[clue-tech] pcmcia question

[Jeff Cann]

At the clue admin meeting yesterday, folks talked about the popularlity 
of [k]ubuntu at our last install fest.

I loaded kubuntu 6.06.1 LTS and besides networking... it's been 
relatively cool.  I definitely like the sleeker KDE menus.  I always 
thought default KDE [or Red Hat / Fedora's config] were too bloated with 
apps I never use.

During install, kubuntu did not properly detect my Motorola WN825G.  I 
can understand this because under Fedora Core 3/4, I was using 
NdisWrapper and the windows drivers.  I'll come back to this issue later.

But, I thought my [wired] Linksys pcmcia card would be autodetected.  It 
was not and it appears that the problem is within the /etc/pcmcia/config 
file.  The kernel is telling the cardmgr that this card is pcnet_cs.  
But, when pcnet_cs module tries to use it, it reports in the system log 
that:

Sep 16 23:05:46 zanobi kernel: [  821.423109] pccard: card ejected from 
slot 0
Sep 16 23:05:57 zanobi kernel: [  832.073202] pccard: PCMCIA card 
inserted into slot 1
Sep 16 23:05:57 zanobi kernel: [  832.073575] pcmcia: registering new 
device pcmcia1.0
Sep 16 23:05:57 zanobi kernel: [  832.135580] pcnet_cs: this is an 
AX88190 card!
Sep 16 23:05:57 zanobi kernel: [  832.135588] pcnet_cs: use axnet_cs 
instead.

Fair enough - I changed the binding in the card database 
[/etc/pcmcia/config] :

card "LinkSys Network Everywhere NP100"
  version "Network Everywhere", "Fast Ethernet 10/100 PC Card"
  #manfid: 0x0149, 0xc1ab
  #bind "pcnet_cs"
  bind "axnet_cs"

I then restarted the cardmgr.  Still no joy and then I realized I needed 
to rmmod the pcnet_cs module and did a modprobe axnet_cs.  After I did 
this, the card works like a champ, until I did a test restart.  The test 
restart [despite my change to the pcmcia database] *still* reloaded the 
pcnet_cs module.  Now, I'm confused.

I know I can change /etc/modules and load the axnet_cs module at boot.   
This seems like a hack as it really is pcmcia cardmgr that is the 
problem [google was not too much help on this, btw].

I'm wondering why pcnet_cs was loaded after the reboot since cardmgr 
should be loading it.  I grep'd kubuntu's /etc/init.d and did not see a 
reference to pcnet.

My other thought is that the pcmcia cardmgr is loading another card.  
I'm not sure where the kernel or the cardmgr is getting the card 
definition [e.g., LinkSys Network Everywhere NP100]. 

I appreciate any clues.  It's been an interesting mystery so far.

Jeff
<http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/>