OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Utilities => Topic started by: ceemill on July 05, 2020, 07:15:43 pm

Title: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 05, 2020, 07:15:43 pm
Anyone know where I can download wifistate.exe for OS/2, or something similar to set up wifi? Using OS/2 4.52 on an old Dell laptop with a Compaq WL 100 PCMCIA card. The card is working and I can ping my wifi router, but cant seem to ping any websites. I went through the TCP/IP setup but I probably did something wrong. Total noob here.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 05, 2020, 08:26:49 pm
PCMCIA is a very, very, ugly thing. However, if you have it doing a ping to your router. it is working (I am surprised). Pinging web sites can fail, simply because most web sites no longer allow you to do that.

You say it is using WiFi. What, exactly, is the adapter? We need to know the PCI ID (should be something like 1234:5678). You can get that by using the PCI.EXE program.

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/misc/pci104vka.zip (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/misc/pci104vka.zip)

updated by:

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/system/pcidevs_20180114.zip (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/system/pcidevs_20180114.zip)

They are old, but should be okay for your antique hardware.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 05, 2020, 09:39:34 pm
Hi Doug,

My wifi card is a Compaq WL 100.

the pci utility you linked to is no longer there, so I used lspci instead. the relevant output:

00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)
00:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)

I noticed it didn't read my PC card, don't know if it's supposed to, but it did see the PCMCIA slots. The wifi card was inserted when I ran this. It listed a few other items such as Host Bridge, VGA compatible controller, Bridge, IDE interface, USB Controller etc. Not sure if any of those would be useful in this case.

Let me know if you need more info and thanks for your help,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dariusz Piatkowski on July 05, 2020, 10:32:29 pm
Carl,

So I'm thinking along the lines (re: tcpip connectivity) that Doug is, connection to a router is a good thing.

What actually happens if you do a tracerte to a site, so for example, assuming I want to see what path is taken to get to www.google.com:

Code: [Select]
[G:\usr\local\lib]tracerte www.google.com
traceroute to www.google.com (172.217.5.4), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
 1  20:E5:2A:5C:4A:CF         (192.168.1.1)  0 ms  0 ms  0 ms
 2  bas1.wndson17.mnsi.net    (216.8.136.77)  0 ms  0 ms  0 ms
 3  br1.wndson17.mnsi.net     (216.8.137.2)  0 ms  0 ms  0 ms
 4  74.125.48.178             (74.125.48.178)  10 ms  10 ms  10 ms
 5  108.170.243.193           (108.170.243.193)  10 ms 108.170.243.174
 (108.170.243.174)  0 ms 108.170.243.193           (108.170.243.193)  0 ms
 6  209.85.255.173            (209.85.255.173)  0 ms  10 ms 209.85.255.145
      (209.85.255.145)  10 ms
 7  lga15s49-in-f4.1e100.net  (172.217.5.4)  10 ms  10 ms  0 ms

This will actually tell us if you are getting out at all past your router in the first place, if not, could be a DNS resolution.

Do you have DHCP or static IP address?

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 05, 2020, 11:04:40 pm
Hi Dariusz,

my result with tracerte is : uknown host www.google.com

I am using manual configuration as I couldn't get DHCP to work.

I have another question, where do you enter the wifi password when setting up TCP/IP? I didn't see anywhere to enter it in the setup. That might be my whole problem. Guess I should've asked that to start with  ;D

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 05, 2020, 11:10:51 pm
Hi Carl, start here, http://wlan.netlabs.org (http://wlan.netlabs.org) and here's a thread talking about newer builds, https://www.os2world.com/forum/index.php/topic,1696.0.html (https://www.os2world.com/forum/index.php/topic,1696.0.html)
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Tom on July 05, 2020, 11:23:06 pm
Hi Dariusz,

my result with tracerte is : uknown host www.google.com

I am using manual configuration as I couldn't get DHCP to work.

This suggests that Dariusz is right, and that you have a problem with DNS.

Can you show the content of the file resolv2 ? (usually found in \mptn\etc). That textfile should contain the IP-addresses of the name servers.
Also interesting is the content of the file setup.cmd in \mptn\bin .
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 06, 2020, 12:38:48 am
Hi Tom,

The contents of resolv2:

nameserver 75.75.75.75
nameserver 75.75.76.76
domain ceemill

The contents of setup.cmd:

route -fh
REM arp -f
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
REM ifconfig lan0 10.0.0.232 netmask 255.255.255.0
REM ifconfig lan1 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan2 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan3 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan4 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan5 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan6 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan7 metric 1 mtu 1500
dhcpstrt -i lan0
REM ifconfig sl0
route add default 10.0.0.232 -hopcount 1
ipgate off

Let me know if you need more info and thanks for your help

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 06, 2020, 12:51:53 am
Still, I have no idea where to put my wifi password. Probably why DHCP is failing and cant ping any websites. Is there a configuration file somewhere where this information would be contained???
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 06, 2020, 02:04:17 am
You need the wlan program that I linked to above. It is the successor to WifiState.exe and works fine on my T42
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ivan on July 06, 2020, 02:09:19 am
Maybe you should consider another way to get out to the internet.

I have an old Acer notebook that I tried with several PCMCIA wireless cards - I even went as far as trying Dani's TI controller driver.  In the end I took the simple way out and use a TP Link TL-WR902AC Travel Router it is plugged into the ethernet port with a very short cable and powered from 2 USB ports.  It allows me full access to my local network as well as the internet.

Simple to setup and it just works.  The unit is velcroed to the back of the monitor.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Martin Iturbide on July 06, 2020, 04:43:36 am
My wifi card is a Compaq WL 100.

Wow that's old. I remember that a long time ago I used OS/2 with a Cisco PCMCIA card (350 Series).  On that moment I think we didn't have the WLAN tool. If I don't recall it wrong you needed to put the driver on the MPTN OS/2 tool and when you configured the network adapter there was some place for the SSID and the password.

Some reference: http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=wifi2#4.3 (http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=wifi2#4.3)
Other reference: http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL1201H/vnewsf2.htm (http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL1201H/vnewsf2.htm)

According to this list (https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Network_Adapters#PC_Cards_.2F_PCMCIA), the "Compaq WL 100" may work with the "Generic PRISM (http://www.os2site.com/sw/drivers/network/wireless/genprism.2.0rc4.zip)" driver.

Regards



Regards
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 06, 2020, 05:00:16 am
Quote
Still, I have no idea where to put my wifi password. Probably why DHCP is failing and cant ping any websites. Is there a configuration file somewhere where this information would be contained???

As Dave suggested, you need XWLAN to connect to a WiFi hotspot. but I honestly doubt if that will actually work with a PCMCIA adapter (but try it, I don't know of any cases where it actually works)). As Ivan suggests, it is much easier, and more likely to work, with an external router, that connects to a wired LAN connector. If the router is modern, it will also attach at 300 Mbs (possibly faster).

You may find some useful information at: ftp://genmac@ftp.os2voice.org/ (http://ftp://genmac@ftp.os2voice.org/). Use "unsupported" (lower case, and no quotes) as a password, if it asks, but I doubt if there is anything useful there.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Andi B. on July 06, 2020, 07:12:40 am
Still, I have no idea where to put my wifi password. Probably why DHCP is failing and cant ping any websites. Is there a configuration file somewhere where this information would be contained???
You need to know which sort of encryption your wireless network uses. Today usually WPA2. And you need to know if your card supports this encryption. Guess it's a very old card and maybe it only supports WEP. If your card does not support the encryption standard your network uses then you can't connect. Suggest you check this basic things before trying out other things.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Tom on July 06, 2020, 06:23:54 pm
Hi Tom,

The contents of resolv2:

nameserver 75.75.75.75
nameserver 75.75.76.76
domain ceemill

The contents of setup.cmd:

route -fh
REM arp -f
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
REM ifconfig lan0 10.0.0.232 netmask 255.255.255.0
REM ifconfig lan1 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan2 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan3 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan4 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan5 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan6 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan7 metric 1 mtu 1500
dhcpstrt -i lan0
REM ifconfig sl0
route add default 10.0.0.232 -hopcount 1
ipgate off

Let me know if you need more info and thanks for your help

Carl

You told Dariusz that you are using manual configuration, since you couldn't get DHCP to work. Yet your setup.cmd says that you are using DHCP (the line with dhcpstrt), and not manual configuration (there is a REM at the start of the line ifconfig lan0).
On the other hand there is a line with route add default, which is not needed with DHCP.

I would suggest that you make a backup of your current setup.cmd, and then create a new setup.cmd with the following contents:

route -fh
arp -f
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
dhcpstrt -i lan0 -d 0

After you finished booting, use DHCPMON : it gives you information about the success or failure of starting your network connection using DHCP. You can toggle between more or less detail by pressing F5 on your keyboard. Also useful is the button "Current configuration" at the bottom of the DHCPMON window.

You can also try pinging the two nameservers listed in your resolv2. That will tell you if you can reach those name servers or not (they do respond to ping requests - I just tried on my own machine).

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 06, 2020, 08:12:24 pm
You need the wlan program that I linked to above. It is the successor to WifiState.exe and works fine on my T42

Hi Dave,

Didn't mean to ignore your suggestion, I am going to give this a go. I might need some help as I'm a noob when it comes to setting this up on OS/2. Will try not to worry you to death.  :D
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 06, 2020, 08:19:37 pm
Hi Tom,

The contents of resolv2:

nameserver 75.75.75.75
nameserver 75.75.76.76
domain ceemill

The contents of setup.cmd:

route -fh
REM arp -f
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
REM ifconfig lan0 10.0.0.232 netmask 255.255.255.0
REM ifconfig lan1 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan2 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan3 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan4 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan5 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan6 metric 1 mtu 1500
REM ifconfig lan7 metric 1 mtu 1500
dhcpstrt -i lan0
REM ifconfig sl0
route add default 10.0.0.232 -hopcount 1
ipgate off

Let me know if you need more info and thanks for your help

Carl

You told Dariusz that you are using manual configuration, since you couldn't get DHCP to work. Yet your setup.cmd says that you are using DHCP (the line with dhcpstrt), and not manual configuration (there is a REM at the start of the line ifconfig lan0).
On the other hand there is a line with route add default, which is not needed with DHCP.

I would suggest that you make a backup of your current setup.cmd, and then create a new setup.cmd with the following contents:

route -fh
arp -f
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
dhcpstrt -i lan0 -d 0

After you finished booting, use DHCPMON : it gives you information about the success or failure of starting your network connection using DHCP. You can toggle between more or less detail by pressing F5 on your keyboard. Also useful is the button "Current configuration" at the bottom of the DHCPMON window.

You can also try pinging the two nameservers listed in your resolv2. That will tell you if you can reach those name servers or not (they do respond to ping requests - I just tried on my own machine).

Hi Tom,

The reason for the dhcp entry is because I was trying a lot of different things and I guess that was the last entry when I accessed the contents of the file. But yeah, dhcp doesn't work no matter what I do. I will give the setup.cmd file re-do a try though.

Thanks,
Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 06, 2020, 08:44:35 pm
Still, I have no idea where to put my wifi password. Probably why DHCP is failing and cant ping any websites. Is there a configuration file somewhere where this information would be contained???
You need to know which sort of encryption your wireless network uses. Today usually WPA2. And you need to know if your card supports this encryption. Guess it's a very old card and maybe it only supports WEP. If your card does not support the encryption standard your network uses then you can't connect. Suggest you check this basic things before trying out other things.

Hi Andi,

You are probably right, my PC card is very old and it probably doesn't support WPA2. Looking at my wifi properties on my newer Windows laptop, the encryption is WPA2-Personal. Don't know but I guess I'm pretty much out of luck here. Might have to look into other options.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dariusz Piatkowski on July 06, 2020, 09:48:22 pm
...You are probably right, my PC card is very old and it probably doesn't support WPA2. Looking at my wifi properties on my newer Windows laptop, the encryption is WPA2-Personal. Don't know but I guess I'm pretty much out of luck here. Might have to look into other options.

So far from being ideal, but on your router can you separate out a single SSID and give it a WEP configuration? If anything that would either confirm that tcpip config is fine and given the old-style security config you could actually connect.

If you want to stay connected that way, and perhaps hide the SSID on the router (so it does not auto-advertise) you could do that...but not worth the risk in my opinion, especially if you have others in yoru proximity that may want to hack the signal.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 06, 2020, 11:12:09 pm
You need the wlan program that I linked to above. It is the successor to WifiState.exe and works fine on my T42

Hi Dave,

I installed wlan, but on reading the help file, there are some prerequisites that need to be met. Maybe you can advise me on a couple as far as where to download them. I don't have internet access on the OS/2 computer so RPM is right out. It says I need XWorkplace or EWorkplace, which would I use for OS/2 Warp 4.52? I also need ISC DHCP client from RPM download, but no internet access, will need to download it on my main computer and transfer it. The other thing I need is Runtime Library V0.6.5-csd5, and I would need to download it from my main computer also. I was able to download GenMac 2.0 as well as Warpin.

Any advice on this would be helpful.

Thanks,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 07, 2020, 12:07:58 am
Hi Carl, there's both the Xworkplace widget and a standalone program. I use the Widget.
Xworkplace is here, https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-full-en.exe (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-full-en.exe) for the full version, or the light version, https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-lite-en.exe (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-lite-en.exe), a handy extension to the WPS. It is supplied with ArcaOS (and previously eCS) as a rebranded version
The dhcp client is available as a zip here, http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/dhcp-3_1-3_oc00.zip (http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/dhcp-3_1-3_oc00.zip), not sure if it has dependencies.
The newest libc is here, http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/libc-0_6_6-40_oc00.zip (http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/libc-0_6_6-40_oc00.zip).
Be careful with it as it includes forwarder DLLs. Make sure they are the only ones on LIBPATH. You may have older ones already installed which will need moving out of the way.
Hopefully that is all the dependencies. To be honest, I've never installed it on 4.52, it has always been installed with eCS or ArcaOS while installing.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 07, 2020, 12:12:06 am
You also might need Warpin to install XWorkplace and will likely need it for installing other stuff. https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/archiver/warpin-1-0-22.zip (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/archiver/warpin-1-0-22.zip)
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 07, 2020, 01:09:35 am
Hi Carl, there's both the Xworkplace widget and a standalone program. I use the Widget.
Xworkplace is here, https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-full-en.exe (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-full-en.exe) for the full version, or the light version, https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-lite-en.exe (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wps/xworkplace/xwp-1-0-13-lite-en.exe), a handy extension to the WPS. It is supplied with ArcaOS (and previously eCS) as a rebranded version
The dhcp client is available as a zip here, http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/dhcp-3_1-3_oc00.zip (http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/dhcp-3_1-3_oc00.zip), not sure if it has dependencies.
The newest libc is here, http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/libc-0_6_6-40_oc00.zip (http://rpm.netlabs.org/release/00/zip/libc-0_6_6-40_oc00.zip).
Be careful with it as it includes forwarder DLLs. Make sure they are the only ones on LIBPATH. You may have older ones already installed which will need moving out of the way.
Hopefully that is all the dependencies. To be honest, I've never installed it on 4.52, it has always been installed with eCS or ArcaOS while installing.

LOL, well Dave that's kind of an important oversight there! Just kidding, I'm sure it'll be fine. If not then I'll just go in a different direction.

Thanks for your help,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Andi B. on July 07, 2020, 08:51:51 am
I know installing xwlan (package includes the xcenter widget and wlanstat.exe the stand alone application) which needs dhcpclient and wpa_supplicant, isn't that easy. Especially without internet access.

That's the reason I suggested to check the basics first. Only if you're sure your card supports WPA2 (which I doubt) or only if you're really sure you would like to change your whole wireless network to the insecure WEP standard, then it's worth to start looking at xwlan.

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 07, 2020, 05:16:19 pm
I know installing xwlan (package includes the xcenter widget and wlanstat.exe the stand alone application) which needs dhcpclient and wpa_supplicant, isn't that easy. Especially without internet access.

That's the reason I suggested to check the basics first. Only if you're sure your card supports WPA2 (which I doubt) or only if you're really sure you would like to change your whole wireless network to the insecure WEP standard, then it's worth to start looking at xwlan.

Hi Andi,

My card doesn't support WPA2. So, I guess xwlan isn't going to help in this instance right?

My other option was to use the wifi hotspot feature on my wireless router. I'm not sure if that uses any kind of encryption or not. Since I'm not going to use internet access to buy stuff online or pass any personal info I think it will be fine for that if I can access it. This feature is separate from the secure access on my normal wifi access.

What do you guys think??

Thanks,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 07, 2020, 06:53:58 pm
Quote
My card doesn't support WPA2. So, I guess xwlan isn't going to help in this instance right?

Wrong. XWLAN is the program that connects WiFi to the hot spot, whether it is an open hot spot (no security), or using one of the, so called, secure connections (WEM, WPA, or WPA2). The security level, that you need, depends on how the hot spot (your router) is configured, and capable of.  The suggestion that WPA2 may not work is valid (WPA may not work either), and that can happen even if the device does support WPA or WPA2. You probably don't want to actually use the device, if it won't connect at one of those two levels. This "security" has nothing, at all, to do with buying things on the internet. It is to prevent people from logging into your router, and using it (possibly to send SPAM, or PORN, to the world). Even WEP is so easy to bypass, that any high school kid can o it in about a minute.

We need to know, exactly, what the hardware is, to make intelligent suggestions. See my previous post. Please tell us what driver you are trying to use. Without all of that information, we can only guess at what you are trying to do, and there are a lot of possibilities.

Also, seriously consider getting, and using, an external WiFi adapter (that plugs into the wired LAN connector) for security reasons, as well as connection speed, unless you are doing this just for laughs. They are not very expensive, and will work a whole lot better than some antique PCMCIA card ever could. If you are doing this for laughs, READ every word in the documentation, at least three times, then ask questions about what you don't understand. There is no easy way to figure this out, and the solution may be completely different, for different hardware, and driver, combinations. It is also very likely that your hardware simply has no driver.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ivan on July 07, 2020, 08:04:39 pm
Hi Carl,

Let us go back to basics.

1) do you have the disk that came with your Compaq PCMCIA card and if so does it have an OS/2 driver on it?
2) have you installed an OS/2 driver for that card?
3) if no driver for the card is installed then you have less chance of it working than a snowball has of surviving on the streets of hell.
4) to emphasise item 3) NO WORKING DRIVER = NO WORKING WiFI no matter what you try.
5) wireless cards of any type MUST have a working driver installed before they can work.
6) all the various programs others have mentioned work through the card driver - again no driver = no wireless.

That being said IF you have an OS/2 driver and it is installed then we can try and help you.  I have 15 PCMCIA wireless cards in my junk box because they are useless to me without OS/2 drivers even though I have a couple of antique notebooks that they fit (they did work with the version of windows that was on them because there were drivers for windows)

If you want to connect to your WiFi network then use a travel router as I suggested earlier and Doug reiterated.   
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Pete on July 07, 2020, 08:40:56 pm
Hi All

Not "up" on PCMCIA myself but years ago when first developing USBcfg I was told that the relevant config.sys lines must be in a certain order.

Looking through my code I see I made a note:-

{*
These lines get written at the end of the new config.sys file
  BASEDEV=OS2PCARD.DMD  PC-Card Device Manager
  Attention: Must be in before $ICPMOS2.SYS.  If no $ICPMOS2.SYS installed it has to be the last line in the config.sys
  DEVICE=C:\OS2\$ICPMOS2.SYS /G  Power Management Driver for PCMCIA
  Attention: Must be after all other listed drivers in the config.sys
 *}


No idea if the above is relevant to Carls setup...


Regards

Pete

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 07, 2020, 09:02:44 pm
Quote
Looking through my code I see I made a note:-

{*
These lines get written at the end of the new config.sys file
  BASEDEV=OS2PCARD.DMD  PC-Card Device Manager
  Attention: Must be in before $ICPMOS2.SYS.  If no $ICPMOS2.SYS installed it has to be the last line in the config.sys
  DEVICE=C:\OS2\$ICPMOS2.SYS /G  Power Management Driver for PCMCIA
  Attention: Must be after all other listed drivers in the config.sys
 *}

No idea if the above is relevant to Carls setup...

Probably not, but there is a specific order that the PCMCIA lines need to follow. Your note is very misleading, the ICPMOS2.SYS  does not need to be after all other drivers, only after all other PCMCIA drivers. If you use my LCSS (Logical Config.Sys Sort) program (it is at HOBBES), it will do it correctly (along with other things that need to be "first" or "last").
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Pete on July 08, 2020, 01:21:21 am
Hi Doug

I have updated my "note" with your correction, Thanks.

Did eCS use LCSS during installation?


Regards

Pete

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 08, 2020, 01:55:13 am
Quote
My card doesn't support WPA2. So, I guess xwlan isn't going to help in this instance right?

Wrong. XWLAN is the program that connects WiFi to the hot spot, whether it is an open hot spot (no security), or using one of the, so called, secure connections (WEM, WPA, or WPA2). The security level, that you need, depends on how the hot spot (your router) is configured, and capable of.  The suggestion that WPA2 may not work is valid (WPA may not work either), and that can happen even if the device does support WPA or WPA2. You probably don't want to actually use the device, if it won't connect at one of those two levels. This "security" has nothing, at all, to do with buying things on the internet. It is to prevent people from logging into your router, and using it (possibly to send SPAM, or PORN, to the world). Even WEP is so easy to bypass, that any high school kid can o it in about a minute.

We need to know, exactly, what the hardware is, to make intelligent suggestions. See my previous post. Please tell us what driver you are trying to use. Without all of that information, we can only guess at what you are trying to do, and there are a lot of possibilities.

Also, seriously consider getting, and using, an external WiFi adapter (that plugs into the wired LAN connector) for security reasons, as well as connection speed, unless you are doing this just for laughs. They are not very expensive, and will work a whole lot better than some antique PCMCIA card ever could. If you are doing this for laughs, READ every word in the documentation, at least three times, then ask questions about what you don't understand. There is no easy way to figure this out, and the solution may be completely different, for different hardware, and driver, combinations. It is also very likely that your hardware simply has no driver.

Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is genprism.2.0rc4. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).

For the PCMCIA bus driver I am using the dell.exe driver which I downloaded from the OS2Site repository. Sorry, I don't have any further info on the Card bus driver. It is equivalent roughly to the IBM PlayatWill driver.

Let me also state that I am not doing this for shits and giggles. I use the OS/2 system with my amateur radio set up and I take it seriously. I wanted a reliable os that I could depend on and that had DOS capability. I'm not doing this to pass the time or just to play around. Having internet access would be helpful for logging, QSLing etc. instead of having to transfer data over to my main system on a CD to log or to QSL from.

This laptop does NOT have a LAN or ethernet port, I suppose this could be remedied with a PCMCIA NIC card and then I could add the adapter you mentioned.

So, will XWLAN work or not? If not then I guess I need to start searching for the NIC pc card and the wifi adapter you mentioned.

Tell me directly what you want to know, or see, and I will do my best to get it for you. I'm not asking anybody to figure this out for me, I just need guidance and information, it's all I'm asking for. I know you didn't start out with something different from day one and know all the answers did you?

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 08, 2020, 02:08:29 am
Hi Carl,

Let us go back to basics.

1) do you have the disk that came with your Compaq PCMCIA card and if so does it have an OS/2 driver on it?
2) have you installed an OS/2 driver for that card?
3) if no driver for the card is installed then you have less chance of it working than a snowball has of surviving on the streets of hell.
4) to emphasise item 3) NO WORKING DRIVER = NO WORKING WiFI no matter what you try.
5) wireless cards of any type MUST have a working driver installed before they can work.
6) all the various programs others have mentioned work through the card driver - again no driver = no wireless.

That being said IF you have an OS/2 driver and it is installed then we can try and help you.  I have 15 PCMCIA wireless cards in my junk box because they are useless to me without OS/2 drivers even though I have a couple of antique notebooks that they fit (they did work with the version of windows that was on them because there were drivers for windows)

If you want to connect to your WiFi network then use a travel router as I suggested earlier and Doug reiterated.

Please read my previous posts and my reply to Doug. I have a driver, the card works, kinda, my problem is, I guess from what has been posted previously, the card does not support the encryption method used by my wifi router. Thus, it will not connect to the internet. I can ping the router, but I cannot ping external URLs such as Google etc.

All I was wanting to know is will installing XWLAN solve this problem? I have determined, basically and indirectly, that it will NOT.

And, I have asked this question on at least two posts, where does one enter their wifi password? there's nowhere to enter it in the TCP/IP set up. Is there a configuration file where this would be entered? Wouldn't this be necessary to connect to my router even if it's encryption method is not supported by my wifi card? No one has given me a direct answer to this question.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 08, 2020, 02:51:33 am
Quote
Did eCS use LCSS during installation?

No. It is a stand alone program. I have offered it to Arca Noae, but I think they want to avoid using any Config.sys sorter. Or, it may be that it cannot (in it's current form) be translated to other languages. I have started to look at that, but I am not sure how to approach the problem, yet. It is REXX, so the source is the program, if anybody wants to make suggestions.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ivan on July 08, 2020, 03:12:53 am
Quote
And, I have asked this question on at least two posts, where does one enter their wifi password? there's nowhere to enter it in the TCP/IP set up. Is there a configuration file where this would be entered? Wouldn't this be necessary to connect to my router even if it's encryption method is not supported by my wifi card? No one has given me a direct answer to this question.

Going back over my archives for the time when I was trying out PCMCIA cards the disks supplied with them had the driver and controller software.  It was the controller software that setup the parameters used by the card.  Since you don't appear to have that controller software you will either have to try and find it out on the net (Compaq used to have almost all of their equipment software available on an FTP server) since that is where you enter such things as passwords and other network information.

Sorry if I appeared rather hard in my last comment but I had just had a day of people complaining that their computer 'just stopped working' while not saying what they did (I've been retired for the last 5 years)
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 08, 2020, 03:21:39 am
Quote
And, I have asked this question on at least two posts, where does one enter their wifi password? there's nowhere to enter it in the TCP/IP set up. Is there a configuration file where this would be entered? Wouldn't this be necessary to connect to my router even if it's encryption method is not supported by my wifi card? No one has given me a direct answer to this question.

Going back over my archives for the time when I was trying out PCMCIA cards the disks supplied with them had the driver and controller software.  It was the controller software that setup the parameters used by the card.  Since you don't appear to have that controller software you will either have to try and find it out on the net (Compaq used to have almost all of their equipment software available on an FTP server) since that is where you enter such things as passwords and other network information.

Sorry if I appeared rather hard in my last comment but I had just had a day of people complaining that their computer 'just stopped working' while not saying what they did (I've been retired for the last 5 years)

No worries Ivan, I understand where you're coming from.

As far as the software that goes with the card, I can look online for it, but I'm thinking that it probably didn't support OS/2, but being new to this who knows, I might get lucky.

Thank you for your help,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 08, 2020, 04:17:36 am
I think that XWLAN should allow you to connect with an unencyrpted WiFi connection as it will handle the DHCP and such.
Now whether it is a good idea to use unencrypted WiFi is your decision. I did it for a while but I live in the middle of nowhere and only had dial up, so so slow that no one would want to use it.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 08, 2020, 04:28:02 am
Quote
Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is genprism.2.0rc4. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).
. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).

Okay, now we are getting some information (still don't know, for sure, exactly what the device is). "genprism.2.0rc4" indicates that it is probably the only WiFi PCMCIA card that will work with OS/2, and that would be the (ancient) driver for it. I don't know if you would need XWLAN with it, or not (probably not, since that thing existed before XWLAN did). You will need to carefully read all of the information that is available, to see if it tells you how to actually use it. I will guarantee that it won't work with a router that is configured to use WPA, or WPA2. In fact, it may not even know about WEP, which means you would need to  set your router as an open access point (VERY risky). I would start there anyway, for a short period, because it will probably work. Don't leave it open, or somebody will eventually find it, and you never know what they might do.

Quote
Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router.

DHCP not working is no surprise. You probably need a fixed address, so it will exist before the driver is totally initialized. I am still surprised that you can ping your router, but that indicates that the card, and the driver, are working. Now, the problem is, that the router needs to be configured to accept the connection from the device. As I said above, set the router as an open access point (no security, if the router will actually allow that), and see if it works. If that works, try WEM security level. It might work, if you can figure out how to insert the SSID and password for it (see below). You DO NOT want to leave your router set at anything less than WPA (which that card will never use).

Quote
This laptop does NOT have a LAN or ethernet port, I suppose this could be remedied with a PCMCIA NIC card and then I could add the adapter you mentioned.

Okay, that complicates things. To be honest, I doubt if a PCMCIA NIC card would work any better (and you need to make sure that you get one that is supported). It does remove the requirement for WiFi security, which should make it easier, and safer, to use (not to mention a lot faster).

FWIW, I have 3 PCMCIA NIC cards (actually CardBus cards), but the one that has a cable (3COM Meghertz 10/100 CardBus) doesn't work (I think it was fried at one time). The 3COM OfficeConnect 10/100 device does work, but the XJack connector is so flaky that it isn't usable (NOT a good design). The other one is an IBM 10/100 EtherJet. It loads a driver, but I have no way to connect it to the network (no cable), so I don't know if it actually works, or not. Any card that has a driver (and the hardware is still good) should work with a LAN cable, or a portable router setup.

Quote
So, will XWLAN work or not?

I doubt it, but I could be wrong. XWLAN was originally meant to operate WiFi, using the GENMAC driver (probably newer than what you have). You need to find out how to enter the SSID and password that the driver needs to connect (you may have done that already, if PING actually works). It may be done as a parameter to the driver. If so it would likely (and I am guessing) be in the Network Protocol setup, or directly inserted into C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI (if you can find out what the parameters are, it should be in the docs <which I don't have> somewhere, PROTOCOL.INI is a TEXT file). Even then, it will only work if the router is set to a security level that the device, and the driver, know about, and that would be a huge security risk (not to mention that other WiFi devices would need to use the same security level).

Quote
And, I have asked this question on at least two posts, where does one enter their wifi password? there's nowhere to enter it in the TCP/IP set up. Is there a configuration file where this would be entered? Wouldn't this be necessary to connect to my router even if it's encryption method is not supported by my wifi card? No one has given me a direct answer to this question.

The problem is, that it is probably at least 30 years since anybody even looked at that kind of setup. As I mentioned above, it is probably in PROTOCOL.INI, which is configured by the MPTS (AKA Adapters and Protocols) program. If you are using ArcaOS, that has been replaced by the NAPS (Network Adapters and Protocols) program. I no longer have the older program, but in NAPS, you select the device, and click on the Parameters button. If that is the right place, it will probably be obvious. You may also find a file C:\IBMCOM\MACS\genprism.NIF (or something like that). DO NOT change that file, but it should contain some useful information about the driver setup.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on July 08, 2020, 05:19:16 am
I used to use that driver with an Ambicom 802.11b card. XWLAN ought to work.

Before XWLAN, I used to REXX scripts. I tried to attach them, but OS/2 World does not accept REXX scripts as attachments.

Code: [Select]
/* turn on the radio
 * This command activates the 802.11b interface
 *
 * The wireless NIC should be inserted in the PC Card slot
 */
wifiProg = "e:\programs\ambicom\wifistat.exe"
say "Activating the wireless network card"
'@ net stop messenger /y'
'@ net stop req /y'
'@ dhcpmon -t'
'@ ifconfig lan0 down'
'@ ifconfig lan0 delete'
'@ route -fh'
'@ arp -f'
'@ dhcpstrt -i lan1 -d 0'
'@ start' wifiProg
'@ start dhcpmon'
say "Wireless networking enabled"
return


Code: [Select]
/* turn off the radio
* This command deactivates the 802.11b interface
*/
say "Deactivating the wireless network card"
'@ go -k wifistat.exe'
'@ go -k dhcpmon.exe'
'@ dhcpmon -t'
'@ ifconfig lan1 down'
'@ ifconfig lan1 delete'
'@ route -fh'
'@ arp -f'
'@ dhcpstrt -i lan0 -d 10'
say "Cable networking enabled"
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ivan on July 08, 2020, 08:03:47 am
Another thought I had this morning.  Do you know the IP address of the card?  If you do try using firefox with that address (eg. http://192.168.xxx.yyy , with xxx and yyy being specific to the card) in the address bar.  IF it allows you to connect to the card it might also allow you to get at the settings.

As Doug says it has been a long time since any of us have done much with PCMCIA cards.  For me it was 1992/1993 when I used a modem/fax card to connect to the outside world.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 08, 2020, 07:48:16 pm
Another thought I had this morning.  Do you know the IP address of the card?  If you do try using firefox with that address (eg. http://192.168.xxx.yyy , with xxx and yyy being specific to the card) in the address bar.  IF it allows you to connect to the card it might also allow you to get at the settings.

As Doug says it has been a long time since any of us have done much with PCMCIA cards.  For me it was 1992/1993 when I used a modem/fax card to connect to the outside world.

Thanks Ivan, I will give this a shot.

Dumb question though, the IP of the card would be listed under "localhost", is this correct? Or does the card have it's own hardwired IP address?

Sorry for the continuous dumb questions, but I guess this is how you learn.

Thanks,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 08, 2020, 07:55:38 pm
Okay, now we are getting some information (still don't know, for sure, exactly what the device is).

Hi Doug,

The card itself is a Compaq WL 100 PCMCIA  802.11b Wifi card. Probably dates from the late '90s.

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Tom on July 08, 2020, 11:58:22 pm
Dumb question though, the IP of the card would be listed under "localhost", is this correct? Or does the card have it's own hardwired IP address?

Sorry for the continuous dumb questions, but I guess this is how you learn.

Thanks,

Carl

You can use ifconfig lan0 to see which IP-address was assigned to the card (and no: an IP-address is not hardwired into a card).

Have you already tried to use the setup.cmd I suggested to you?
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 09, 2020, 01:06:23 am
Dumb question though, the IP of the card would be listed under "localhost", is this correct? Or does the card have it's own hardwired IP address?

Sorry for the continuous dumb questions, but I guess this is how you learn.

Thanks,

Carl

You can use ifconfig lan0 to see which IP-address was assigned to the card (and no: an IP-address is not hardwired into a card).

Have you already tried to use the setup.cmd I suggested to you?

Hi Tom,

Sorry for the delay, got caught up trying other things. But, when I followed your instructions as far as setup.cmd, on boot up I got the standard DHCPSTRT could not get any information, paraphrasing here, will try in the background, Press Enter to Continue. It gives the fail dialog box after bootup and the desktop has loaded. DHCPMON does not get any server information no DDNS host name, no IP Address, no Lease. DHCPMON just sits there with the messages:

17:56:13 Sending DISCOVER message.
17:56:13 Number of options requested = 6.

and those repeat continuously.

Let me know if there's anything else to try, but I really think this is probably a lost cause. Even if it did have some success, without my wifi password it wouldn't get very far anyway.

Just wish there was a configuration file where this could be entered, like in Linux or BSD. If I recall correctly they use a file called wpa_supplicant.conf where that info is entered. Anything like that in OS/2?

Thanks again for your help and time,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on July 09, 2020, 04:00:36 am
The WPA_SUPPLICANT is part of XWLAN. And your card won't do WPA, so it won't work under Linux or Windows, either. I don't remember any PCCard with OS/2 drivers that will do WPA.

Maybe use a travel router with the built in ethernet?
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 09, 2020, 06:37:06 am
Quote
The card itself is a Compaq WL 100 PCMCIA  802.11b Wifi card. Probably dates from the late '90s.

That doesn't tell us, exactly, what it is. You need to quote the PCI ID (something like 1234:5678), which you can get by running the PCI.EXE program. It probably won't help, in this case, though.

Quote
Sorry for the delay, got caught up trying other things. But, when I followed your instructions as far as setup.cmd, on boot up I got the standard DHCPSTRT could not get any information, paraphrasing here, will try in the background, Press Enter to Continue. It gives the fail dialog box after bootup and the desktop has loaded. DHCPMON does not get any server information no DDNS host name, no IP Address, no Lease. DHCPMON just sits there with the messages:

I would suggest abandoning DHCP (don't use any part of it), and set a fixed address. You can't do both, or you will get weird messages. You do need to connect to the WiFi, before DHCP can get an address, and I doubt if you are connecting (I doubt if PING works either).

Quote
Maybe use a travel router with the built in ethernet?

That would be the easiest, and best answer, except he said there is no built in ethernet to attach it to.

Quote
Let me know if there's anything else to try, but I really think this is probably a lost cause. Even if it did have some success, without my wifi password it wouldn't get very far anyway.

Even if you do get it to connect (it may need an open access point, which would be extremely unsafe), it would also be very slow at "b" speed (11 Mbs, at best). Neil is probably giving you the best advice, because he had one, years ago. Unfortunately, it was a long time ago, and a lot of water has passed under the bridge.

It seems that you are trying to attach an unsecured device to a secured access point. That is strictly not allowed. If you open the WiFi security on your router, you should be able to connect, but you certainly do not want to leave it that way.

Did you look in the *.NIF file? it likely has something that may be useful.

Quote
17:56:13 Sending DISCOVER message.
17:56:13 Number of options requested = 6.

and those repeat continuously.

That is what happens when you try to get an IP address, and you haven't connected. You need to connect the WiFi before that stuff will work. You are effectively trying to get an address, but you haven't plugged in the cable.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 09, 2020, 07:00:41 am
Okay, I just downloaded the driver that Martin linked to. The stuff is all in the *.NIF file, so you configure it with the Adapters and Protocol Services program (that had a different name, at one time, possibly Multi Protocol Transport Services, or MPTS). DO NOT modify the NIF file. Open the program, and it should have a way to fill in the blanks, after you select the driver. That will all be saved in C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI (which is a text file). That setup will not be portable, but should work for what you want to do. You still need to open the WiFi security, so the router, and the card, can talk the same language. Apparently, it will do WEP, but WEP is only slightly better than an open access point, so be very careful what you do.

I suggest that you only change the items that are needed to connect, There are a LOT of things in there that aren't likely to help, and probably should not be changed.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Andi B. on July 09, 2020, 09:22:08 am
Additional note, you don't need to reboot when you change from DHCP to fixed IPs or vice versa. setup.cmd will be started at boot up but no one prevent you from running it again from command line afterwards. Simply edit it, save it, and run it to change your IP.

I'm also confused about you're saying you can ping something although you're far away from being connected to any network. Best guess is you have pinged yourself while you've given yourself a fixed IP. Can't imagine you ever successfully pinged your WLAN access point with your current setup.

So although there are much valuable information in this thread I think you need to start with the very basics first -
1) you need a driver for your card which can be installed an configured with MPTS
2) if the driver is loaded successfully then most probably you can see a proper message about in in \ibmlan\lantran.log. Guess this works for you but it does not hurt if you post your lantran.log here.
3) if the driver loads then you need to attach a protocol with MPTS. You probably need TCP/IP only at first. It seems you managed this step successfully too.
4) after that you need to assign an IP address to your interface. It seems to me this is the place were you currently stuck. You can check with ifconfig lan0 f.i. Yes it's that simple as in other OSes. You can even do ifconfig lan0 192.168.1.100 to assing a fixed ip to your interface. But doing it within setup.cmd is the better way as long as you don't know exactly what you're doing and know the consequences. Advice - play with setup.cmd. When you setup a fixed IP then you need to rem out the DHCP line in setup.cmd of course.

These steps are all basic network stuff. Very similar in every OS. Don't play with XWLAN or wpa_supplicant before above things are work. On the other hand, if you're have a working linux wpa_supplicant.conf file for this system it will work the same on OS/2. The whole wpa_supplicant package is available even the QT frontend works on OS/2. Of course your network card have to work before and is correctly configured on OS/2. See steps 1-4.

A lot of discussion here in this thread is about 'is it really worth to play with this card'. This is an important questions you've to ask yourself. Most probably your card does not support any current security standard. Read it can not do WPA2. Not even WPA. If you ever want to connect to your wireless network you have to change the whole network to something insecure. Period. You need to decide if this is an option for you. For most people this is an absolutely no go. Hence the numerous warnings in this thread. Only if you have access to the security settings of your access point and only if you can live with the consequences of an insecure wireless network it does make any sense to play with this network card.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 10, 2020, 01:44:26 am

Quote
That doesn't tell us, exactly, what it is. You need to quote the PCI ID (something like 1234:5678), which you can get by running the PCI.EXE program. It probably won't help, in this case, though.

Doug,

I posted the results from lspci.exe (I used this program because PCI.EXE is no longer available) right after you asked me to do that. If you scroll back a couple pages you will see the results.

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 10, 2020, 02:38:22 am
Additional note, you don't need to reboot when you change from DHCP to fixed IPs or vice versa. setup.cmd will be started at boot up but no one prevent you from running it again from command line afterwards. Simply edit it, save it, and run it to change your IP.

I'm also confused about you're saying you can ping something although you're far away from being connected to any network. Best guess is you have pinged yourself while you've given yourself a fixed IP. Can't imagine you ever successfully pinged your WLAN access point with your current setup.

So although there are much valuable information in this thread I think you need to start with the very basics first -
1) you need a driver for your card which can be installed an configured with MPTS
2) if the driver is loaded successfully then most probably you can see a proper message about in in \ibmlan\lantran.log. Guess this works for you but it does not hurt if you post your lantran.log here.
3) if the driver loads then you need to attach a protocol with MPTS. You probably need TCP/IP only at first. It seems you managed this step successfully too.
4) after that you need to assign an IP address to your interface. It seems to me this is the place were you currently stuck. You can check with ifconfig lan0 f.i. Yes it's that simple as in other OSes. You can even do ifconfig lan0 192.168.1.100 to assing a fixed ip to your interface. But doing it within setup.cmd is the better way as long as you don't know exactly what you're doing and know the consequences. Advice - play with setup.cmd. When you setup a fixed IP then you need to rem out the DHCP line in setup.cmd of course.

These steps are all basic network stuff. Very similar in every OS. Don't play with XWLAN or wpa_supplicant before above things are work. On the other hand, if you're have a working linux wpa_supplicant.conf file for this system it will work the same on OS/2. The whole wpa_supplicant package is available even the QT frontend works on OS/2. Of course your network card have to work before and is correctly configured on OS/2. See steps 1-4.

A lot of discussion here in this thread is about 'is it really worth to play with this card'. This is an important questions you've to ask yourself. Most probably your card does not support any current security standard. Read it can not do WPA2. Not even WPA. If you ever want to connect to your wireless network you have to change the whole network to something insecure. Period. You need to decide if this is an option for you. For most people this is an absolutely no go. Hence the numerous warnings in this thread. Only if you have access to the security settings of your access point and only if you can live with the consequences of an insecure wireless network it does make any sense to play with this network card.

Andi,

As is brutally clear, I am no expert on wireless networking, but you can ping a router without having the proper encryption or a password.

I can't post a screenshot from my OS/2 system, but trust me, I pinged my router and every packet was received 100%. Why would I lie about that?

I appreciate your help and your input, but I'm not going to come onto a forum looking for help and lie about what what I am able to do and not do, I want to fix it, not regale you with my tales of brilliance and accomplishment. Which, to be honest, at this point, are few and far between.

And Andi, read my previous posts PLEASE. The card is WORKING, I have a DRIVER, I am able to ping my wifi router, don't assume I'm spinning tall tales here, why would I do that when I don't know anything about what I'm doing and I'm asking for help? I'll tell you this much, it's not because I like to get tongue lashings from every self-described expert in this forum.

To be fair, there have been a lot of very nice and helpful people here (including you) who have been sincere about wanting to help, but then there's others who want nothing more than to show off their intellect and prowess, which is typical of every forum I have ever posted in. Not necessarily including you in that group Andi, just saying. I am grateful for your input and expertise, and I realize there may be a language barrier here where I may not have correctly interpreted what you are trying to say, if this is the case then I apologize if I have offended you.

I will read over and digest what you have suggested and believe me, I am very grateful for your time and help.

Thanks,

Carl
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 10, 2020, 04:47:19 am
Quote
I posted the results from lspci.exe (I used this program because PCI.EXE is no longer available) right after you asked me to do that. If you scroll back a couple pages you will see the results.

Hmmm. Now HOBBES is becoming unreliable. The file is listed, if you follow the path, but it seems to be a zero length file, that thinks it is a directory. Not good.

Looking back, I see this:
Quote
the pci utility you linked to is no longer there, so I used lspci instead. the relevant output:

00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)
00:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)

Which is completely useless information. It does not supply the PCI ID information, which is essential to understand what device it really is. The posted information is actually for the PCMCIA adapter, not the WiFi device, anyway, so it is mostly irrelevant. From other things that you have said, the PCI ID information is probably not going to help anyway.

Quote
As is brutally clear, I am no expert on wireless networking, but you can ping a router without having the proper encryption or a password.

You can PING a router, if you are connected to it. From everything that you have said, there is no possibility that you are connected to the router, unless you back off the router WiFi security to WEP,  plus add the logon information, in the Adapters, and Protocols program. It may work, if you set the router WiFi security completely off, without setting the logon information. PING is not going to work, under any circumstances, until you do that. If you are actually connected, the rest should work (within the restrictions of modern networking).

Quote
I can't post a screenshot from my OS/2 system, but trust me, I pinged my router and every packet was received 100%. Why would I lie about that?

Cell phones take great photos.

Are you PINGing the router, or the WiFi adapter? The WiFi adapter will respond (assuming it is installed properly, which I suspect you may have accomplished). If your router is responding to a PING, everything else should work too, but, from what you have said, I find it difficult to believe that it is actually responding (it is not connected).

What are you doing to try to attach to the internet? What, exactly, is the result? With that antique system, it is highly unlikely that any modern browser will work (or it will take an hour to load a web page, including the home page - been there, done that, won't bother again). Older browsers probably won't get past any web site security any more either. Can you PING other systems on your network (I assume you have some)?

If you are actually connected, there could be other ways to access the internet with a modern browser, but you need to be able to access another, modern, system on your network. It will still be dead slow, and security could be a major problem if the router WiFi security is less than WPA, but it should be possible.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Martin Iturbide on July 10, 2020, 05:00:56 am
I posted the results from lspci.exe (I used this program because PCI.EXE is no longer available) right after you asked me to do that. If you scroll back a couple pages you will see the results.

Get this pci.exe, it has and updated pcidevs.txt : https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/misc/PCI_1-04vka_2020-05-29.zip
It seem that hobbes is not removing the old database registry when a replacement is uploaded, and it marks it as zero bytes.

Regards
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 03:25:33 am
Quote
the pci utility you linked to is no longer there, so I used lspci instead. the relevant output:

00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)
00:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)

Which is completely useless information. It does not supply the PCI ID information, which is essential to understand what device it really is. The posted information is actually for the PCMCIA adapter, not the WiFi device, anyway, so it is mostly irrelevant. From other things that you have said, the PCI ID information is probably not going to help anyway.

I know it's for the PCMCIA adapter and I mentioned that in my post. I also recall being puzzled that it didn't pick up my wifi card.

Brother, you are a real piece of work. "Completely useless information", listen, there are more civilized ways of putting things such as, "Well, that program didn't give me what I was looking for, instead try this....". Can we not be gentlemen here?

I did what you asked as far as PCI information, I can't help it if the program I used didn't give you what you wanted. Martin has posted a good link to the program you suggested and I will try it again later and post the results here.

Quote
You can PING a router, if you are connected to it. From everything that you have said, there is no possibility that you are connected to the router, unless you back off the router WiFi security to WEP,  plus add the logon information, in the Adapters, and Protocols program. It may work, if you set the router WiFi security completely off, without setting the logon information. PING is not going to work, under any circumstances, until you do that. If you are actually connected, the rest should work (within the restrictions of modern networking). Are you PINGing the router, or the WiFi adapter? The WiFi adapter will respond (assuming it is installed properly, which I suspect you may have accomplished). If your router is responding to a PING, everything else should work too, but, from what you have said, I find it difficult to believe that it is actually responding (it is not connected).

I pinged the IP of my wifi router, and all packets were acknowledged, what can I tell you? Please stop making me out to be a liar, it's not becoming of a gentleman.

Why is it so hard to believe that I got the card installed and working? I'm not a complete dunce. Close, but not quite.

For some reason I still get the impression that you think I'm some dumb twenty something playing around with his grandpa's old laptop. Well, I'm the grandpa and I'm playing around with MY laptop. Not just to have something to do, but because I have a purpose behind what I'm trying to do here.

Quote
Cell phones take great photos.

I don't use a cell phone. Hate the bloody things. I will ping the router again and get my wife to snap a photo and I will post it here, since you are so certain that I'm spinning yarns here. And, maybe I am mistaken, wouldn't be the first time, but when you run ping <<IP ADDRESS OF MY WIFI ROUTER>> and it comes back with x number of packets sent and x number of packets received and 0% packet loss, what does that tell you?

Quote
What are you doing to try to attach to the internet? What, exactly, is the result? With that antique system, it is highly unlikely that any modern browser will work (or it will take an hour to load a web page, including the home page - been there, done that, won't bother again). Older browsers probably won't get past any web site security any more either. Can you PING other systems on your network (I assume you have some)?

Doug, read all of this page and the other three pages of this thread dude.

I don't think it's necessary for you to disparage what I have to work with here. I am a man of limited means and this is what I could afford. Would I like to go out right now and buy a brand new laptop and put ArcaOS on it? You bet I would, if for no other reason than to not have to come on this forum and read your diatribes about how stupid and incompetent I am. Besides, it's just not in the budget right now and I can't justify the expense when it's only use would be to play ham radio.

I do not have any other networked systems here, why would you assume I do? I'm sure your whole house is wired with ethernet and fiber optics going to high end servers and such, but I just don't find it necessary to do so here.

Doug, me and you need to get together at some point and drink some beers. You can disparage my networking abilities and OS/2 knowledge and I can call you a Legend In Your Own Mind and a curmudgeonly know it all. Good times brother, good times. Hit me up and we'll make it happen. But, you're going to have to come down to Texas, and it'll have to be after this corona virus thing has passed over. I sincerely look forward to your company, and your insulting commentary on my incompetence.




Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 05:31:26 am
Hey Doug and All, check it out.

And, if you look in the lower right hand corner of this post, my ip address is listed. Of course, this is my main system's ip. Then there's this from Whois:

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 11, 2020, 05:39:29 am
What does netstat -a report?
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 05:45:21 am
What does netstat -a report?

I will type out what is on the OS/2 System's screen, tomorrow I will post a photo:

addr 127.0.0.1 Interface 9 mask 0xff000000 broadcast 127.0.0.1
Multicast addrs:
224.0.0.1

addr 10.0.0.232 Interface 0 mask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.0.255
Multicast addrs:
224.0.0.1
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 05:53:40 am
What does netstat -a report?

What does the result from netstat -a mean Dave? I haven't got a clue.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 05:56:20 am
Just want to make sure I'm not pinging my own wifi card, Inquiring minds want to know.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 11, 2020, 06:35:51 am
What does netstat -a report?

What does the result from netstat -a mean Dave? I haven't got a clue.

It shows what addresses are assigned to your system.
127.0.0.1 is the local loopback address, almost always there and isn't connected to a card
10.0.0.232 is assigned to your adapter (WiFi card) and is what you were pinging.
Your router likely has an address like 10.0.0.1 or more usually 192.168.0.1
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 06:38:27 am
What does netstat -a report?

What does the result from netstat -a mean Dave? I haven't got a clue.

It shows what addresses are assigned to your system.
127.0.0.1 is the local loopback address, almost always there and isn't connected to a card
10.0.0.232 is assigned to your adapter (WiFi card) and is what you were pinging.
Your router likely has an address like 10.0.0.1 or more usually 192.168.0.1

Ok, but on my main system, windows 10, wifi connected it shows an ip address of 10.0.0.232 for the router, am I missing something here?
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 11, 2020, 07:41:17 am
Interesting, I've never had a router that uses the 10.0.0.0 address range and would have expected a lower address.
Could you have set the same address to your card while mucking around? Or misreading and the router gave 10.0.0.232 to your Win box? 
Here, with the router using 192.168.0.1, I get
Code: [Select]
H:\>netstat -a
addr 127.0.0.1 Interface 9 mask 0xff000000 broadcast 127.0.0.1
Multicast addrs:
 224.0.0.1

addr 192.168.0.104 Interface 0 mask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
Multicast addrs:
 224.0.0.1
and often I get 192.168.0.103.

Try running netstat -a on your Winbox, might be a slightly different netstat so try netstat -? to see the choices. Here -a is for address.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 11, 2020, 09:10:27 am
Quote
my main system, windows 10, wifi connected it shows an ip address of 10.0.0.232 for the router, am I missing something here?

The router can use any address that it wants. You should look in the router settings, to see what it really is (it may be 10.0.0.232. If it is, you cannot use that same address on any other box on the network). Your PING is definitely recognized by the WiFi adapter, not the router. What fixed address did you assign? If it was the same as the router, you need to make it unique on the network.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 04:57:31 pm
Here's what was happening, I was pinging my other laptop, my Windows 10 machine. If I read the results of ifconfig from that machine correctly, the ip of my wifi router is 10.0.0.1, the Default Gateway, is this correct??? The ip of the windows box is 10.0.0.232, so I was actually pinging it instead of the router. My mistake.

But it does show that my ancient wifi card is working no?

So, Doug and Andi, you were right,  you must be connected to the wifi system to ping the router.

I have learned something here anyway, even with a mistake.

My apologies to Doug and Andi, you were right and I was wrong because when I try to ping 10.0.0.1 it fails.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 11, 2020, 05:52:05 pm
Hi Carl, the results of your running netstat -a imply that somehow you have also set your laptops adapter to use 10.0.0.232, which of course will result in all kinds of problems having 2 machines on the net with the same address.
Need to start over.
Does your laptop have a led or such that lights up when the radio is turned on? My T42 has one above the keyboard.
You should look at the scripts that Neil posted earlier. They're written in Rexx, OS/2's (and most IBM OSes) native scripting language, saved with a cmd suffix. They should turn the radio on and off. Guess you'd have to type them in, use e.exe for an editor.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 11, 2020, 06:06:17 pm
Hi Carl, the results of your running netstat -a imply that somehow you have also set your laptops adapter to use 10.0.0.232, which of course will result in all kinds of problems having 2 machines on the net with the same address.
Need to start over.
Does your laptop have a led or such that lights up when the radio is turned on? My T42 has one above the keyboard.
You should look at the scripts that Neil posted earlier. They're written in Rexx, OS/2's (and most IBM OSes) native scripting language, saved with a cmd suffix. They should turn the radio on and off. Guess you'd have to type them in, use e.exe for an editor.

That's possible Dave, not being very familiar with how the wifi set up works.

My wifi card has a little green led that comes on after the driver is loaded on boot up. It is generally always on when the laptop is on, usually just to test wifi settings and try to learn about the os.

I saw Neil's scripts, but wasn't very familiar with how they should be used, thanks for clearing that up for me.

I will boot it up and clear out the settings today, thanks for the advice.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ivan on July 11, 2020, 07:15:51 pm
Hi Carl,

Now I know you are using win 10 may I recommend that you download the Netscan utility from https://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/ (https://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/) it runs on win 10 and is free but will only display up to 10 devices (the old version was totally free no matter how many devices on the network).  You will need to know the IP your network is on but you should be able to get that from your router manual.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 15, 2020, 08:32:32 pm
Hi All,

I've decided to take the recommendation from many of you and go with the travel router. However, I will need an ethernet pcmcia card since my ancient laptop does not have an ethernet port.

Would someone recommend a card to me (preferably one that's still available, on eBay possibly) along with the driver, and where I can download said driver?

Please keep in mind that my laptop is 1998 vintage and I am running OS/2 4.52, cards and drivers for eCS or ArcaOS may or may not work, y'all would know more about that than me.

I will probably need advice on how to set TCP/IP / NetBIOS etc. for ethernet in OS/2. 

I want to thank everyone who chimed in to help with the wifi card and set up. I have learned a lot and I appreciate everyone's help with that. I now realize that my old card will never connect with a modern, WPA2 encrypted wifi system and I am not willing to reset my wifi security just to get on the net every now and then with an outdated system.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 15, 2020, 10:31:34 pm
Quote
I've decided to take the recommendation from many of you and go with the travel router. However, I will need an ethernet pcmcia card since my ancient laptop does not have an ethernet port.

Would someone recommend a card to me (preferably one that's still available, on eBay possibly) along with the driver, and where I can download said driver?

Please keep in mind that my laptop is 1998 vintage and I am running OS/2 4.52, cards and drivers for eCS or ArcaOS may or may not work, y'all would know more about that than me.

It would probably be easier, and possibly even cheaper, to find a newer computer. Look for an IBM ThinkPad T42, or T43. Ask your friends, a lot of people have something stored somewhere, taking up room, that they would like to get rid of. Chances are, that it would have a WiFi built in, as well as an ethernet port. Watch prices, a lot of used computers do not have disk drives.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on July 16, 2020, 04:23:11 am
It was a long time ago, but I think the 3com PCMCIA had OS/2 drivers. I'm sorry I can't remember the model number.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Dave Yeo on July 16, 2020, 05:51:49 am
Seems to me that most network cards had OS/2 drivers back in '98. Also eCS and ArcaOS are both built on 4.52 and basically compatible. At that Arca Noae supports their drivers on Warp v4+fp15 (4.5) and newer excepting things like the kernel due to licensing. OS/2 hasn't changed much since Warp V4 + all free updates.
I'll add that I've been quite happy with my T42, wireless works fine even though not supporting the highest speeds and Firefox, once it starts (takes a while to load), runs fine.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: ceemill on July 16, 2020, 06:58:55 am

It would probably be easier, and possibly even cheaper, to find a newer computer. Look for an IBM ThinkPad T42, or T43. Ask your friends, a lot of people have something stored somewhere, taking up room, that they would like to get rid of. Chances are, that it would have a WiFi built in, as well as an ethernet port. Watch prices, a lot of used computers do not have disk drives.

Thank you Doug, but I am quite happy with my Dell, I find it quite adequate for what I want to do in spite of it's age, even though it doesn't measure up to post 1998 standards. If I never get it to even sniff an internet connection I think I'll hold on to it, if for nothing else then for nostalgia's sake, even though the 90's are probably not anyone's idea of a nostalgic time. At least not for me.

Apologies to anyone who long wistfully for the age of the 90's.

You see, I came of age in the 80's, I graduated high school in '83, I served in the Marine Corps in the 80's, I was married in '87. If I had came of age a decade later, then my old Dell would be the holy grail of computers. But in my time, It was Commodore 64's and TI 99/4a's, really not of much use now, even though I have a TI99/4a set up of my own.

Anyone want to buy a TI99/4A set up?

 ;D

Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Doug Bissett on July 16, 2020, 08:18:12 pm
Quote
Thank you Doug, but I am quite happy with my Dell, I find it quite adequate for what I want to do in spite of it's age, even though it doesn't measure up to post 1998 standards. If I never get it to even sniff an internet connection I think I'll hold on to it, if for nothing else then for nostalgia's sake, even though the 90's are probably not anyone's idea of a nostalgic time. At least not for me.

Obviously, it is not adequate for what you want to do, or you wouldn't have the problem of trying to make it do something that it is probably not capable of doing. I have a similar vintage IBM ThinkPad A22e. It works. I have installed ArcaOS on it, but it is not usable any more. It is a museum piece, nothing more. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it. I replaced it with the IBM ThinkPad T43, which is still usable, but I wouldn't want to use it all of the time. I now use a Lenovo ThinkPad T410, and a Lenovo ThinkPad L530, in addition to a few desktop machines.

I also still have an original IBM Personal Computer (the one with 16K memory chips on the motherboard, 64K memory chips came later). It still worked, about 15 years ago, but it isn't even worth the power to turn it on. It is just a museum piece.

Quote
It was a long time ago, but I think the 3com PCMCIA had OS/2 drivers. I'm sorry I can't remember the model number.

It has been a few years since I tried to get a PCMCIA network card to work. I did get a 3Com OfficeConnect 10/100 model 3CXSH572BT (with X-Jack) to work, but the T43 has a better (1Gb) built in network adapter, that does a much better job. The A22e also has PCMCIA, but it has a better Intel NIC too. I do remember that getting the card to be recognized by the PCMCIA driver, wasn't much of a problem. Finding a driver was difficult. There may be something at: https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/?path=%2Fpub%2Fos2%2Fsystem%2Fdrivers%2Fnetwork (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/?path=%2Fpub%2Fos2%2Fsystem%2Fdrivers%2Fnetwork). Then the biggest problem was trying to get a cable to stay connected to the X-Jack. Any movement, at all, would break the connection. I also got a 3Com Megahertz model CCFE575BT to load a driver (no idea which one), but I have no cable for it, so I don't know if it actually worked.

So, as suggested, 3Com is probably your best bet, but finding one could be difficult (you may find one in somebodies junk drawer, but cables tend to wander off, never to be seen again). Then, there is no guarantee that you will actually find a driver that will work.
Title: Re: WifiState.exe
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on July 17, 2020, 05:41:14 am
I looked in my list of old OS/2 drivers. It looks like I was using a 3cxe589et PCCard network interface. I used it for a second interface while using a Thinkpad T21 and Injoy Firewall. It ought to work.