Ubuntu doesn't detect and install my wireless orinoco_usb chipset

The wiki page has been moved to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WifiDocs/Device/CompaqW200

this is not a rejection, just a tidy up, the bug does not need to be against ubuntu and linux-source-2.6.15

I was sent here to report this as a bug ... I can confirm this. This is (a) important because the W200 is the standard wifi for the Compaq laptops with Multiport adapter on the lid (N400c, N410c, N600c, N610c, some others) (b) at the moment there's no support except if you compile orinoco_usb yourself (c) if you do, it works perfectly.

The adapter itself is an Orinoco chipset. orinoco_pci works for this, but the W200 uses USB. The Orinoco project does support this, but they consider it beta at best. However, it's the *only* way to get this module to work. And following the wiki page instructions work well for me.

Suggested solution: include a precompiled orinoco_usb module, per directions on the wiki page, and this adapter will Just Work.

I'm currently running Breezy on my N410c, but can use a Dapper liveCD to confirm a fix if you can't find anyone else with a W200.

I'm not sure about perfectly, I have to switch the W200 on and off via the fn shortcut after hibernating else the firmware won't get downloaded.

Of course just having to do that is a bit better than having to download and compile it myself.

I sometimes have to switch it off and on after hibernate or suspend, but usually waiting about thirty seconds is enough.

I'm not sure of a user-friendly way to tell people they need to Fn-F2 to get the official Compaq wifi to work. Despite the little wifi logo on the F2 key. OTOH, Windows users of the W200 don't know either.

Apart from the overhead of another module to keep track of, the only issue I can see with just including a precompiled orinoco_usb is if that module could cause problems elsewhere in the system if loaded.

It's probably a bit hackish, and I don't know whether there's any precedent for this, but could we switch it off on hibernation/suspend and switch it on on startup?

I'm now having ... intermittent oddness. Sometimes when the DHCP lease runs out, the keyboard stops working. o_0 If I Fn-F2 twice, the wifi picks up a new lease and the keyboard works again. Now, that's what I call a beta ...

I expect putting orinoco_usb in the production Dapper with people expecting this to Just Work would be a *bad* idea. The driver almost certainly needs quite a bit more maturation before being considered production quality.

However, there's still no other way to use a W200 in Linux (except maybe ndiswrapper, which is a fate almost worse than Windows). Giving the user a warning message of caveats if this driver is detected? How clunky ...

the driver doesn't compile anymore on 2.6.20

This bug has had no activity for a considerable period. This is a check to see if there is still interest in investigating this bug report.

The driver does now compile against kernel 2.6.24. I don't think that it's being currently actively developed as such, though is being maintained - the developer fixes it when someone complains it stops compiling.

Dean,
You say the driver compiles against kernel 2.6.24. Is it stable? Does it have a good level of functionality?
Is this the driver you use?
http://www.nongnu.org/orinoco/news/

OK. I'm not sure where to take this bug.
I'll mark it against more recent kernels and let the Kernel Team assess.

Yes it is, as you can see from the website there hasn't been a release of the main orinoco driver for some time - never mind the USB branch.

I can't comment on the stability of recent versions (though can test again if needed), https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/CompaqW200 says that the driver wasn't working well with Network Manager in gutsy.

I would hazard a guess it's not now worth including by default...

Marking confirmed.

Note to Kernel Team: This driver appears to have had a stunted development history & appears to still be in a rudimentary state. See above link.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 17:29, Leann Ogasawara <email address hidden> wrote:
> The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the
> upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would
> appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel.

The driver is not included and doesn't actually compile with the .27 kernel.

I'm just in the process of upgrading my Compaq N610c to 8.10 - but it seem there is no package linux-headers-2.6.27-7-386 (N.B. the -386 variant). apt-get says "E: Couldn't find package linux-headers-2.6.27-7-386". I assume without this we can't build the Compaq W200 USB WLAN driver.

I have managed to get Compaq W200 working on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex (2.6.27-7-generic) and the updated instructions are available at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/CompaqW200

Thanks giveitatry - I followed your instructions and they worked fine. The change from pre-8.10 versions of Ubuntu is that "uname -r" now gives "<linux version>-generic" not "<linux version>-386" and the linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic package is there OK.

SatPhil -

Glad it worked out for you ...

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

This bug report was marked as Confirmed a while ago but has not had any updated comments for quite some time. Please let us know if this issue remains in the current Ubuntu release, http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . If the issue remains, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

No it doesn't work yet. Looking at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/CompaqW200 it says the driver does not work with 2.6.31.

Setting this to triaged for the actively developed "linux (Ubuntu)" task. However against linux-source-2.6.15 this does not qualify for a Stable Release Update so I am closing that task. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates for more information . Thanks.

Still broken, but there's work going on upstream.

http://osdir.com/ml/linux-wireless/2009-07/msg00460.html

Brian,
     Is there an upstream bug on this issue? If so, would you mind adding a bugwatch on it? I'd like to be able to keep track of the work via the bug.

Thanks,

-JFo

Jeremy, I searched bugzilla.kernel.org but didn't find anything.

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]