[SOLVED] F14: RTL 8192e WLAN driver

[Ron Leach]

Neither F13 nor F14 ship with the RTL 8192e WLAN driver but, since so
many of the newer laptops and netbooks use this chipset, many of us
need the driver installed.

As a relative newbie to drivers, kernels, and sources (yes, all three
will matter), I found it a bit daunting especially since, on a clean
install (which is what many folk will use), some things that are
needed aren't there.  Here's what worked for me, from a clean install
of F14 beta RC2.

There are 3 steps:
(1) Obtain the driver source
(2) Build the driver from source
(3) Install the driver and restart the machine
Everything came to life on the restart.


Step 1 Getting the driver

Realtek's site does offer a Linux driver, but for some reason my
browser wouldn't download it; I still don't know why.  I managed to
obtain this file:

> rtl8192e_linux_2.6.0014.0401.2010.tar.gz

from, I think, the staging drivers from here:

> http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=tree;f=drivers/staging/rtl8192e;hb=aa021baa3295fa6e3f367d80f8955dd5176656eb

(click on 'snapshot' to obtain the file)


Step 2 Building the driver

I placed the gz file in a subdir 'rtl8192' in my home directory, and 
extracted all the files (keeping the embedded directory hierarchy). 
Then I read the README.  (I did, really, because I simply didn't know 
- then - what to do next.  But it didn't tell me all I was to need or 
do.)  It said:

  su
  make
  make install

So I did - you mustn't, you must do a couple of other things first, I 
label them (2a), and (2b), below.  And so I hit the first error, 
something like:
'Subdirectory ...kernels/build does not exist'.  (I cannot reproduce 
the exact error, now, because my system now works, but after a clean 
install of F14 you'll get something like that if you just do what the 
README says, straightaway.)

If you look for the directory, it does exist.  Sort of.  It's a 
symlink but, if you're new to these and use the Thunar file manager to 
inspect it, it flashes very briefly and disappears.  Turns out, it's a 
symlink to a directory under the 'source' of 'whichever' kernel you 
have had installed - but 'only' if you have the source of the kernel 
installed, which you haven't, on a clean install.

2a Pre-step 2a - install the kernel source

You have to install the kernel source before you can build the 
rtl8192e driver.  You'll need to
(i) have an internet connection (hopefully you can use the eth0 wired 
LAN port on your machine), and
(ii) you'll need to set up yum (or the graphical package manager - I 
used this) to use the 'source' repository as well as the binary 
repository.  I don't know how to do that on the command line for yum, 
so I used the graphical system and enabled the 'source' repository for 
the fedora build I was using.  You have to then let the package 
manager download the repository index and, if you use yum, you'll have 
to command it to do the same thing.
(iii) you'll need to find the kernel you're using, and select its 
source for installation.  Take care to choose the correct one if you 
get offered a choice.  On my F13 system - which was a clean install 
and has not been upgraded, similar to the state yours should be in 
when first trying to load the 8192e driver - there is only one kernel 
listed, so it's easy to see.  Select the kernel source for 
installation.  Don't click 'apply' just yet, though, because we need 
something else installed as well.

2b Pre-step 2b - install gcc

If you just install the kernel source, the missing 'build' directory 
appears, but the driver creation immediately fails again because the 
machine cannot find the compiler, gcc.  At least, that's the case on 
my system which came from the XFCE CD which doesn't install gcc 
automatically.  Find gcc in the package manager, and mark it for 
installation, as well.  Now click 'apply', to install both the kernel 
source, and the gcc compiler(s).  The system will install a lot of 
support files, just say OK to those.  When done, we're good to go, and 
can follow the instructions in the driver README

2c Driver build

In your subdirectory with the driver files that you've downloaded and 
extracted, su to root
  su
and type 'make'
  make

There'll be a few messages, and look at them carefully to make sure 
there are no errors.  I didn't get any more errors but, if you do, 
then don't panic, just search around the net for anything with the 
[text of the error message], somebody is pretty likely to have hit 
your problem before, and you'll find some ideas for getting round 
them.  If you cannot get round the problem. describing it on one of 
the fedora lists usually turns up some very strong advice.  No errors, 
and we're on the last leg.

3 Install the driver

Do what the README says.  Type 'make install' while still root
  make install
A few more messages to look at, and we're done.  Again, check for 
errors.  I didn't get any at this stage.  I shut the machine down, and 
restarted.

On restart, the machine connected automatically to a wireless network 
(because way back, before I even realised I needed a driver, I'd been 
trying to get wireless to work and I'd set up all the details for our 
wifi APs, so it found those anyway and just connected itself.  I've 
since 'un-ticked' the 'connect automatically' option in network manager).

I was delighted.  And very impressed that the README, and the make 
files, worked as well as they did.  They'd have worked perfectly, 
anyway, on a fully configured development machine with kernel sources 
and gcc compilers but, as I mentioned, those wouldn't normally exist 
on a user's desktop machine (in my view).  But getting things set up 
isn't difficult, once you know what you need.

Hoping this helps others installing the 8182e driver on laptops and 
netbooks.

regards, Ron