HOWTO: Xplora E16 Ubuntu 9.04 32Bit and 64Bit with wired and wireless networking

[ndp]

HOWTO: Xplora E16 Ubuntu 9.04 32Bit and 64Bit with wired and wireless networking

It is now possible to get both wired and wireless networking running under Ubuntu 9.04 32Bit and Ubuntu 9.04 64Bit on the Xplora E16 using the Realtek 8192SE native driver (Available via the Ubuntu Launchpad bug list) for WiFi support, and the 2.6.31 kernel for wired networking support.

Please note the following caveats:

i. If you need wired networking, you still have to upgrade the kernel to 2.6.31 otherwise wired networking will just not work.This is because the "jme" driver module does not work with the 2.6.28 kernel shipped as standard with Ubuntu 9.04.

ii. If you installed ndiswrapper and the WIN2K drivers as per my previous howto, you'll need to disable the ndiswrapper configuration in order to use the
native driver.

iii. Wireless Networking will work fine with the either the standard 2.6.28 kernel or the 2.6.31 kernel once you have installed the native driver against your chosen kernel.


Configuration Instructions:

1. Install either Ubuntu 9.04 32Bit or 64Bit on the Xplora.

2. You need to download and install the native Linux Realtek 8192Se 32Bit and/or 64Bit driver from the following locations (Unless you already have networking via ndiswrapper, you'll need to do this from a different PC and then copy the files onto the laptop because you have no networking at this stage):


for the 64Bit version:

http://launchpadlibrarian.net/340904...9_64bit.tar.gz

for the 32Bit version:

http://launchpadlibrarian.net/339279...12.2009.tar.gz


3. If you need wired networking, you need to download and install the 2.6.31 kernel image and headers from the following location:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux/

4. Disabling ndiswrapper on already configured 32Bit systems:

sudo modprobe -r ndiswrapper

sudo ndiswrapper -r net8192se

N.B. Don't forget to remove ndiswrapper from the file "/etc/modules".


5. The new driver will need to be compiled, so make sure you have the required tools installed:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

6. Copy the downloaded driver to somewhere sensible (e.g. "/usr/local/src").

7. cd to the driver location

e.g: cd /usr/local/src

8. extract the contents of the driver tarball as follows:

for the 64Bit version:

sudo tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz

for the 32Bit version:

sudo tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009.tar.gz

9. cd into the extracted directory

for the 64Bit version:

cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1020.2009_64bit

for the 32Bit version:

cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009

10. If you are too lazy to read the readme.txt file, do the following:

sudo su -
make
make install

Once all of the above have been completed, reboot the laptop and your networking should spring into life.

If you have problems, make sure the new driver module "r8192se_pci" is installed:

lsmod |grep r8192se_pci

If it is not installed, doo the following:

sudo modprobe r8192se_pci


I tested the Wifi with both WPA and WPA2 security using Network-Manager.

Hope this helps people to get Ubuntu (or any other linux distro) working on their Xplora E16

A final word:

The next release of Ubuntu (9.10 aka karmic) should come with a 2.6.31 kernel as standard, so wired networking should be fine.

For WiFi, You'll still need to download and install the Realtek 8192SE linux driver unless/until it makes it into the standard released kernels.

Enjoy !!

[mrgoose]

Thanks NDP for your excellent and informative posts.

I can confirm that the wired network works "out of the box" with Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala). As you rightly say, v9.10 ships with the Linux 2.6.31 kernel as standard. I downloaded and installed the 64-bit beta last night.

FWIW, the new 'Bunty is actually very nice and looks fantastic on these machines.

There is slight problem however. On the current beta release, the wired network stops working after sleep. So don't shut the lid! Or better, adjust your power settings so that closing the lid only blanks the screen.

Karmic RC1 is out later today so I will do an apt-get upgrade later to see if this problem has been fixed.

Now to install the wireless network driver...

Best wishes, G.

[mrgoose]

I eventually got the wireless part working too - but not without a fight!

Basically the rtl8192se driver would not compile whatever I did.

So I tried a different tack. In a nutshell, instead of "sudoing" the compilation commands, I used the switch user command, thus: sudo su. Then I ran make & make install.

Whist the compile part still threw up a couple of warnings, the install part worked perfectly and now I too have a fully working rtl8192se wireless network.

To reiterate, cd to the directory containing your extracted driver files and then do this:-

sudo su
make
make install

I hope this helps someone.

Best wishes, G.

[norm.h]

As I've had difficulties in the past trying to compile drivers, I'm a bit reluctant to try this.
As I've got wifi working OK with the previous procedure, is it really necessary to go to this new driver?
norm

[mrgoose]

Hmm, you really need the proverbial Wisdom of Solomon to answer that one mate!

IMHO (and it is just my opinion), native Linux wireless drivers always outperform Ndiswrapper lash-ups and I always deploy them whenever they are available. Moreover, once I sussed out how to make this particular driver compile (using "sudo su" rather than sudo), it was a piece of cake getting it to work. Now it does work, it actually works really well. And it seems to be running at full speed too - which is something I never achieved using Ndiswrapper.

Also, I am running the 64 bit version of Ubuntu. I understand that Ndiswrapper is very flaky with 64 bit Linux - so it wasn't really an option for me.

However, in your situation, there seems a very good argument for adopting the view that, "if it ain't bust then don't try fixing it!"

Just a thought: any chance you could temporarily shove a substitute SATA 2.5" hard disk in your lappy, install the latest Karmic 64 and try the native driver there, rather than jeopardising your existing, working system? One of the real beauties of these machines (other than not being forced to pay the Windows Tax) is that it's dead easy to swap hard drives.

Best wishes, G.

[norm.h]

Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.
I tend to agree with the "ain't broke, don't fix" theory, and as far as trying different hardware is concerned, I'm not really into that sort of thing.

BTW, "For WiFi, You'll still need to download and install the Realtek 8192SE linux driver unless/until it makes it into the standard released kernels."
When that happens, will it then be necessary to disable ndiswrapper, or will the new driveer automatically take precedence?
Cheers
norm

[mrgoose]

Originally Posted by norm.h

...snip...

BTW, "For WiFi, You'll still need to download and install the Realtek 8192SE linux driver unless/until it makes it into the standard released kernels."
When that happens, will it then be necessary to disable ndiswrapper, or will the new driveer automatically take precedence?
Cheers
norm

I'm slightly out of my depth here, Norm, because I only use ndiswrapper when I absolutely have to - which is about twice in my entire "Linux career".

As I recall, last time I was faced with this situation, I actually had to uninstall ndsiwrapper and reboot the machine before the wireless card would spring into life using the native driver. However this was almost two years ago, I was in Hungary at the time, celebrating Chritmas with my g/f's folks and I had just coiffed half a litre of Jagermeister.

I usually make notes of such things in Zim - my personal wiki. (This a great little tool BTW for noting down all that Unixy stuff that I would otherwise forget - to install it, simply type sudo apt-get install zim in a terminal and hit return.) However on this occasion it kinda slipped past me!

Best wishes, G.

[rach]

Originally Posted by ndp

6. Copy the downloaded driver to somewhere sensible (e.g. "/usr/local/src").

7. cd to the driver location

e.g: cd /usr/local/src

8. extract the contents of the driver tarball as follows:

for the 64Bit version:

sudo tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz

for the 32Bit version:

sudo tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009.tar.gz

9. cd into the extracted directory

for the 64Bit version:

cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1020.2009_64bit

for the 32Bit version:

cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009

10. If you are too lazy to read the readme.txt file, do the following:

sudo su -
make
make install

Once all of the above have been completed, reboot the laptop and your networking should spring into life.

Hi, I got to stage 5 and then got lost! It wouldn't let me copy it to the location that you suggested and I have no idea what you mean by "cd".

would someone be willing to explain the last bit (from stage 6) in a bit more detail please? as I really haven't got a clue what to do next!!

Thanks,
rach

[PeteA]

CD means Change Directory

http://ss64.com/bash/ <--- List of what all the commands do.

[mrgoose]

Sorry I missed this thread. Lets see if I can help the O/P. Nigel's instructions were somewhat generic - to allow for many possibilities - and quite rightly so. Linux offers many ways of doing tasks and his instructions reflect this.

However I will try to give you some very clear, simple ones. These are very specific and therefore need to be followed exactly. They assume you are using the 64 bit version of Ubuntu. I'm also assuming you are using Firefox to download the driver file called:-

• rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009.tar.gz

and that you save this file to the default location i.e. your Desktop.

OK, here's what you do, once you have downloaded the file onto your Desktop

1. Open a terminal, by clicking the Applications|Accessories|Terminal menu item.
2. In the terminal, type:- sudo apt-get install build-essential then press the carriage return key.
3. The terminal will ask for your password. Enter this accurately then press the carriage return key. Note, the password will not appear as you type it
4. In the terminal, type:- cd ~/Desktop then press the carriage return key.
5. In the terminal, type:- sudo tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz (all on one line)then press the carriage return key.
6. In the terminal, type:- cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1020.2009_64bit (all on one line) then press the carriage return key.
7. In the terminal, type:- sudo su then press the carriage return key.
8. In the terminal, type:- make then press the carriage return key.
9. In the terminal, type:- make install then press the carriage return key.
10. In the terminal, type:- exit then press the carriage return key.
11. In the terminal, type:- sudo reboot then press the carriage return key

Once your computer restarts, your wireless networking should work perfectly. Please let us know how you get on.

Best wishes, G.

PS. I just used this exact method to install the Realtek Linux wireless driver on a brand new X16 Pro that I purchased yesterday, so I know it works! It took less than five minutes, including the download!

[jonbanjo]

Out of curiosity, why the sudo/su for extracting the tar and the make (I know make install would need to be)?

---
sudo apt-get install build-essential

I like that. I probably miss a trick but on OpenSuse (where I use the software manager) I can never remember which bits, ie. kernel headers, gcc, etc. I really need and (not that it's a problem- plenty of disk space...) probably install far more than I need.

[mrgoose]

Originally Posted by jonbanjo

Out of curiosity, why the sudo/su for extracting the tar and the make (I know make install would need to be)?

Well spotted. Yes you are perfectly correct. It is normally not necessary to run the tar command as root. However, I suggested doing so here because rach has been playing with this for some time and the permissions of the downloaded file could have been messed with. (E.g. copied somewhere like /usr/share as root and then back to the ~/Desktop)

Why the sudo su for the make and the make install rather than a straightforward sudo? Using sudo only, the compilation fails. However sudo su works. I don't understand why. Seems the source is a bit buggy. Please see the following thread from about post #31 onwards for more info:-

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/401126

Originally Posted by jonbanjo

---
sudo apt-get install build-essential

I like that. I probably miss a trick but on OpenSuse (where I use the software manager) I can never remember which bits, ie. kernel headers, gcc, etc. I really need and (not that it's a problem- plenty of disk space...) probably install far more than I need.

WRT installing too much, I think I do that too. Plenty of disk space and everything is free! So what the heck! I must admit the temptation to act like a big kid in a free sweetshop is overwhelming at times. But you're right, the Debian way of resolving dependencies is actually quite nice. Though as we discussed in another thread, if only Ubuntu had YAST...

That said, it is unlikely that rach would need that line anyway because the tools she needs are normally already there in a standard Ubuntu installation. The line is there in just in case these tools have been removed for some reason. If you try to install something that is already there, apt-get then simply ignores it.

In a nutshell, rach is obviously having problems with this and I wanted to make the task as "sure-fire" as possible.

Finally, I must apologise profusely to ndp. In my last post when I used the expression "o/p" I forgot it was his thread and not rach's. Duh!

Best wishes, G.

[jonbanjo]

Originally Posted by mrgoose

Why the sudo su for the make and the make install rather than a straightforward sudo? Using sudo only, the compilation fails. However sudo su works. I don't understand why. Seems the source is a bit buggy.

At a guess it will be connected to this...

sudo and su as root are a little different. su is staighforward root but sudo might niot for example get root's environment. Apparently it depends on how /etc/sudoers is configured. Personally, I'd just su but See http://www.gratisoft.us/sudo/man/sud...udoers_options

[mrgoose]

Originally Posted by jonbanjo

At a guess it will be connected to this...

sudo and su as root are a little different. su is staighforward root but sudo might niot for example get root's environment. Apparently it depends on how /etc/sudoers is configured. Personally, I'd just su but See http://www.gratisoft.us/sudo/man/sud...udoers_options

I appreciate that su actually gives root environment - though I can't see why the code won't compile either way? But thanks for the link. It is quite complex stuff isn't it?. And I vaguely recall reading somewhere that by default, Debian-based distros handle superusers slightly differently from other distros - just to make things even more interesting.

Actually a simple man sudoers also gives some quite helpful info that's reasonably distro specific. In fact, I just did:-

man sudoers > ~/Documents/database/wiki/unix-man/sudoers.txt

(ditto su and sudo) so I can RTFM in my Zim wiki and annotate all the bits I can't understand - i.e. most of it!

Best wishes, G.

[jonbanjo]

Originally Posted by mrgoose

It is quite complex stuff isn't it?

It is to me... I do edit the sudoers file to allow ordinary users to do a couple of things, eg.mine has: %users ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/mount /myth but that's as much as I've done. The rest is sort of assume the distro sets the most sensible options but be aware there is more.

[rach]

Thank you G, it worked. I now have a wireless connection. But I now have another problem.... The built-in webcam and microphone aren't working.... and I have no idea how to get them working? My system doesn't seem to know they are there. Has anyone else had this problem? any suggestions?
Rach

[mrgoose]

Hi Rach, Glad it worked for you. But you must stop cross posting - it confuses the hell out of me!

Anyway, I put a fix in your thread - at least for the sound issue.
http://forum.novatech.co.uk/showpost...30&postcount=9

The webcam is a bit more complex. Since my post I have been doing some research, Seems the webcam should work but there is a known bug with the driver (or software that addresses the driver). Seems that folks much cleverer than me are working on it.

As an aside, you might also like to follow the tip I put in the "PS" part of the post regarding Medibuntu.

Best wishes, G.

[eastonrev]

have tried to follow the very helpful instructions but the tar is not being recognised whatever that means...
am really frustrated using the machine as a dual boot so that my wife can use windows the wireless in windows works like a dream..
please help so she can use Ubuntu for this as well

[mrgoose]

Originally Posted by eastonrev

have tried to follow the very helpful instructions but the tar is not being recognised whatever that means...
am really frustrated using the machine as a dual boot so that my wife can use windows the wireless in windows works like a dream..
please help so she can use Ubuntu for this as well

Probably means the GZipped tarball (a compressed archive file similar to a DOS/Windows zip file) you downloaded is corrupt? Please try downloading it again and let us know how you get on.

Best wishes, G.

[eastonrev]

Sorry but I get this when I try with newly downloaded file:confused:

ruthnott@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
build-essential is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-2.6.31-14 linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
ruthnott@ubuntu:~$ cd ~/Desktop
ruthnott@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ sudo tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz
tar: rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
ruthnott@ubuntu:~/Desktop$

Thanks for help so far, we will not give up until the wireless works in Ubuntu
Thanks