Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Running Bionic Pup 64 on an old Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop. Initially from live dvd I somehow got the internal Broadcom BCM4311 wifi card working. It used the ath9k driver. I then wiped Windows from the HD and did a frugal install of Bionic Pup and tried everything to connect to Wireless broadband but with no success. It seems that the wireless card is not active in the frugal install. If I boot from the DVD again it works as before. Are there files I can copy across from the Live DVD to the hard drive to enable the wireless card?

How did you do the frugal install?

Specific details?

If it was done correctly all the needed files in the Bionicpup64 ISO, should be in a directory(folder).

So look in it and make sure it has these files in it:
vmlinuz
initrd.gz
puppy_bionicpup64_8.0.sfs
zdrv_bionicpup64_8.0.sfs

I have never done a frugal install before, but on this old laptop I thought I could dispense with Windows and speed up the time Puppy took to start.
From recollection,running from within the live DVD Puppy, I formatted the internal hard drive and then used Frugalpup. I may have made some incorrect choices along the way.

However, I do have the installion working from the hard drive and within the frugal folder are the 4 files you list. On checking they appear identical to those on the DVD.
There is also a file - bionicpup64initmodules.txt containing one line "ssb_hcd" is this relevant?

@mgs1234 We could help you set up the frugal installation using some manual methods while the machine is booted and running using Bionic64 (or 32) from the CD-ROM/DVD drive if you're interested.

All the tools are present in Bionic64 that is needed to do this. Takes a few moments and I think you will have success using this method.

I am willing to give the manual installation method a try. Thanks for your help.

If you have a working install that boots from the internal drive and those 4files are in a folder(directory).

You have a frugal install that is working.

How exactly are you trying to connect to WIFI?
You may be doing something wrong.
Give use step by step what you are doing?

There was some stuff missing in the Bionicpup64 ISO for Broadcom hardware, but you say it is working booting with the DVD install.
It is provided by downloading and installing this pet package.
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pe ... 23_amd.pet

If you had WIFI working with the DVD install.

Most likely you made a save file/folder to use with it that saved the setup.

If you still have this save file/folder.
Copy it into the frugal directory with the other Bionicpup64 files.
Boot it and see if it uses this save that is already setup.

If there is already a save in the frugal install directory.
Replace it with this old one you used with the DVD install.

I've tried -
1. to load the suggested broadcom hardware pet file. It does not seem to exist currently. I definitely did not use it to get the wifi card working on the live DVD.
2. to transfer the most recent save file from the working live DVD to the frugal folder on the hard drive. Does not seem to load any differently.

mgs1234 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 8:48 pm

I've tried -
1. to load the suggested broadcom hardware pet file. It does not seem to exist currently. I definitely did not use it to get the wifi card working on the live DVD.
2. to transfer the most recent save file from the working live DVD to the frugal folder on the hard drive. Does not seem to load any differently.

viewtopic.php?t=12465

I'm having a similar problem.

@mgs1234

I would delete the frugal install and do a completely new fresh frugal install.

Sometimes installs do not go correctly.

anyway, that will eliminate one possible cause of your issue.

Jasonbc wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 10:18 pm

mgs1234 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 8:48 pm

I've tried -
1. to load the suggested broadcom hardware pet file. It does not seem to exist currently. I definitely did not use it to get the wifi card working on the live DVD.
2. to transfer the most recent save file from the working live DVD to the frugal folder on the hard drive. Does not seem to load any differently.

viewtopic.php?t=12465

I'm having a similar problem.

Not really.
You are using a different Puppy version and have different hardware.
Yes, it does matter for coming up with a fix.

I should have said above that the pet file suggested by bigpup is not accessible in the puppy package manager. It is available via the link posted, my apologies to bigpup. However, after downloading and installing it the frugal install is still unable to see the internal wireless card. I have tried starting the frugalinstall again from scratch using the Frugalpup installer but still no joy on the Broadcom wireless card. I've also tried creating a bootable USB flash drive which works well but still no success with the Broadcom wireless card.

One thing puzzling me - the live DVD has around a dozen save files named by date and time and all of them seem to be accessed as the boot from live DVD progresses. Are all necessary or does the most recent override all the others?

@mgs1234 - that old driver doesn't seem to work - that wifi adaptor needs some drivers unloaded & blacklisted.
My .pet does that & should make it work. See (at own risk): https://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linu ... k41923.pet

I've tried the pet file posted by ozsouth - it did not help. On checking the PupSysInfo for the BCM4311 pci device on the live DVD install where it is working against the PupSysInfo on the frugal and USB installations I see a difference only in the Kernel modules. In the working live DVD only ssb is listed. The frugal and USB installs both show - kernel modules: ssb,wl. Is this info' of any help in diagnosis of the problem?

@mgs1234 - OK, this sounds like a firmware problem. Forget the .pets - you need the fdrv ... sfs from the DVD in the same folder as puppy ... sfs on your frugal install. Then on reboot, wifi should work.

Unfortunately as far as I can see there is no fdrv only zdrv as in second post above.

One thing puzzling me - the live DVD has around a dozen save files named by date and time and all of them seem to be accessed as the boot from live DVD progresses. Are all necessary or does the most recent override all the others?

You have the save setup to be on the DVD.
So each time the save has added changes, it makes a a new save file on the DVD. The file is only what has changed.
This is normal and yes it needs all of them to be a complete save to use.

Because the format on the DVD is a write only iso9660 format.
The save has to be written in multiple single files.
You cannot open one single save file and add to it.

But because the DVD is burned open. It can still have stuff written to it.

Finally gave up on getting the Broadcom wireless card working in the frugal install. Bought a used Model AR5B22 wireless card for £4 from ebay - working perfectly.