[ydl-gen] PowerBook G4 wireless problems on YDL 6.0

[Derick Centeno]

I've interspersed my comments below for clarification.

On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 10:54:11 +0200
furio ercolessi <furio at spin.it> wrote:

> Hi Derick, 
> 
> thanks for looking into this problem.
> 
> On Tue, Apr 08, 2008 at 09:04:08PM -0400, Derick Centeno wrote:
> > 
> > There are two methods of extracting the firmware from MacOS X
> > [...]
> 
> Absolutely no problem with that.  Beware that the file AppleAirPort2
> does not exist any more in Leopard.  Perhaps the good one is named now
> /Library/Extensions/I080211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleAirPortBrcm4311.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleAirPortBrcm4311
> but I extracted the drivers from a copy of OSX10.3 I still had around.
> 

I'm using Tiger on my PB.  Thanks for the heads up on Leopard, I was
considering getting it but I had already thought that it had put "bells and
whistles" and way too much 3D this and that, and no read added truly useful
functions into the interface. I'm not moving beyond Tiger especially as they are
removing controls to PowerPC hardware which I use.  The also explains why YDL
has become my primary OS, and YDL6 even moreso.

Just to return the favor of providing a likewise potentially useful point
regarding Leopard's faults.  Remember that the Powerbook has a fax interface
built in where you could have seen a preview of what you fax out -- you can't
do that in Windows (not for free) and in Panther (the release prior to Tiger)
you could.  I've observed that in Tiger this useful feature (at least for me)
was removed and Apple published nothing regarding this change on their website.
For me this made Tiger a "downgrade" and most likely from what you shared,
Leopard may be a more profoundly pretty "downgrade" as well.
> > [...]
> > So never accept the computer's view on face value in any operating system.  
> > [...]
> 
> Yes, I have grasped this 30 years ago, no problem here either :-)

Glad to hear it, although I've 20 plus your 30 years experience in Unix! :)

Sometimes we all get taken by the "new" this or that feature as it is packaged
so incredibly well. I fear Apple is doing more "pretty" than function.  Thank
God for TSS and their focus on function in producing YDL6!  

If I compare what happened at Apple to cars, it's like someone confused the
value of a Lamborghini or Citroen with a Ford and decided producing and
supporting exclusively Fords were the way to go.  For some going on the cheap
makes "business" sense as far as cutting costs in a certain narrow minded
logic, but for the perceptive consumer seeking value and utility such cuts or
choices become obvious degradations of value to that product.

> > The first three instructions under the section: Configure your... under
> > Linux. Didn't work.  Being the nut that I am I tried a bit of cheating by
> > merely copying ifcfg-eth0 and naming it ifcfg-eth1; that didn't work
> > either.  The reason why it didn't work is because the HWADDR variable in
> > ifcfg-eth1 != the HWADDR variable in ifcfg-eth0.  Anaconda creates both
> > files with different definitions for the hardware location accessed for
> > Ethernet (eth0) and Wireless (eth1). 
> 
> Yes, that is the MAC address and every interface has its own.
> So I start to create a new ifcfg-eth1 using system-config-network
> (which I believe should be what Anaconda does on a fresh install).
> I follow Network Configuration -> new Device Type -> Wireless Connection.
> Here I only see "Other Wireless Card" as a possible choice.  If I choose
> that, the BCM4306 does not show up in the device list.  I tried
> "Airport" but it does not work (I guess that is the Airport of former
> powerbooks).  If I follow
> Network Configuration -> new Device Type -> Ethernet Connection
> then I do see the BCM4306, but the resulting configuration does not
> work either.  IN both cases, by "does not work" I mean that the
> interface refuses to start with
> 
> > #ifconfig eth1 up
> 
> Can you tell me what you have in /etc/modprobe.conf ?

I'm not using the interface at all.  My method, a variant of what Chris Murtagh
used and demonstrated by-passes the interface entirely.  The challenge in this
particular situation is that you are still thinking like an Apple user where
the interface is the function or application.  

We all need to switch to thinking in terms of Linux/Unix where it is ok, and
more efficient, to by-pass the interface and get to executing the function which
interests us.  There's time to dress up or correct the interface later if
that's what you care about.  Just to emphasize the point, if you are
choosing to not use the interface, why would you or anyone, care whether
it works or not.  

However, just so I'm not a "stick in the mud" or non-cooperative, here's my
modprobe.conf:

alias eth0 sungem
alias eth1 ssb
alias snd-card-0 snd-powermac
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-powermac index=0

All the best... and I encourage your improvement at poker. :)

=====
"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often
think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of
music. ... I get most joy in life out of music."  

"What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester
Viereck," for the October 26, 1929 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
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