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May 14, 2006

SUSE 10.1 and RT2500 Wi-Fi

by @ 2:23 pm. Filed under Hardware, Virus, HowTos/Tutorials, SUSE

I installed SUSE Linux 10.1 just to realize that my wireless card, which is Asus WL-130g PCI, supporting 802.11b/g, is not functioning. The card is based on Ralink's RT2500 chip. Then I noticed in release notes that the driver is not included. By saying not included, I mean that openSUSE team decided that the current drivers are unstable with the latest supplied kernel, and removed it from there. Same is true with Atheros based cards.

Here is a statement from Release Notes:

The following kernel module package was changed internally:
Various drivers for wireless LAN cards. The madwifi driver for Atheros WLAN cards was removed.

For technical reasons, it was necessary to drop support for Ralink WLAN cards. The old driver no longer works with kernel version 2.6.16 and the new version is not yet stable enough. We intend to release an update as soon as the new version is stable enough.

I was very upset as I really needed the card to function, which is installed on desktop, to have access to internet from notebook and other wireless devices, as my desktop also functions as router. The next was to compile drivers manually. As I was thinking of this I remembered all the trouble that I had to go with SUSE 9.1 to make this card work, as compiling the driver was giving me headache. But to my surprise all went very smooth and very easy.

Many are having the same problem, which can be noticed from SUSE related forums. To make things easier for everybody I deicied to write a walktrgough.

As usual, you will need to make sure that following are installed: kernel-source, gcc and make

1. Download the latest CVS for RT2500 based WiFi cards from here (right click -> save)

2. Once downloaded extract the file.

3. Now we need to compile a module for the wireless card that we have. Go to folder where you extracted the archive. Open folder called "Module" and execute the following command:

~> make

May 12, 2006

SUSE 10.1: ATI Drivers Installation

by @ 1:19 pm. Filed under Hardware, Virus, HowTos/Tutorials, SUSE

Got my SUSE Linux 10.1 up and runnin and already enjoying, though still got to go through all the customization. I will probably post a review on my experience with SUSE 10.1. But one thing for sure, the ATI drivers gave me a little kick, before I came up with these instructions, that I hope will work on most of the computers. Remember that I was trying to install these drivers as to later be able to install and launch Xgl/Compiz on desktop.

This time I decided to make the howto with more pics, thinking that maybe this way it will be easier for you guys to understand what is going on. At least I tried my best, well nearly. Here we go.

As of writing this I am running SUSE Linux 10.1 (maybe you already forgot), x86_64 platform (AMD64), with my ATI Radeon X800 series PCI-E interface on DFI nForce4 Ultra based motherboard. The latest driver version is 8.24.8

Once again there are prerequisites before you begin installing the drivers. You will need to have the following installed. All these can be found on your SUSE 10.1 CDs or DVD, unless by the time you will be reading this post and already there are online updates available for these packages, via Yast/Apt/Yum repositories. The packages are:

1. kernel-source 2.gcc 3. make

Info for n00b or rather newbies: When you see "~>" bfore command, that means execute it as user, and when you see "#", you have to be root (by typing "su" and supplying the password when asked). No disrespect … :-]

Once the above mentioned packages are installed, let's prepare the kernel modules (not necessary, but no harm in doing so). Execute the following commands (as root):

# cd /usr/src/linux

# make mrproper

# make cloneconfig

# make modules_prepare

and one last command to clean the kernel source:

# make clean

Also, if you have tried installing drivers before, let's remove them properly by executing the command:

# rpm -e $(rpm -qa | grep fglrx)

Now to installing drivers. From the following screenshot you can clearly see that when a fresh copy of SUSE 10.1 is installed, OpenGL rendering is supported by MESA supplied drivers. Basically, when you see MESA - that means the ATI drivers are not up and running. This can be found by running either of the commands: glxinfo or fglrxinfo (as user, not root)

April 10, 2006

2 neue Einsteiger-TFTs von Hyundai Imagequest

by @ 4:51 pm. Filed under Hardware, Virus
Mit zwei neuen LCDs will Hyundai Imagequest vor allem Einsteiger ansprechen.

Nvidia: Neue Forceware-Treiber für Windows Vista

by @ 12:31 pm. Filed under Hardware, Virus
Nvidia hat am Wochenende neue Forceware-Treiber für Windows Vista veröffentlicht.

Shuttle Barebone SD36G5 mit Intel Viiv

by @ 12:21 pm. Filed under Hardware, Virus
Mit dem XPC Barebone SD36G5 hat Shuttle ein System mit Intels Viiv-Technologie vorgestellt. Ein solcher Mini-PC zielt auf dem Einsatz im Wohnzimmer.

April 7, 2006

Canon-Drucker jetzt mit Brockhaus

by @ 11:34 am. Filed under Hardware, CeBIT 2006
Canon stattet seinen Pixma-Drucker iP1600 ab sofort mit einem Brockhaus-Nachschlagewerk aus.

April 6, 2006

Rückruf: Ultron tauscht gefährliche Netzteile externer Festplatten um

by @ 2:16 pm. Filed under Hardware, CeBIT 2006
Die Firma Ultron warnt vor gefährlichen Netzteilen, die mit einer Reihe von externen Festplatten ausgeliefert wurden, die das Unternehmen anbietet. Im Extremfall könnten Besitzer eines der betroffenen Modelle mit einer lebensgefährlichen Spannung in Berührung kommen. Die Netzteile werden kostenlos ausgetauscht.

April 5, 2006

PC-WELT.tv: Notebook mit zwei Grafikkarten

by @ 8:35 pm. Filed under Hardware, CeBIT 2006
Thema diesmal: Ein Notebook, in dem zwei Grafikkarten parallel im SLI-Verbund werkeln, das mit 6,64 Kilogramm aber kein Leichtgewicht und mit einem Preis von rund 4000 Euro kein Schnäppchen ist.

AMD: Preisliste für Sockel-AM2-CPUs aufgetaucht

by @ 6:18 pm. Filed under Hardware, CeBIT 2006
AMDs neue Sockel-AM2-CPUs sollen etwas günstiger in den Handel kommen als ihre Sockel-939-Pendants. Eine Ausnahme stellt das neue Spitzenmodell FX-62 dar.

Sony übernimmt Kamera-Support für Konica Minolta

by @ 5:02 pm. Filed under Hardware, CeBIT 2006
Sony gibt bekannt, dass das Unternehmen künftig den Support für Konica-Minolta-Kameras übernehmen wird.