# ISO bootup and wireless

## Mike Downs

Hi all,

This is my first post, so please execuse me.  I've looked all over online and read many posts here on this forum, but don't seem to be able to solve my problem.

I'm trying to setup my computer as dual boot Windows 7 and Gentoo.

I make an ISO CD so that I can boot up Gentoo from there.  I've repartitioned my disk, but I don't seem to be able to configure the network interface.

I don't have a wired ethernet, only wireless.  I have a Belkin USB dongle for the wireless and it used the RTL8188SU chip.  I found and downloaded the linux driver for this, but I don't know how to get it from my PC or a CD or a flash drive after I've booted from the ISO CD.  I can't even eject the ISO CD so that I can put in a CD that has the driver/module on it that I need.  There is an older RTL driver module on the ISO CD, but I tried that and it didn't work.  The only interface that shows up is lo:

Any suggestions?

I'm willing to buy/send away for a CD/DVD that has the complete Gentoo on it (not just the minimal ISO).  Is this available anywhere?  I haven't been able to find it.

Thanks in advance

----------

## Hu

You are not required to use the Gentoo LiveCD to install.  Any LiveCD with a recent kernel for your intended architecture can be used.  The Gentoo project provides the LiveCDs as an easy option that works for many people.  If you know of a Linux LiveCD that supports your hardware, you can use that.  If you do not know of any, you could try the SystemRescueCD.  It is Gentoo-based and popular for installations that the Gentoo LiveCD cannot handle, but I do not know if it can operate your wireless device.

Some LiveCDs are able to mount NTFS, the filesystem used by Windows 7.  If you have a LiveCD that can do that, you could save the files you want into your Windows profile folder, then mount the Windows filesystem from Linux to obtain the files.  You mention a flash drive, and that is another option.  Most USB sticks show up as /dev/sdX for various X, so you could try mounting the USB stick.  Assuming it appeared as /dev/sdb, try mkdir -p /mnt/stick && mount -o ro -t auto /dev/sdb1 /mnt/stick.  Most USB sticks come with a single partition and place their filesystem in that partition.  If you have no such partition, try using /dev/sdb instead of /dev/sdb1.  A bad mount will simply fail without destroying data.

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## Mike Downs

Well, you helped me get a little farther.  I booted Gentoo from the systemrescueCD with the docache option which let me change CDs.

I copied over the driver and tried to 'make it'.  I'm using the instructions that came in the driver download right from RTL.

It failed before getting anywhere as follows:

% make

make ARCH=x86_64 CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/3.0.8-std240-amd64/build

M=/mnt/windows/Temp/RTL8188SU_usb_linux_v2.6.6.0.20110401/rtl8712_8188_8191_8192SU_usb_linux_v2.6.6.0.20110401

modules

make: *** /lib/modules/3.0.8-std240-amd64/build: No such file or directory.

Stop.

make: *** [modules] Error 2

So I went to look at this missing directory and found:

drwxr-xr-x  4 root root  522 Nov  1 19:08 .

drwxr-xr-x  4 root root   79 Nov  1 19:08 ..

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   45 Nov  1 19:08 build ->/tmp/kerncache/rescue64/usr/src/linux-3.0-std

drwxr-xr-x 11 root root  176 Oct 26 17:37 kernel

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root   37 Nov  1 19:09 misc

-rw-r--r--  1 root root 454K Nov  1 19:08 modules.alias

-rw-r--r--  1 root root 449K Nov  1 19:08 modules.alias.bin

-rw-r--r--  1 root root 6.6K Oct 26 17:37 modules.builtin

-rw-r--r--  1 root root 8.6K Nov  1 19:08 modules.builtin.bin

The problem with the build->tmp... link is that 'kerncache' doesn't exit.  Here's /tmp

root@sysresccd /tmp % ls /tmp

total 8.0K

drwxrwxrwt  7 root root 180 Nov  8 12:04 .

drwxrwxrwt 27 root root 220 Nov  8 11:54 ..

drwx------  2 root root  60 Nov  8 12:01 gpg-BdS6OX

drwx------  2 root root  60 Nov  8 12:01 gpg-IMP0tL

drwxrwxrwt  2 root root  60 Nov  8 12:01 .ICE-unix

drwx------  2 root root  80 Nov  8 12:01 orbit-root

-r--r--r--  1 root root  11 Nov  8 12:01 .X0-lock

drwxrwxrwt  2 root root  60 Nov  8 12:01 .X11-unix

-rw-------  1 root root 418 Nov  8 12:01 .xfsm-ICE-8K3G4V

I searched the entire linux directory structure and couldn't find 'kerncache' anywhere, but there at least 20 links that point to that /tmp/kerncache.

Am I doing something wrong?

Does the makefile that came with the driver have to be modified to reference somewhere other than /tmp/kerncache?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

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## NeddySeagoon

Mike Downs,

The liveCDs contain only the working binaries to keep them small.  To build a kernel modules you need at least the headers and .config file for the kernel you actually have, as the out of kernel module needs to refer to these files.

Worse, liveCDs don't usually have a toolchain, as its not needed, so they can't actually compile anything anyway. They are intended to provide a few tools to allow you to partition your drive, make filesystems and download the stage3, which is an embronic Gentoo.  Thats where the toolchain is.

SystemRescueCD does support a lot of wireless chipsets. 

If you boot SystemRescueCD and run 

```
ifconfig -a
```

do you have a wlan0 ?

If so the driver is loaded but the interface is not up. Thats a configuration issue.

If there is no wlan0, try  

```
modprobe r8192s_usb
```

and 

```
modprobe r8712u
```

which module you need depends on the kernel version you have.

Provided one of those works (just returns the prompt) you should see wlan0 in

```
ifconfig -a
```

What happens next depends on your wireless setup.  With no crypto, 

```
net-setup wlan0
```

should JustWork.

dmesg will give lots of useful info.

If all else fails there is Sneakernet to get you started.

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