Fedora-minimal Based netVM Not Working

[jimmy....@gmail.com]

I have a netVM that works fine with a regular Fedora template but not Fedora-minimal. I've tried both Fedora-23-minimal and Fedora-24-minimal but neither seems work.

The icon for networking does appear on the panel but Wi-Fi is not on it and there is no option to enable it. So it seems like I'm part-way there but something isn't right when it comes to wireless specifically--though I'm new to both Qubes and Linux, so I could be very wrong about that.

Taking into account the known issue with installing software in Fedora-24-minimal (GitHub Issue #2606), I've taken care to manually install the recommended packages, specifying version number. I've then verified that the library has no newer version of each package, so I know they are all in place and up to date. Same for 23-minimal.

Still, neither works thus far.

Fedora-minimal seems like a nicely economical way to go, so I would really like to get it working. Any and all help would be much appreciated! :-)

[Tim W]

It might help if you posted up a list of all the packages you installed tot he minimal template for NetVM support.

Here is a list for both FW and Net that Rudd-O posted up in a thread for me when I asked what was needed for net and fw temp using Fedora-minimal:

tar
- qubes-tor-repo
- qubes-tor
- dconf
- NetworkManager
- NetworkManager-wifi
- network-manager-applet
- linux-firmware
- dbus-x11
- gnome-keyring
- wireless-tools
- wpa_supplicant
- iwl7260-firmware
- tinyproxy
- which
- pciutils
- usbutils


Vít Šesták mentioned doing a net and fw Fed-min and it worked. He also mentioned installing "haveged" utility program as well. He stated having issue with net-card firmware as it seemed to need different firmware than the full version for some reason. He found it via a complaint in a log.

The thread it was all in I was able to just find again so here is the link:

Unikernels and Qubes<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/qubes-users/Unikernels$20and$20Qubes/qubes-users/h03-1hiNMCc/DlWjysajEAAJ> -

Scroll down almost to the end and look for the last time Vít Šesták posted. Its one of the last couple posts on 1/4/16. That is where it starts about the fedora minimal between Him myself and Manuel/Rudd-o. Maybe that might be of some help.

[Andrew David Wong]

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Also, take a look at the "NetVM" and "NetVM (extra firmware)" rows of this table:

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/templates/fedora-minimal/#customization

- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org
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[01v3g4n10]

Did you assign your wireless device to the qube? Also make sure that you have your devices firmware installed.

[jimmy....@gmail.com]

On Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 9:57:38 PM UTC-5, Tim W wrote:
> It might help if you posted up a list of all the packages you installed tot he minimal template for NetVM support.

I followed the recommendations from the Qubes docs at:
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/templates/fedora-minimal/

Per those recommendations, the packages I added were NetworkManager, NetworkManager-wifi, network-manager-applet, wireless-tools, dbus-x11, dejavu-sans-fonts, tinyproxy, notification-daemon and gnome-keyring.

> Here is a list for both FW and Net that Rudd-O posted up in a thread for me when I asked what was needed for net and fw temp using Fedora-minimal:
>
> tar
> - qubes-tor-repo
> - qubes-tor
> - dconf
> - NetworkManager
> - NetworkManager-wifi
> - network-manager-applet
> - linux-firmware
> - dbus-x11
> - gnome-keyring
> - wireless-tools
> - wpa_supplicant
> - iwl7260-firmware
> - tinyproxy
> - which
> - pciutils
> - usbutils

Thanks for the list! It seems to include every item I added, plus quite a few more. I wonder if some of those items would really be needed, though. Tor, for example? A regular Fedora template worked fine, so at the very least any packages that aren't in that template already would not be needed.

I guess I should try adding things from that list and see if any help. :-)

> Vít Šesták mentioned doing a net and fw Fed-min and it worked.

...

> The thread it was all in I was able to just find again so here is the link:
>
> Unikernels and Qubes<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/qubes-users/Unikernels$20and$20Qubes/qubes-users/h03-1hiNMCc/DlWjysajEAAJ> -

Thanks for the reference! I will check it out.

--JD

[jimmy....@gmail.com]

On Monday, February 6, 2017 at 3:44:37 AM UTC-5, Andrew David Wong wrote:
> Also, take a look at the "NetVM" and "NetVM (extra firmware)" rows of this table:
>
> https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/templates/fedora-minimal/#customization

That is in fact where I started (always start with primary sources is my motto, they are primary for a reason :-). I included everything recommended there.

Sadly that didn't seem to do it, which is why I'm here. And very appreciative of your help. Thank you! :-)

--JD

[jimmy....@gmail.com]

On Monday, February 6, 2017 at 9:14:44 AM UTC-5, 01v3g4n10 wrote:
> Did you assign your wireless device to the qube?

Yes, indeed. I don't think it would have worked with the full Fedora template either, if I hadn't.

>Also make sure that you have your devices firmware installed.

I do have a question about that--when you say firmware, do you mean something specific to Fedora/Linux? Generally, I understand firmware to be something residing on the device itself--in which case yes, it is in place, as I updated the firmware via the previous OS before attempting Qubes.

If you mean something specific the Fedora/Linux, I'm not too clear on that. Generally, something in an OS relevant to a piece of hardware I would understand to be a driver. Is there a difference in terminology or technology here?

[jimmy....@gmail.com]

Following up on the firmware idea, I ran "modinfo mwifiex_usb" (my Marvell wireless SoC is a PCI-USB device) and got these results:

filename: /lib/modules/4.4.14-11.pvops.qubes.x86_64/kernel/drivers/wireless/mwifiex_usb.ko
firmware: mrvl/usb8997_uapsta.bin
firmware: mrvl/usb8801_uapsta.bin
firmware: mrvl/usb8797_uapsta.bin
firmware: mrvl/usb8766_uapsta.bin
license: GPL v2
version: 1.0
description: Marvell WiFi-Ex USB Driver version1.0
author: Marvell International Ltd.
srcversion: 04C4BDA998B8D6F9F91F378
alias: usb:blahblahblah (several of these)
depends: mwifiex
intree: Y
vermagic: 4.4.14-11.pvops.qubes.x86_64 SMP mod_unload

Does this mean the firmware items listed are installed? Or need to be installed? Just one, or all? New territory for me here. :-)

[jimmy....@gmail.com]

In case anyone else has a similar issue someday, for the record it was indeed missing firmware. I just copied the Marvell firmware from the regular Fedora template to my Fedora-minimal template and it worked.

Note: just the files recommended by the official Qubes docs were needed. The several others suggested but Rudd-O (referenced in this thread by a third party) were not.