Problems with FossaPup 64 9.5 on Asus Transformer T100TA

[3guesses]

Hi all,

Some time ago I was trying to get Bionic Puppy 8.0 to run on various of my devices including my Asus Transformer T100TA with varying degrees of success (eg. see https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 3&t=118009), and I am now trying to get Fossa Puppy 64 9.5 to run on them. I have started with the T100TA, and, disappointingly, have experienced similar problems as with Bionic 8.0, principally

- The kernel doesn't seem to recognise the built-in eMMC
- The wifi adapter is not supported

I have made a frugal install on the eMMC and can boot it by again using the 5.4.12 kernel from Buster 64 (as I did for Bionic 8.0). What kernel version does Fossa 9.5 use and how come it doesn't include eMMC support? Surely that should be very much standard functionality for Puppy now?

I am posting this using EasyOS 2.2.5 which does support both the eMMC and the wifi card (although not the sound card ), so I'm wondering why Fossa 9.5 doesn't? And any suggestions as to how to get the wifi card (and presumably sound card) working on Fossa 9.5?

Thanks very much,

3g

[bigpup]

Hopefully, 666philb (developer of Fossapup64 9.5) will see this, about changing the kernel, got the eMMC recognized.
When compiling a Linux kernel.
There are hundreds of possible choices and easy to not get the correct ones made.

About the WIFI not working.
Usually it is caused by missing firmware or driver needed for whatever the WIFI hardware is.
When you try to make a WIFI setup using one of the network connection Wizards.
Is the WIFI adapter even listed as a device to use?

First find out what the WIFI hardware is.
Most Puppy versions have the program Pup-Sysinfo.
Pup-Sysinfo->Devices
In subsection PCI Devices or USB Devices there should be info about the WIFI hardware.

adaptor detection.
In terminal

Code: Select all

lspci -nn | grep etwork

(then google for adapter source by code near end of output, i.e. [8086:3165])

This will tell us what specific kernel driver is needed to drive the hardware.

Post the info you get about the WIFI hardware.
.
.
Kernel drivers are located in /lib/modules/(number name of kernel)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
Example:
driver for a realtek rtl8192cu WIFI adapter for kernel 5.4.42-v7
/lib/modules/5.4.42-v7l/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192cu
The hardware driver may be in the kernel, but the firmware may be missing from Fossapup64.

Check for missing firmware:

Code: Select all

dmesg | grep irmware

If any missing, google it or go to:
http://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/BLFS/linux-firmware/
Then add to /lib/firmware (maybe put in subfolder?)

If you need to install missing firmware and have done it.
Reboot and update the save so the firmware is now being used.
Try WIFI setup again.

If the hardware driver is missing.
It will have to be compiled for the specific kernel being used.
This is how to do it:
viewtopic.php?p=3547#p3547

[bigpup]

About sound.

menu->Setup->ALSA Sound Wizard->Multiple Cards

Does it list any sound cards?
If yes.
The one that has analog in the description, is the one to select to use.
Do test sound.
If no sound or low volume.
Click on configure..... button.
Set master, speaker, headphone, etc... volume high .
Make sure PCM is set to 100%.

Any help?

[3guesses]

Hi bigpup,

Thanks for that. It's a bit tricky to get the info as I have to reboot into EasyOS to then post here. As I recall, in Fossa there are no wifi interfaces listed (ie it doesn't recognise the wifi card at all?) I can tell you from the wifi connection information in EasyOS that the driver it uses is "brcmfmac". I think I might have made a bit of a stab at getting that to work in Puppy 8.0 previously without success, but TBH I didn't really know what I was doing.

I'll post more info when I get the chance.

BTW lspci on EasyOS only shows 5 devices (none of which is a network card) so that wasn't much help! I'll try on Fossa.

Thanks,

3g

[3guesses]

OK, an update:

On FossaPup, lspci shows the same as on EasyOS 2.2.5, ie just 5 devices (Host bridge, VGA compatible controller, USB controller, Encryption controller, ISA bridge) - no network devices.

Also in Alsa Sound Wizard, clicking on Sound Card Wizard produces a message box: "No Sound Devices Detected".

I had a look at viewtopic.php?p=3547#p3547 and unfortunately pup-sysinfo shows nothing under PCI or USB devices that resembles a network adapater (or sound card).

As I said in my previous post, EasyOS reports the wifi driver as "brcmfmac", but pup-sysinfo again shows nothing useful under either PCI or USB devices, and for the Audio device lspci "finds no audio information" but the loaded ALSA modules reported are snd_soc_sst_bytcr_rt5640 and snd_hdmi_lpe_audio - Multiple Sound Card Wizard reports 2 cards (bytcrrt5640 and Intel GDMI/DP LPE Audio) with 2 devices each, but none seems to work (I think the tablet has a micro-HDMI port, but it is not being used).

So EasyOS 2.2.5 is doing a better job than FossaPup. I might try the latest version of EasyOS and see how that gets on. But I would still like to get the wifi working under FossaPup seeing as it does under Easy OS.

[BologneChe]

@3guesses

For information, I successfully installed Manjaro on an Asus t100HA.

[3guesses]

@3guesses

For information, I successfully installed Manjaro on an Asus t100HA.

OK, thanks for that. I must confess I hadn't even heard of Manjaro, so I think I might try and give that a go

[bigpup]

I have made a frugal install on the eMMC and can boot it by again using the 5.4.12 kernel from Buster 64

Not knowing for sure exactly what you did to change the kernel.
Exactly what did you do to change it?

Because laptops have switches to turn WIFI on/off
See if it is turned on

To determine if it is Hard Blocked. In a terminal (console):

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rfkill list all

wlan0 is usually the wifi

If it indicates it is hard blocked.
There is a switch on the laptop that turns it off/on.
Press that switch and rerun

Code: Select all

 rfkill list all

to see if it worked to stop the hard block.