Please specify kernel-modules-* and firmware-* packages included in environment that works for you; TIA.

Ok, I'll take a look right now.

Another thought: perhaps, in regular-wmaker some service should be started manually to initialize the network drivers?

Perhaps: service network start

I haven't tried that.

In the working system (Simply Linux 7.0.4 Live):

[altlinux@localhost ~]$ rpm -qa kernel-modules-*
kernel-modules-drm-std-def-3.10.32-alt1
kernel-modules-v4l-std-def-3.10.32-alt1
kernel-modules-kvm-std-def-3.10.32-alt1
kernel-modules-staging-std-def-3.10.32-alt1
kernel-modules-drm-nouveau-std-def-3.10.32-alt1
kernel-modules-virtualbox-addition-std-def-4.3.6-alt1.199200.1
kernel-modules-drm-radeon-std-def-3.10.32-alt1
kernel-modules-bcmwl-std-def-6.30.223.141-alt2.199200.1
[altlinux@localhost ~]$ rpm -qa firmware-*
firmware-zd1211-1.4-alt1
firmware-ipw2200-3.1-alt1
firmware-ipw2100-1.3-alt2
firmware-rt61pci-1.2-alt1
firmware-crystalhd-3.10.0-alt1_4.qa1
firmware-prism54-2.7.0.0-alt2
firmware-linux-20140123-alt1
firmware-acx100-1.2.1.34-alt1
firmware-ipw3945-1.14.2-alt2
firmware-rt73usb-1.8-alt2
[altlinux@localhost ~]$

I suspect (not sure) that kernel-modules-bcmwl-std-def-6.30.223.141-alt2.199200.1 is the thing that make WiFi work.

Weird: firmware packages are basically the same (the only broadcom-related one present in Simply and missing in regular-wmaker is firmware-crystalhd which is related to video decoding I believe); k-m-bcmwl and -staging are also present but it doesn't even matter as brcmsmac.ko is sitting in kernel-image-std-def.

This is definitely not about services per se.

Try getting to the point when "modprobe brcmsmac" on regular-wmaker with any differing packages installed gets you wlan0 interface (putting success/fail dmesgs aside might be useful either).

Thanks for the comment!

"This is definitely not about services per se."

Ok... I even used to think that in SimplyLinux NetworkManager might care about loading the network drivers, and since NM is missing in regular-wmaker I had no WiFi... So, that's not the right way to explore.

Will try to look at dmesg side by side next.

It's rather udev's responsibility but it's the same in both cases.

Created attachment 6209 [details]
dmesg-simply7.0.4.txt

Created attachment 6210 [details]
journalctl-simply7.0.4.txt

Created attachment 6211 [details]
dmesg-regular-wmaker-20141217.txt

Created attachment 6212 [details]
messages-regular-wmaker-20141217.txt

Created attachment 6213 [details]
lsmod-regular-wmaker-20141217.txt

Created attachment 6214 [details]
diff -du <( sed 's|^\[[^]]*\] ||' < dmesg-simply7.0.4.txt)  <( sed 's|^\[[^]]*\] ||' < dmesg-regular-wmaker-20141217.txt ) > dmesg.diff

There are only 4 differing lines where brcmsmac is mentioned: 

$ diff -du <( sed 's|^\[[^]]*\] ||' < dmesg-simply7.0.4.txt)  <( sed 's|^\[[^]]*\] ||' < dmesg-regular-wmaker-20141217.txt ) | fgrep -4 brcm
-USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)
-microcode: CPU0 sig=0x306a9, pf=0x10, revision=0x15
-cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
-ACPI: AC Adapter [AC] (off-line)
-brcmsmac bcma0:0: mfg 4bf core 812 rev 24 class 0 irq 17
-bcma: bus0: Switched to core: 0x812
-ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
-ieee80211 phy0: registered radio enabled led device: brcmsmac-phy0:radio gpio: 243
-parport_pc 00:0b: activated
-parport_pc 00:0b: reported by Plug and Play ACPI
-thermal LNXTHERM:00: registered as thermal_zone0
-ACPI: Thermal Zone [THM] (33 C)
--
-Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
+dell_wmi: Received unknown WMI event (0x0)
 e1000e 0000:00:19.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
 e1000e 0000:00:19.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
-brcmsmac bcma0:0: brcms_ops_bss_info_changed: qos enabled: false (implement)
-brcmsmac bcma0:0: brcms_ops_config: change power-save mode: false (implement)
+e1000e: eth0 NIC Link is Up 100 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
+e1000e 0000:00:19.0 eth0: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO
 NET: Registered protocol family 17
-aufs may_rename_srcdir:488:mv[2914]: renaming dir who has child(ren) on multiple branches, is not supported
$ 

modprobe brcmsmac

works without errors:

# dmesg | tail
[  427.293514] e1000e 0000:00:19.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
[  427.393971] e1000e 0000:00:19.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
[  428.901328] e1000e: eth0 NIC Link is Up 100 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
[  428.901342] e1000e 0000:00:19.0 eth0: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO
[  428.995341] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[  430.237250] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 3269.762807] brcmsmac bcma0:0: mfg 4bf core 812 rev 24 class 0 irq 17
[ 3269.762852] bcma: bus0: Switched to core: 0x812
[ 3269.773069] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[ 3269.773313] ieee80211 phy0: registered radio enabled led device: brcmsmac-phy0:radio gpio: 243
# 

After that the interface is listed by "ip addr" (but not by "ifconfig"). Probably, if I configure it correctly (in etcnet or after installing NM), it will work.

The confusing part is that the driver is not loaded automatically and not shown in the list of interfaces.

[root@localhost ~]# ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:ca:3a:c6:a4:c1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.0.0.75/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::baca:3aff:fec6:a4c1/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:76:3f:3f:9c:45 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
[root@localhost ~]# ifconfig 
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr B8:CA:3A:C6:A4:C1  
          inet addr:10.0.0.75  Bcast:10.0.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::baca:3aff:fec6:a4c1/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:18244 errors:0 dropped:4 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8787 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:23434372 (22.3 MiB)  TX bytes:778788 (760.5 KiB)
          Interrupt:20 Memory:f7e00000-f7e20000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

[root@localhost ~]#

iwlist scan gives results. So wifi works.


It's not quite clear how to configure it easily. (Probably, manually editing etcnet is the way.) alterator has a broken WiFi configuration (at least, in this setup, without dbus): it can't correctly copy the name of the network and has other problems. NetworkManager is not installed.

So, it seems that it is possible to configure WiFi in this distro after installation (without network access, but knowing the correct module name).

A problem was to learn the correct driver name in this situation, because it wasn't loaded automatically.

(В ответ на комментарий №13)
> sed 's|^\[[^]]*\] ||' < dmesg-simply7.0.4.txt
dmesg -t :)

> +dell_wmi: Received unknown WMI event (0x0)
This *might* be related (via rfkill)...

> modprobe brcmsmac works without errors [...]
> Probably, if I configure it correctly (in etcnet or after installing NM),
> it will work.
Indeed; NM (or rather polkit) won't work without systemd-logind operable though, see also http://altlinux.org/sysvinit; but etcnet-based setup should work just fine (manual or via alterator-net-wifi), or say connman-based one.

(В ответ на комментарий №15)
> A problem was to learn the correct driver name in this situation
> because it wasn't loaded automatically.
Now *that* is strange and worth investigating IMO.  dell-wmi.ko is included into kernel-image-std-def either, no idea on what could be the culprit so far.

Just for info: The behavior in altlinux-p7-wmaker-20141212-x86_64.iso is the same: module not loaded, wlan0 not present after booting the Live system.

Perhaps, /lib/systemd/system/systemd-udev-trigger.service does this in Simply Linux, and there is no analogue in regular-wmaker...

# cat /lib/systemd/system/systemd-udev-trigger.service
#  This file is part of systemd.
#
#  systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
#  under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
#  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
#  (at your option) any later version.

[Unit]
Description=udev Coldplug all Devices
Documentation=man:udev(7) man:systemd-udevd.service(8)
DefaultDependencies=no
Wants=systemd-udevd.service
After=systemd-udevd-kernel.socket systemd-udevd-control.socket
Before=sysinit.target
ConditionCapability=CAP_MKNOD

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/sbin/udevadm trigger --type=subsystems --action=add ; /sbin/udevadm trigger --type=devices --action=add
#

/sbin/udevadm trigger --type=devices --action=add

seems to make the interface appear in regular-wmaker. (Under a different name though: eth1)

(В ответ на комментарий №19)
> /sbin/udevadm trigger --type=devices --action=add
> 
> seems to make the interface appear in regular-wmaker. (Under a different name
> though: eth1)

Correction: in starterkit-wmaker.

Another driver is used: wl . brcmsmac was not loaded.

No, everything I wrote above about udevadm is not correct because that was not a clean experiment: I did it after modprobe -r brcmsmac. After a clean boot, this doesn't make the wireless appear.

In the wmaker system (tested in starterkit), after the boot:

udevadm trigger

makes no difference: no wlan0 interface.

But if I do:

modprobe -r bcma
udevadm trigger

then the wifi interface appears (under the name eth1). "wl" driver is used, "brcmsmac" is not used and not loaded.

So, proably "bcma" somehow gets into the way for correct initialization of the wifi drivers...

But "bcma" is not a problem in Simply Linux 7.0.4 (it is listed above among the moules loaded).

Ugh.

Here they also observe similar two variants of modules for a WiFi card: wl vs bcma -- https://bugzilla.altlinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29270#c0 .

Here they had problems with bcma, which were gone after blacklisting it -- https://bugzilla.altlinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=30229 .

The only strange thing is that SimplyLinux 7.0.4 seems to use bcma and brcmsmac successfully, but starterkit-wmaker and regular-wmaker can't do this anymore.

https://bugzilla.altlinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=26854#c1 :

То же самое на текущем Сизифе.
Предлагаю перевесить на Сизиф и, наконец, разобраться, какой драйвер
использовать и какой блек

Давай.

(В ответ на комментарий №26)
> https://bugzilla.altlinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=26854#c1 :
> 
> То же самое на текущем Сизифе.
> Предлагаю перевесить на Сизиф и, наконец, разобраться, какой драйвер
> использовать и какой блек

Это цитата из 
https://bugzilla.altlinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=26854#c1 . Это несколько ссылок на возникавшие проблемы такого рода в этой области.

Какой драйвер из двух работающих лучше, я не смогу судить (пока).

И как так получилось, что грузится bcma и мешает дальше грузиться и тому (brcmsmac), и другому (wl), я не понимаю. Менялся состав модулей и списки в blacklists (в результате они плохо друг другу соответствуют)?

Кстати, а как сейчас в http://nightly.altlinux.org/p7/beta/ выходит?
(ничего особо не трогал, но вдруг алиасы в ядре поправили)

Looks like a bug #30229 dup.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 30229 ***

If this machine is interesting for some experiments with these drivers, it is with me.

But I don't remember well all the details. (Well, I see: it was fine with a p7 distro, which I'm using now, but was broken with some newer regular-* distros.)