With my new found "Su" power, I compiled the RTL8191SEvB wireless driver in Crunchbang and am documenting all the (as it turns out, rather minor) hurdles and leaps here. The good news is if I can do it, you can surely do it too. I am pretty much the lowest of the lowest common denominators when it comes to dealing with linux. And no, I am not being humble. Linux and I haven't found much common grounds for camaraderie yet. However, we tolerate each other because we simply have to. The alternatives are even more hideous and strewn with frustrations.
0. Get the driver from the Realtek site at this
Get both RTL8192SE and RTL8191SE-VA2 if you are doubtful of what to get.
Special Note: Pay attention to which version of the driver you are downloading. First check your kernel version with:
uname -r
Then pick either
--> Linux driver for kernel 2.6.34 (and earlier) or
--> Linux driver for kernel 2.6.35 (and later)
depending on what version came up with uname -r. I am telling you based on my bitter experiences that you will end up wasting a ton of time if you download the wrong version.
1. Crunchbang has a problem with su and can't really switch you into Su root mode unless you do this: At the terminal type:
sudo su
followed by
passwd
The system should now ask you for a new root user password. Enter something that you will remember. You are set with a Su command to go into root mode like in regular debian.
2. Type the make command at the terminal:
make
If you have a vanilla no-frills crunchbang installation "make" is sure to complain with:
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [all] Error 2
2a. It's whining about the lack of kernel headers so install the kernel headers:
apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64
(...which makes you wonder why the kernel was headless to begin with. Perhaps to save space. Perhaps to add to your vexation. Who knows.)
--
Note: If you want to install these headers manually, these are the files you need from the debian repository:
- linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common_2.6.32-31_amd64.deb
- linux-kbuild-2.6.32_2.6.32-1_amd64.deb
- gcc-4.3_4.3.5-4_amd64.deb
- gcc-4.3-base_4.3.5-4_amd64.deb
- cpp-4.3_4.3.5-4_amd64
- linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64_2.6.32-31_amd64.deb
- linux-headers-2.6-amd64_2.6.32+29_amd64.deb
In that order.
3. You can then go ahead and issue the make command again:
make
. A ton of mumbo-jumbo will scroll across your terminal but most of it will be orderly except this line:
/rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0019.1207.2010/HAL/rtl8192/rtl8192s/r8192S_firmware.c:722: warning: format ‘%d’ expects type ‘int’, but argument 3 has type ‘long unsigned int’
Some not-very-consequential warning. I am told it could be because of the carelessly or poorly written code for the driver. Which is also claimed as the reason (by debian overlords in the #debian channel on the irc.debian.net server) why it was not included in the native Debian kernel and is only scheduled for inclusion in the 3.0 version after some squabbling or quality checks or both... or none. Again, who knows what's going on the dark recesses of kernel-developers minds.
4. Assuming, there are no other warnings and errors (there were none in mine), issue the make install command:
make install
Another scroll of messages where linux will enter and exit various directory locations will follow. Hopefully these entries and exits will pass without incident. If there is some permission error, you probably don't have Su power. See step 1. Sudo doesn't cut it for the whiny RTL8191SEvB driver.
5. Finally. SHUT DOWN completely and reboot. Hopefully you will be able to see your wireless networks now. If not, you have probably wasted your time reading these instructions and it's time to go and read the other zillion forum posts about this difficult wireless driver on the rest of the net. Even if none of them end up helping you, they would have, at the very least, taken a shot at helping build some character - which you will need for putting up with no wireless in a laptop.
My comment was finished. I accidentially clicked "save comment" whilst cleaning up the dregs of extra wordage.
You didn't quite finish your comment there... What were you going to say?
And yes, bootstrap procedures run miserably and crash often on Windose and McMacs.
I guess I was lucky when I switched over to Linux in 2001, when I first installed Mandrake 8.1 everything worked on my compaq box. Believe it or not, everything didn't work in Windows even though it came installed with Windows. That's why I tried Linux to begin with.
My assumption is that you couldn't do what you wanted in osX or Windows at all or you would have used one or both of them instead. So riddle me this, how much pain would you have to go through to do what you wanted in osX or Windows?
Linux lets you do stuff that the creators of other operating systems don't want you to. Sometimes that freedom comes at a painful price.
I'm with (e:paul), I do think that you have already gone through the most painful part. And I don't even like koolaid cyanide or no cyanide. Btw, I think Jim Jones was cheap and used flavor-aid instead.
I think that the
You sound like a cult-leader who has just administered cyanide-laced kool-aid to his followers.
Gasp. was the quiche poisoned?!
I think the pain part is really going to be mostly over now.