Wifi PCI Card not running with basic LinuxCNC install ?

Bonjour,

I'm new here, and this is my first post. My name is Laurent, I'm based in France, where I am currently building a rather large CNC mill that I'd like to run with LinuxCNC. I'm still a long way off the first chips, but I'm trying to make progress on the controller side of the project, for a change from welding/milling/adjusting bits and pieces of metal.

So, here's my question : I've installed LinuxCNC from the ISO file I've downloaded from the Getting LinuxCNC , everything went fine.
Now, I'd like to add a PCI Wifi card, for I won't have wired Ethernet connection at the shop. I've added a TP-Link TL-WN881ND card, but this does not work. The card is listed by lspci, except with no driver.
It seems the card is based on "Realtek 8192E PCI WiFi" chipset.

I've tried to load the RealTek drivers as follows :
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get install firmware-realtek

to no avail. No card shows up in iwconfig.

The card _is_ working though : I've tried to boot the PC wih Ubuntu n a USB drive, it worked fine and I was able to connect through Wifi.

So here are my questions : is this possible to use this kind of card with the basic LinuxCNC install ? What could be missing in my system ?

Thank you for reading me, your help is appreciated

The version of Ubuntu you tested with where your wifi card worked is likely a newer kernel than the Debian 7 (Wheezy) based one on the Linuxcnc iso, and has support for your wifi card built in.

Do you know what kind of interface you are planning for your machine? If you are using a newer PC and want to use a Mesa card for example, a newer Preempt-RT kernel could be an option that might work for you. (Such as the experimental Stretch Linuxcnc isos.)

Thank you for your reply.

At the moment, I'd like to get the machine running with a simple/cheap setup using the parallel port on an older PC. This should be enough to get the machine to move, and validate the geometry etc... and give some time to learn my way around this all new subject.

Later on, I will probably upgrade to a better PC with a Mesa card based solution to get better performances from my servos.

Is there no way I can get this card working with Debian 7 (Wheezy) ?

Thanks again

How old of a PC? older is a relative term. There are lots of PCs a few years old that could probably run a preemt-rt thread good enough for software stepping. Finding one with a parallel port might be more of a challenge, but you can always add a PCIe parallel port card.

If you are talking really old like a P4 or Core 2 Duo, better to just stick with Wheezy. I'm not saying you can't get your wifi card to work, I just don't know how. This is more of a generic Linux/Debian question, and you probably will have better luck answering it else where.

If you want to find a safe wifi solution that will never interfere with Linuxcnc latency, and will always work with any version of Linux, pick up of one of those Eithernet wifi dongles that just plugs into an Eithernet port. (Personally I'd rather just run a cable to the machine)

Try these 2 kernel commandline parameters
net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0

Good morning Gents,

and thank you for your replies.

@Todd Zuercher :
The PC is a Dell Optiplex 760 with a Dual Core 2, so rather old I guess .
Thank you for your suggestion of using a different type of Wifi card, I might try this rather than waste more time on this PCI card. I've also posted a question on Debian forum, so far no luck, but a suggestion to move up to a more recent Linux distro.

@ozzyrob :
I've tried to follow your suggestion, no luck :
net.ifnames=0 : system replies that there is no such command
biosdevname=0 : seems to execute, but no feedback and no discernable change...

You add those lines to the kernel command line prior to booting, not after you have logged in.

Press TAB at the grub menu then add those two options.

Hi ozzyrob,

Forgive my ignorance, I'm really a nOOb at this.
So, I restarted, and I get to the GRUB menu, that is version 1.99-27+deb7u4. Tab seems to suspend the automatic countdown before booting, and I can either hit 'e' to edit the commands before booting, or 'c' for a command-line.
I've tried the 1st option, and I get a minimal editor open with what I imagine is the boot script (?)
Is that correct ? Should I add the commands you suggest at the start or end of this script ?

Ok your will have different entry, but the concept is the same:

My kernel commandline is:
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.47-rt37-maxcpus4-noht-tf1000-nopcihotplug root=UUID=bf5c4b66-9d69-46b5-a9cb-b25dba7c906c ro quiet splash $vt_handoff

To which I would edit to:
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.47-rt37-maxcpus4-noht-tf1000-nopcihotplug root=UUID=bf5c4b66-9d69-46b5-a9cb-b25dba7c906c ro quiet splash $vt_handoff net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0

After it boots open a terminal and use the lsmod command, this will let you know what drivers have been loaded.


If you have a read through this thread, whilst pertaining to a usb adapter, it's more or less the same concept.
forum.linuxcnc.org/pathpilot/33493-relia...sb-wifi?limitstart=0

Towards the end (last page or so) there is some info on making changes to grub permanent.

OK, I'll try this in a minute.

Meanwhile, I was reading about this subject, and found on Debian that I could modify this same (?) line by editing the /etc/default/grub and then run update-grub. Would it be the same ?
I've tried this but couldn't get the update-grub command to run : terminal found no such command