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Wlan SW radio switch on Averatec 5120

djmastera2000

By djmastera2000,
in OSx86 10.4 (Tiger)

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djmastera2000
djmastera2000
Posted
Posted

Hello guys,

 

i have a successfull fresh install of OS X 10.4.5, but:

 

In Windows or Linux i need a software switch to turn the wlan radio on/off. For Windows "WirelessControl.exe" and for Linux "rfswitch". But there is nothing for MacOS, or didn't find anything :dev:

Has anybody such notebook, or other one with a wlan sw switch and solved the problem?

 

I read that with linux sources there is a possibillity to (re)compile an Linux App on Mac and run there, perhaps with "fink"?

 

I am not that good in coding, perhaps someone compiled a Linux App on a Mac already and could take a look at the following souces? Thx :)

rfswitch_0.1.gz

thrunner
thrunner
Posted
Posted

Seems to be Intel IPW2100 specific. I am not sure what good is it if there is no OSX driver.

FILES			This file

av5100.c				Averatec 5100P SW Switch Module
pbe5.c				  Packard Bell Easynote SW Switch Module
																																																																											  rfswitch-0.1/ISSUES																				 0000644 0001750 0001750 00000002256 10073421152 014761  0																									ustar   zwobbl						  zwobbl						  0000000 0000000																																										
ISSUES
------------ -----   -----	   ----	   ---	   --		 -	 

No packets! - RF kill switch

If the module loads, but no packets are transferred you may have a SW based
radio kill switch.  All laptops have some capability to disable the radio
via a button or switch.  On some laptops that switch is physically tied to the
IPW2100; simply toggling the switch should enable the radio.

On other laptops, the switch is a button that when pressed requires some
software driver to send some hardware command to some other piece of hardware
on the laptop, that then controls the radio.  The driver currently has support
for the Averatec 5100P laptop's SW switch.  Support will be added for other
laptop vendors as we become aware of them and figure out how to enable the
radio.

To know if the radio is being disabled via the RF switch, perform the following:

% cat /proc/net/ipw2100/eth1/state
Radio is disabled by RF switch

djmastera2000
djmastera2000
Posted
  • Author
Posted

Not directly, because that is a sw radio switch only, whatever wlan card is inside. Now i have an Atheros card inside which is properly recognized by OSX and functions, but:

 

I cannot activate the wlan radio for my notebook, because i don't have a hw switch, but a sw one ;(

 

So the only chance(i think) is to compile that little switch(for my notebook av5100.c) on OSX, but i cannot :(

 

Can anyone help please...?

djtrix
djtrix
Posted
Posted
That's a pitty...:dev:

 

Indeed, but you might not be all that much better off having a hw switch. I have a hw switch on my acer travelmate 4202, and it simply doesn't work ever since i replaced the intel card with an atheros card. At least its possible for you to activate this card via software, my solution is going to have to involve a rather cumbersome hardware hack like this one

 

If you're using a mini-pci card, there is the possibility of taping over pins 11 & 13... careful though cause the pins are counted 1, 3, 5, 7... on the top of the card and 2, 4, 6, 8... on the bottom of the card. So if you count normally pins 11&13 are actually 6&7...this hack is semi detailed here:

Linux rfswitch source forge project

djmastera2000
djmastera2000
Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ehm, i don't have a hw switch and didn't ask for that, there's no possibillity to built-in a hw switch without "f***ing" the notebook :D

 

And i have an Atheros card and it's working, recognized as Airport by MacOSX. But i cannot activate the radio for wlan without that peace of {censored}(sw switch, module). I tried with Darwine, but it cannot start "WirelessContol.exe", so i thought, someone could help me to port that little "rfswitch" from Linux to MacOS.

 

But thx for your answer ;)

errandwolfe
errandwolfe
Posted
Posted

Have about the same issue here. Have a Compaq V5101 laptop with a Broadcom 802.11b/g mini-PCI wifi card built in. Now if I have done my research right, this card should be natively supported by OS X....Unfortunately I have a hardware switch to control power to the card which does not seem to work under OS X, therefore no wifi under OS X.

djmastera2000
djmastera2000
Posted
  • Author
Posted

Then not you're hw switch is not supportet, but your card.

 

In my case, i need a little peace of software code to activate the radio. You have to push the switch "on" only.

 

And my card(Atheros) works and is recognized as Airport already. And your's? If not, you have to bye an Atheros wlan card like "Gigabyte WIAG-02", then it should work with your notebook too. It's about 25€ i think, not that expensive :P

 

Can anyone help to complile that little code on MacOSX x86, pleeeaaaaaaaaaaaaase?

  • 2 weeks later...
djtrix
djtrix
Posted
Posted
Yes, i took a look at this possibillity, but i don't have so much experience :hysterical:

 

Therefore i ask to help me, perhaps someone can check if it works...

 

Well the interesting thing is i think perhaps you dont need this switch at all. Its possible that OSX has an internal configuration for enabling/disabeling wireless cards. Which card do you have specifically?

djtrix
djtrix
Posted
Posted
Really? Sounds good...

 

I had an intel card, now i have an atheros one, and it works with osx as "Airport". But the switch is not card dependent, it works with every card and turns wlan antennas on/off only :lol:

 

Really? is this even possible? From my knowledge of electrical engineering (i just graduated) I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as a coaxial switch... but hey, i guess anything is possible. So you're proposing that rather than the switch enabeling/disabeling something on the card itself (which is exactly what the minipci pinout defines pins 13 and 14 are for) there is some sort of wires coming over the motherboard controlling an RF transister that blocks the antenna???

 

I guess its possible, but highly unlikely. The odds are you "software" switch is mearly some commands that are sending a high/low signal to those pins (13 & 14)

djtrix
djtrix
Posted
Posted
Yes, really. Many notebooks have that (f**ky) sw switches, that's a pitty as i think :(

 

Therefore, if i want to run wlan, i need that switch compiled under MacOS X...

 

doubtful that you need to compile anything. Theres a built in software switch in osx for the atheros cards, you just need a compatible one. With my atheros card i dont even have to use the hw switch to turn the card on/off , infact the hw switch does nothing, but the card is still useable. Once osx recognizes it as an airport card, do the drivers load? can you provide a few lines before and after the atheros driver loading line in your dmesg:

to do this type: sodo dmesg

from the terminal. and copy the relavent lines.

 

Also, give me the EXACT model of your atheros card, it would help alot. as not all atheros cards are 100% compatible with osx. Is it a minipci card? or is it mini pci express?

 

Have you gone into the system profiler, and tried enabling the card with osx?

 

-Dre

Andras Kenez
Andras Kenez
Posted
Posted
Have you tried compiling the rfswitch linux source with xcode?

If it doesn't have too much kernel specific calls, it should be fairly easy to port.

 

You could not compile directly with Xcode Linux source, because OSX kerlen has different header files......

  • 2 weeks later...
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