally I found help here on Gentoo:s forum.

Well, I found people have had a lot of trouble making it work. So did I.

Finally I found a straight line to success.

Here's my guide. Note that it almost all come from other people at this forum but it has been picked up from different places and spiced with my own experience and I'm to lazy to gather all names.

Note this is made on a slackware dist.

======================================

1.

Fetched the latest driver from:

http://rhlx01.fht-esslingen.de/~andi/acx100/

2. Downloaded this:

http://rhlx01.fht-esslingen.de/~andi/acx100/acx100-0.2.0pre8_plus_fixes_45.tar.gz

3. Compiled a new kernel - in this case 2.6.9

No patch used.

Used following settings:

Device Drivers/Networking support/Wireless LAN drivers (non-hamradio) & Wireless Extensions

You also need:

Bus options (PCI, PCMCIA, EISA, MCA, ISA)/PCMCIA/CardBus supportCardBus yenta-compatible bridge support (YENTA)

Or whatever yo use.

4. Fetched firmware

Created the directory: /usr/share/acx

I copied them from my windows directory: c:\windows\system32\drivers

Copied all *.bin-files to /usr/share/acx

WLANGEN.bin,RADIO0d.bin,RADIO11.bin,RADIO15.bin

The last driver I don't know if needed. Probably not.

renamed all drivers from *.bin to *.BIN

5. Installed driver

Unpacked the driver archive

cd into its dir.

```

run ./Configure   - note! Uppercase 'C'

run make

run make install

```

6. Testing it

```

modprobe acx_pci

iwconfig wlan0 essid yourid channel n mode auto key 1234567890

```

remark: I use 64bit wep and hex-format of key. Preceed the key value with 's:' if you use string. i.e. 'key s:abcdklmnopq'

I'm not using the dhcp-service from my ap but from my firewall.

```

dhcpcd -t 10 -h "myhost" -d wlan0

```

Working!  :Very Happy: 

The misstakes I made was:

Forgetting renaming the firmware from .bin to .BIN

Not moving them to the wright directory

I set the key values to ascii, not knowing that I really used Hex.

Finally I missed setting the option '-h' before hostname in the dhcpcd command.

NOTE!!!!  IMPORTANT !

I read that not all DWL650 are using the acx100 chip and consequently will not work with this driver.

First check with the lspci-command.

Output should look like this:

```

bash-2.05b# lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)

00:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)

00:03.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)

00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)

00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)

00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)

00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)

00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1978 Maestro 2E (rev 10)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M AGP 2x (rev 64)

02:00.0 Network controller: Texas Instruments ACX 100 22Mbps Wireless Interface

06:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3CCFE575CT Cyclone CardBus (rev 10)

bash-2.05b#

```

Note the second last line containing the ACX 100.

What I now need to do is to make it start up automatically. I know there must be some files to be setup, but which and how?

Ok I using a slackware dist and it's not the same as in gentoo but the most important part must be common or?

Thanks in advance if anyone can light up some things here.

----------

## Chaosite

Or, in Gentoo (Thanks, Genstef!  :Smile: ),

```
emerge acx100
```

And to get it to setup automatically on startup, read a bit about the new extensions to the bootup code in the new masked baselayout versions. Especially the part about wireless (Thanks, UberLord!  :Smile: ).

----------

## kimchi_sg

 *Chaosite wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ```
> emerge acx100
> ```
> ...

 

Another reason why Gentoo > slackware.

To OP: stop torturing yourself getting the interface to auto-load in slackware. It is easy as ABC over here. Heed the call of Gentoo!  :Very Happy: 

@Chaosite: why not just spill the beans about the wireless script improvement in the new baselayout? Specifically, /etc/conf.d/wireless. (I'm giving 75% of the plot away already, hehe.  :Smile: )

----------

## larand54

Hmm... Changing slack to Gentoo..

W'll I have thought about it but I already have 4 Machines with Gentoo on. So this is my only non-gentoo machine.

I think I at least should try make this work automatically but maybe I could test it the other machines and look what get's installed on that emerge.

On one of the others I got a DWLG520. Can you make that work in Gentoo?

That's not an acx100.

----------

## kimchi_sg

 *larand54 wrote:*   

> On one of the others I got a DWLG520. Can you make that work in Gentoo?
> 
> That's not an acx100.

 

What is the output of lspci for that card?

Also, I imagine ndiswrapper can get it to behave.  :Smile: 

----------

## emes

```
emerge madwifi-driver
```

----------

## larand54

 *kimchi_sg wrote:*   

>  *larand54 wrote:*   On one of the others I got a DWLG520. Can you make that work in Gentoo?
> 
> That's not an acx100. 
> 
> What is the output of lspci for that card?
> ...

 

This is how lspci looks like:

```

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)

0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)

0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)

0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)

0000:00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)

0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8029(AS)

0000:00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

0000:00:11.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI] (rev 01)

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

s

```

It's an Atheros AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01) 

.

----------

## Chaosite

Like emes said, madwifi.

----------

## larand54

hmm.. trying to emerge madwifi-driver gives me this:

```
/var/tmp/portage/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019/work/ath/if_ath_pci.c: In function `ath_pci_resume':

/var/tmp/portage/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019/work/ath/if_ath_pci.c:254: error: too many arguments to function `pci_restore_state'

distcc[8392] ERROR: compile /var/tmp/portage/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019/work/ath/if_ath_pci.c on jupiter,lzo failed

make[3]: *** [/var/tmp/portage/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019/work/ath/if_ath_pci.o] Error 1

make[2]: *** [_module_/var/tmp/portage/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019/work/ath] Error 2

make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.10-gentoo-r6'

make[1]: *** [all] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory `/var/tmp/portage/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019/work/ath'

make: *** [all] Error 1

!!! ERROR: net-wireless/madwifi-driver-0.1_pre20041019 failed.

!!! Function src_compile, Line 57, Exitcode 2

!!! (no error message)

!!! If you need support, post the topmost build error, NOT this status message.

```

I know it's not a bug, it can't be....or can it?

Anyone who can point out something to look for?

----------

## MrSums

I just got my card working using ndiswrapper - and now I find I could have emerged "acx100". Does this work better than ndiswrapper? what are the benefits? I assume one beenfit will be that kismet will work as is doesn't seem to using ndiswrapper

Thanks

Robert

----------

## RayDude

No. It does not. I could not get acx100 to work with my card. ndiswrapper works great, stick with it.

 *MrSums wrote:*   

> I just got my card working using ndiswrapper - and now I find I could have emerged "acx100". Does this work better than ndiswrapper? what are the benefits? I assume one beenfit will be that kismet will work as is doesn't seem to using ndiswrapper
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Robert

 

----------

