Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

rahalver · 2017-10-12 14:08:12

I'm in. I like Devuan.
I am not sure what I should do to access the internet via my wireless adapter (either the internal one, or a usb adapter). I tried several times to find the answer in various places, but seem to get rabbit trailed. I would love some direction.
Thank you.

fsmithred · 2017-10-12 14:48:51

Which iso did you use for the installation? The live isos have wireless firmware installed and the regular installer isos usually install the firmware unless you select expert install and tell it not to.

What does lspci show for network hardware?

If the firmware is installed, you should be able to see the interface in wicd (Apps menu -> Internet -> Wicd network manager)

rahalver · 2017-10-13 01:01:08

Thank you for the reply.
I did a manual install, for a dual boot. I did not decline any options to install firmware.
I used devuan_jessie_1.0.0_amd64_DVD.iso.
I do not see any Wicd network manager. Is this because I added the xfce option during install? If so, how do I get out of xfce?
My internal network controller (in the laptop) possibly does not work.
Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM 4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
I also have an external device, which is plugged in and does work (USB Wireless adapter): Edimax EW-7722UTn V2.
Thanks again.

Last edited by rahalver (2017-10-13 01:22:06)

fsmithred · 2017-10-13 10:35:39

Normally, wicd gets installed with the desktop. Install wicd-gtk.

Make sure firmware-brcm80211 is installed for the broadcom wireless. If the firmware is installed, wicd should see the interface.

What are you using to connect the Edimax to the network?

FOSSuser · 2017-10-13 11:07:00

If your internal wifi is broken that is likely the one configured in wicd by default, you will need to select your USB wifi stick, which has to be plugged in when you boot up for the firmware to be loaded, then setup your connection.

rahalver · 2017-10-14 02:31:04

Thank you.

fsmithred - I cannot install wicd-gtk, because I have no internet connection to install it with.
Sorry, I am not sure how to install firmware-brcm80211. Maybe start me in the right direction and I can figure it out from there.
I am using my cellphone hotspot.

FOSSuser - When I boot up the computer, with usb wifi plugged in, I see no place to setup my connection.

fsmithred · 2017-10-14 09:01:22

If you try to install something through Synaptic package manager or any of the command-line package managers, it should ask you to insert the DVD when you try to install wicd. I think you can also install the firmware that way. If that does not work, you can insert the DVD and find the firmware package in the /firmware directory of the DVD. Wicd packages will be in /pool.

OR

Boot with the usb dongle plugged in and run /sbin/wpa_cli to set up wireless connection with password, or if it's unsecured wireless, just run 'dhclient wlan0'.

FOSSuser · 2017-10-14 10:37:57

If you open wicd, top right is a down pointing triangle, click it, them go to preferences - likely you will need to replace 'wlan0' with 'wlan1'.

fungus · 2017-10-14 12:12:50

On the wicd-gtk on the settings (top-right) there are two boxes for your net-interfaces, if you have two (wlan0 wlan1 for example) you can set it there. If you don't use wired-net leave the box where something like eth0 (or its long name) blank, it makes net-hunting a little quicker (I think).
Sometime it takes shutting down wicd and restarting it to configure itself right.

rahalver · 2017-10-14 12:34:46

Thank you both, now all three. Okay...

fsmithred -- I tried to figure out if the firmware was installed, by going into my File Manager to see if I could find any drivers, and I found this: lib/modules/3.16.0-4-amd64/kernel/drivers/firmware, and then I just found an efi directory, as well as some .ko files -- nothing that looked like "firmware-brcm80211."

In Synaptic Package Manager I see two choices, python-wicd, and wicd-daemon. Choose one of these? (but remember, I do not have any internet connection yet, if internet is needed)

I installed this current distro via a usb flashdrive with the iso image. You mentioned inserting the DVD to find the firmware package in the /firmware directory. So instead of the DVD, I plugged the usb flashdrive with back in, and it just wants me to go through the installation process again, I don't see an option to go to any directory. So, I then tried to plug the flashdrive in After I turned on the computer in normal mode, and then I clicked on the icon for the iso, and went in to firmware, and see this: "firmware-brcm80211_0.43_all.deb" - I am guessing that is what we are after. My choices are (when I right click on it): Open with Xarchiver, or other applications, or send to (several choices), or copy, or extract to.

FOSSuser -- When the usb wifi stick is plugged in before I start the computer, I still do not see any wicd to open once it is fully booted up. It is usually under the Internet category, but here I only get Firefox ESR and Iceweasel>Firefox ESR.

fungus -- I see your post now, just as I am about to post this. The problem is that there is no wicd option given. I think I know where it usually is, with Internet options in the Application Menu.

Last edited by rahalver (2017-10-14 12:37:04)

FOSSuser · 2017-10-15 10:11:42

I'm not on Devuan just now, but a Debian based system, but should be the same - check /lib/firmware for the brcm folder.

(If it's not there, you will want to install the .deb for it. Probably easiest to do using dpkg -i rather than apt-get install.)

Edit: If you don't have wicd on your system, likely you will have ceni, try opening a terminal, & run 'sudo ceni'.

Last edited by FOSSuser (2017-10-15 10:14:53)

fsmithred · 2017-10-15 12:21:20

OK, I didn't realize (or maybe I forgot) that wicd is not in the DVD. I'll file a bug report if there isn't already one. And I can't find ceni in the debian or devuan repos. I can offer a few possible ways to get around this.

First, boot with the Edimax plugged in.

If your wireless network is encrypted, use wpa_cli to set up your connection. You'll need to read 'man wpa_cli' or find an online tutorial.

Once you're online, you can check for the broadcom firmware. In Synaptic, go to Settings, Repositories, and make sure that the line with contrib and non-free is checked. It should look like this (or it may have 'packages.devuan.org' instead of 'auto.mirror.devuan.org').

deb http://auto.mirror.devuan.org/merged/ jessie main contrib non-free

If no such line exists, add it to /etc/apt/sources.list

Then update the package cache. ('Reload' in Synaptic).

You should be able to find the firmware and wicd-gtk. Install them.

Alternative solutions:
- use a network cable to get connected and install what you need.
- use the desktop-live iso and reinstall. The firmware and wicd will already be installed.

rahalver · 2017-10-16 02:00:54

Thanks.
FOSSuser, as for ceni -- command not found. Also, I cannot do any apt-get install without internet connection.
fsmithred, thank you for detailed info. I have confidence that I could do it, with much research and time (I am not so experienced at many of these tasks, and it takes me a while to put all the pieces together). I will opt for second alternative, however, for the desktop-live option for reinstall. I assume that would be that CD iso, and not the DVD iso. Am I the only person who is using a wireless method, and not ethernet? Wow. Also, another thought--I did not have the wireless usb adapter plugged in when doing the install, so that would possibly have automatically installed the driver. But the lack of wicd problem remains. Any idea when the new DVD would come out?

rahalver · 2017-10-16 03:53:45

I'm in. Internet works with CD version. It has wicd, as well as Deluge (not sure what that is, but don't care yet).
Now I'm doing apt-get update, then will do apt-get dist-upgrade. Any other recommendations after that?
Thanks again.

FOSSuser · 2017-10-16 09:20:31

Glad you got things sorted, enjoy your new O/S experience.

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#1 2017-10-12 14:08:12

Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#2 2017-10-12 14:48:51

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#3 2017-10-13 01:01:08

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#4 2017-10-13 10:35:39

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#5 2017-10-13 11:07:00

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#6 2017-10-14 02:31:04

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#7 2017-10-14 09:01:22

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#8 2017-10-14 10:37:57

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#9 2017-10-14 12:12:50

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#10 2017-10-14 12:34:46

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#11 2017-10-15 10:11:42

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#12 2017-10-15 12:21:20

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#13 2017-10-16 02:00:54

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#14 2017-10-16 03:53:45

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

#15 2017-10-16 09:20:31

Re: Wireless adapters - How to connect to the Internet

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