FS#6438 - zd1211-r83-5 doesn't work

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by Israel Saeta (dukebody) - Saturday, 17 February 2007, 09:55 GMT
Last edited by James Rayner (iphitus) - Thursday, 14 June 2007, 02:11 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Kernel
Status Closed
Assigned To James Rayner (iphitus)
Architecture not specified
Severity High
Priority Normal
Reported Version 0.7.2 Gimmick
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 0
Private No

Details

After upgrading these packages:

upgraded kernel-headers (2.6.19.1-1 -> 2.6.20-1)
upgraded kernel26 (2.6.19.2-1 -> 2.6.20-3)
upgraded zd1211 (r83-3 -> r83-5)

my wifi connection stopped working. The system recognizes the usb-dongle and wlan0 interface appears, but when trying to connect with /etc/rc.d/network restart, dhcp returns a timeout. Here are the related logs:

Feb 17 10:24:59 tux keybuf data [13]:
Feb 17 10:24:59 tux 6d 61 73 nn nn nn 65 70 61 na 61 72 6f [LINE MODIFIED]
Feb 17 10:24:59 tux zd1211:WEP128 Mode
Feb 17 10:24:59 tux Update CardSetting
Feb 17 10:25:01 tux zd1205: (enter) zd1205_open, /home/tobias/Install/Arch/eigene-packages/2.6.20/zd1211/src/zd1211-driver-r83/src/zd1205.c line 4352
Feb 17 10:25:01 tux zd1205: (exit) zd1205_open, /home/tobias/Install/Arch/eigene-packages/2.6.20/zd1211/src/zd1211-driver-r83/src/zd1205.c line 4435
Feb 17 10:25:01 tux ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Feb 17 10:25:11 tux dhcpcd[5083]: timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response
Feb 17 10:25:11 tux zd1205: (enter) zd1205_close, /home/tobias/Install/Arch/eigene-packages/2.6.20/zd1211/src/zd1211-driver-r83/src/zd1205.c line 4895
Feb 17 10:25:11 tux zd1205: (exit) zd1205_close, /home/tobias/Install/Arch/eigene-packages/2.6.20/zd1211/src/zd1211-driver-r83/src/zd1205.c line 4961

Downgrading kernel26 and zd1211 maked it work again.
This task depends upon

Closed by  James Rayner (iphitus)
Thursday, 14 June 2007, 02:11 GMT
Reason for closing:  Implemented
Comment by Paul Mattal (paul) - Wednesday, 02 May 2007, 03:38 GMT
So the newest kernels, certainly 2.6.20.y and up, seem to have the zd1211rw ("rewrite" of the vendor's) driver and you don't need the zd1211 package itself anymore.

However, to get zd1211rw to work, you need the firmware. I've built an ad-hoc package for it, and attached the PKGBUILD here. If you install this package and reboot, everything should work.

Appears from the README in the firmware archive that the firmware is GPL. Any reason for me not to put zd1211-firmware in [extra], then?

And should we remove the zd1211 packages now? Or still leave them as another option for people?

- P
   PKGBUILD (0.8 KiB)
Comment by Dan McGee (toofishes) - Wednesday, 02 May 2007, 06:53 GMT
I would say get this in extra (after cleaning up the unneeded comments), and leave the other drivers in there for a bit just in case people have issues with the new driver. It is a complete rewrite of the old ones, so several features are still missing and there may be regressions.
Comment by James Rayner (iphitus) - Wednesday, 02 May 2007, 08:57 GMT
I put zd1211 in as zd1211rw was merged while it was still somewhat problematic.

If the rw is mature enough, which it probably is now, go for it.
Comment by Michael Towers (gradgrind) - Thursday, 03 May 2007, 05:40 GMT
I'm not sure about the licence, as the firmware is only supplied in binary form (admittedly within the source for the GPL-drivers), but it does seem to be 'freely distributable'.

It would be nice to have this in [extra]. People (including me) have been having problems getting the old driver to work in recent versions, so maybe it's a good time to drop it?
Comment by James Rayner (iphitus) - Thursday, 03 May 2007, 08:07 GMT
the firmware may not be GPL. If it were GPL, it could have been included with the kernel source. We ought to check this.

James
Comment by Rob Page (robrob) - Saturday, 02 June 2007, 10:21 GMT
The firmware is released under the GPL.

From the README supplied with the firmware (downloaded from sourceforge)

"This distribution contains the firmware files for the
ZD1211 chip, which is used in WLAN USB sticks. Copy these files to
/lib/firmware/zd1211, where it can be loaded by the rewritten
zd1211 driver.

The files are generated from C header files distributed in the
original ZyDAS ZD1211 driver under the GNU Public License.

The full source of the original ZYDAS driver is available from
http://www.deine-taler.de/zd1211/."

As I understand it, they keep this in userspace because they don't want to be tied to a particular firmware version.

Rob.
Comment by James Rayner (iphitus) - Thursday, 14 June 2007, 02:11 GMT
added firmware to extra, see zd1211-firmware.

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