[Orinoco-users] Does Orinoco GOLD (11mbit/s) support Ad hoc Mode

[Jun Yi]

    I installed Fedora 9 (Linux) in my X60 laptop, and use Orinoco GOLD (via PCMCIA) as my wireless card.  I can use this card to access the internet if I set it to infrastructure mode. However, when I use the same kind of Orinoco Gold card on two laptops (both X60), and try to connect the two laptops in the ad hoc manner, I failed (and tried many times). I am quite sure that the ad hoc configuration is right (the same channel number, the same network name, static network address, networkmask,  ad hoc mode, no encryption,  etc.).  I use the same ad hoc setting on two embedded IPW3945 intel wireless cards on the two laptops, the ad hoc connection works (I can ping one laptop from the other). 

   So, I am wondering if Orinoco Gold cards support ad hoc mode?  Did someone successfully setup ad hoc connections using Orinoco Gold cards?  Or someone can tell me what is the special place to set up ad hoc connections using Orinoco Gold cards.

   I check the driver. I guess it is the newest version and of course it is loaded into the kernel.

   Thanks a lot

June

[Dave]

Post by Jun Yi
I installed Fedora 9 (Linux) in my X60 laptop, and use Orinoco GOLD
(via PCMCIA) as my wireless card. I can use this card to access the
internet if I set it to infrastructure mode. However, when I use the
same kind of Orinoco Gold card on two laptops (both X60), and try to
connect the two laptops in the ad hoc manner, I failed (and tried many
times). I am quite sure that the ad hoc configuration is right (the same
channel number, the same network name, static network address,
networkmask, ad hoc mode, no encryption, etc.).
So, I am wondering if Orinoco Gold cards support ad hoc mode? Did
someone successfully setup ad hoc connections using Orinoco Gold cards?

The driver is supposed to support ad-hoc mode for all variants. However older firmware may only support a proprietary ad-hoc protocol. If one of the cards has the older firmware and the other the newer, then this would mean they could not communicate.

Checked the driver information output to the kernel log. 'dmesg | grep eth1' should do it. One of the lines of output should state which ad-hoc mode is supported.

If the firmware is the problem, you may have to reflash the firmware in windows. If the cards are Agere based, you may be able to use the patches recently posted to orinoco-devel and linux-wireless which enable firmware download.

If it is not a firmware problem, then I suggest you post the commands that you are running and the dmesg output.


Regards,

Dave.
PS I don't run ad-hoc mode, so can't check myself.

[Jun Yi]

Thanks very much, The following is the output of "dmesg | grep eth1":
dmesg | grep eth1

eth1: Hardware identity 0001:0001:0004:0002
eth1: Station identity  001f:0001:0007:001c
eth1: Firmware determined as Lucent/Agere 7.28
eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported
eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported
eth1: WEP supported, 104-bit key
eth1: MAC address 00:02:2d:2e:59:82
eth1: Station name "HERMES I"
eth1: ready
eth1: orinoco_cs at 0.0, irq 3, io 0x9100-0x913f
udev: renamed network interface eth1 to eth2

It seems my orinoco cards only support ad hoc demo mode (I supposed that is the proprietary ad hoc mode from Lucent).  Is that right?. If true,  I need to reflash the firmware in windows. Could you tell me how to reflash the firmware (where to download the correct micro code, firmware version that support standard ad hoc mode).

Very much appreciate your help.

Jun Yi


--- On Tue, 8/12/08, Dave <***@googlemail.com> wrote:
From: Dave <***@googlemail.com>
Subject: Re: [Orinoco-users] Does Orinoco GOLD (11mbit/s) support Ad hoc Mode
To: ***@yahoo.com
Cc: orinoco-***@lists.sourceforge.net
Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 4:33 PM

Post by Jun Yi
I installed Fedora 9 (Linux) in my X60 laptop, and use Orinoco GOLD
(via PCMCIA) as my wireless card. I can use this card to access the
internet if I set it to infrastructure mode. However, when I use the
same kind of Orinoco Gold card on two laptops (both X60), and try to
connect the two laptops in the ad hoc manner, I failed (and tried many
times). I am quite sure that the ad hoc configuration is right (the same
channel number, the same network name, static network address,
networkmask, ad hoc mode, no encryption, etc.).
So, I am wondering if Orinoco Gold cards support ad hoc mode? Did
someone successfully setup ad hoc connections using Orinoco Gold cards?

The driver is supposed to support ad-hoc mode for all variants. However older
firmware may only support a proprietary ad-hoc protocol. If one of the cards has
the older firmware and the other the newer, then this would mean they could not
communicate.

Checked the driver information output to the kernel log. 'dmesg | grep
eth1' should do it. One of the lines of output should state which ad-hoc
mode is supported.

If the firmware is the problem, you may have to reflash the firmware in
windows. If the cards are Agere based, you may be able to use the patches
recently posted to orinoco-devel and linux-wireless which enable firmware
download.

If it is not a firmware problem, then I suggest you post the commands that you
are running and the dmesg output.


Regards,

Dave.
PS I don't run ad-hoc mode, so can't check myself.

[Dave]

Post by Jun Yi
dmesg | grep eth1
eth1: Firmware determined as Lucent/Agere 7.28
eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported
eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported
It seems my orinoco cards only support ad hoc demo mode (I supposed that
is the proprietary ad hoc mode from Lucent). Is that right?.

Your firmware supports both the proprietary and the standard Ad-Hoc modes on this card. Check the other card just in case they are different. On the assumption it is the same, this should work.

Post by Jun Yi
If true,
I need to reflash the firmware in windows. Could you tell me how to
reflash the firmware (where to download the correct micro code, firmware
version that support standard ad hoc mode).

Since you have Agere cards you can patch your kernel to load firmware to RAM. See the patches in the thread starting at <http://marc.info/?l=orinoco-devel&m=121767210026318>. You only need patches 3-10.

Have you seen Q4 at <http://www.nongnu.org/orinoco/documentation/>? If not have a look and try both IEEE and demo modes.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas.


Dave.

Post by Jun Yi

Post by Jun Yi
I installed Fedora 9 (Linux) in my X60 laptop, and use Orinoco GOLD
(via PCMCIA) as my wireless card. I can use this card to access the
internet if I set it to infrastructure mode. However, when I use the
same kind of Orinoco Gold card on two laptops (both X60), and try to
connect the two laptops in the ad hoc manner, I failed (and tried many
times). I am quite sure

that the ad hoc configuration is right (the same

Post by Jun Yi
channel number, the same network name, static network address,
networkmask, ad hoc mode, no encryption, etc.).
So, I am wondering if Orinoco Gold cards support ad hoc mode? Did
someone successfully setup ad hoc connections using Orinoco Gold cards?

The driver is supposed to support ad-hoc mode for all variants. However older
firmware may only support a proprietary ad-hoc protocol. If one of the cards has
the older firmware and the other the newer, then this would mean they could not
communicate.
Checked the driver information output to the kernel log. 'dmesg | grep
eth1' should do it. One of the lines of output should state which ad-hoc
mode is supported.
If the firmware is the problem, you may have to reflash the firmware in
windows. If the cards are Agere based, you may be able to use the patches
recently
posted to orinoco-devel and linux-wireless which enable firmware
download.
If it is not a firmware problem, then I suggest you post the commands that you
are running and the dmesg output.
Regards,
Dave.
PS I don't run ad-hoc mode, so can't check myself.