[gentoo-user] genkernel iwlwifi WiFi driver

[Radoje Stojisic]

Hello everyone,

I've installed Gentoo on my ThinkPad T460p couple of times. For some
reason I can't get the WiFi working. I did the installation with
SystemRescueCD because I needed working WiFi for the install.

So here comes the question:

I've installed the Genkernel. Does Genkernel enables the iwlwifi driver
automatically? Or do I need the modify the kernel on my own? I've
installed Gentoo with KDE. iwconfig showed no wifi interface.


Thanks for any advice.

Greetings

-Radi

[Rasmus Thomsen]

Hello,

you could test if iwlwifi was included by running "modprobe iwlwifi" ( as root ). If it is included but wifi still doesn't work you might have to install the relevant firmware ( via emerge linux-firmware )

Regards,
Rasmus


-------- Original Message --------

[Alexander Kapshuk]

As already pointed out, this driver does require firmware to run. See below.

drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/Kconfig:1,31
config IWLWIFI
tristate "Intel Wireless WiFi Next Gen AGN -
Wireless-N/Advanced-N/Ultimate-N (iwlwifi) "
depends on PCI && MAC80211 && HAS_IOMEM
select FW_LOADER
---help---
Select to build the driver supporting the:

Intel Wireless WiFi Link Next-Gen AGN

This option enables support for use with the following hardware:
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 6250AGN Adapter
Intel 6000 Series Wi-Fi Adapters (6200AGN and 6300AGN)
Intel WiFi Link 1000BGN
Intel Wireless WiFi 5150AGN
Intel Wireless WiFi 5100AGN, 5300AGN, and 5350AGN
Intel 6005 Series Wi-Fi Adapters
Intel 6030 Series Wi-Fi Adapters
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 6150BGN 2 Adapter
Intel 100 Series Wi-Fi Adapters (100BGN and 130BGN)
Intel 2000 Series Wi-Fi Adapters
Intel 7260 Wi-Fi Adapter
Intel 3160 Wi-Fi Adapter
Intel 7265 Wi-Fi Adapter
Intel 8260 Wi-Fi Adapter
Intel 3165 Wi-Fi Adapter


This driver uses the kernel's mac80211 subsystem.

In order to use this driver, you will need a firmware
image for it.

Also, see this Gentoo wiki article for instructions on how to set up
your driver:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Iwlwifi

[Heiko Baums]

Am Sat, 15 Jul 2017 11:20:52 +0200
schrieb Radoje Stojisic <radoje....@posteo.de>:

> I've installed the Genkernel. Does Genkernel enables the iwlwifi
> driver automatically? Or do I need the modify the kernel on my own?

You can check if the firmware is included in the kernel config:

grep -i wifi /usr/src/linux/.config

If CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE is set, then a firmware is included. You just
need to check if it's the right one for your wifi chip.

Otherwise you can set some options in /etc/genkernel.conf.

Set MENUCONFIG="yes" to be able to configure your kernel by yourself
and set CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE there.

Or instead you can set those options in /etc/genkernel.conf:
FIRMWARE="yes"
FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware"
FIRMWARE_FILES="<file names for your WIFI firmware>"

I have't tried the latter, because I usually configure my kernel by
myself with menuconfig. I only use genkernel as an easier way to have
the kernel compiled, installed and the initrd built.

Heiko