Disable built-in WiFi card so that USB WiFi device gets used --- systemctl?

[Rolf Turner]

Thanks "poma" (???) and Harald.  It sounds like you may have solved my
problem .... but I'm afraid that your advice is too cryptic for my poor 
feeble
brain.  Can either of you (or someone else) spell out in tedious detail just
what I need to do?  I cannot figure out whether things written in your 
messages
are commands that I issue at the command line or lines that I need to insert
into certain files.  And if so, which files?  I'm sure it's all obvious 
to you guys,
but it leaves me floundering.

Some specific questions:

(1) "poma's" original posting referred to the directory /boot/extlinux
and a file therein called extlinux.conf.  On my system there is no directory
"extlinux" in /boot.  The only subdirectories of /boot are "efi", "grub" and
"grub2".

Should I create the directory /boot/extlinux and the file 
/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf?
Or is there some other incantation that I should invoke?

(2) Likewise the original posting refers to <drivername>. How do I 
find/figure out
the *name* of the driver associated with the internal WiFi card? This 
may sound
clueless, but I guess I am clueless.

(3) I did "man 7 dracut.cmdline" and found the reference to 
"rd.driver.blacklist"
but I could not fathom what it was saying.

(4) The original posting contains:
> e.g.
> /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
> append … rd.driver.blacklist=<drivername>
Is the line "append … rd.driver.blacklist=<drivername>" to be placed
in the file /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf?  (After I figure out what to 
substitute
for "<drivername>" of course.) Are the three dots "..." literal? Or
are are they a filler for something that I need to insert?  If so, what
do I need to insert?  I haven't a clue!

(5) I have found the file /boot/grub2/grub.cfg alright.  But it has a header
saying "DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE".  It goes on to say:
> # It is automatically generated by grub2-mkconfig using templates
> # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub

So do I need to edit /etc/default/grub?  Or what?

(6) In respect of "poma's" follow-up posting:  Do I create a file
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.<modulename>.conf (after having figured
out what "<modulename>" should be) and place in it the line:

    blacklist <modulename>

(again after having figured out what "<modulename>" should be) ?

(7) In /etc/modprobe.d there is already a file called "blacklist.conf" in
which there are many many lines such as:

> # watchdog drivers
> blacklist i8xx_tco
>
> # framebuffer drivers
> blacklist aty128fb
> blacklist atyfb
> blacklist radeonfb
> blacklist i810fb
> blacklist cirrusfb
      .........

Could I just put "blacklist <modulename>" into that file?

(8) "poma" says " However OP should upgrade, anyway."  I'm sure that
I should.  But the thought terrifies me.  After all that I have read on this
list recently about problems with Fedora 19, with fedup, with "yum upgrade".
I have understood almost none of the discourse but it seems to indicate
that upgrading is essentially impossible unless you *really* know what you
are doing.  And I don't.

Is there a simple (hah!) recipe by means of which I could upgrade?  E.g.
could I just type

     sudo fedup

at the command line?  Or perhaps

     sudo yum upgrade

???  If either would work, what are the implications of using the one rather
than the other?

Thanks for any insight.

     cheers,

         Rolf Turner


On 30/07/13 03:52, poma wrote:
> On 29.07.2013 09:47, Harald Hoyer wrote:
>> On 07/29/2013 02:28 AM, poma wrote:
>>> On 29.07.2013 02:01, Rolf Turner wrote:
>>> …
>>>>      (b) Would it be possible to disable/mask the internal WiFi card but
>>>> leave the USB WiFi device
>>>>      available, so that I can actually get a WiFi connection?
>>> …
>>>>> I am running Fedora 17; output of "uname -a" is:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Linux localhost.localdomain 3.3.4-5.fc17.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon May 7
>>>>>> 17:29:34 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>>>>> Thanks for any help that anyone can give me.
>>> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/announce/2013-July/003169.html
>>>
>>> BIOS settings, NetworkManager?
>>>
>>> on Fedora 19,
>>> man 7 dracut.cmdline - rd.driver.blacklist
>>>
>>> e.g.
>>> /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
>>> append … rd.driver.blacklist=<drivername>
>>>
>>> /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
>>> linux …	rd.driver.blacklist=<drivername>
>>>
>>>
>>> poma
>>>
>> That would disable it only in the initramfs.
>>
> True, thank you master Yoda.
>
> Therefore abovementioned is for e.g. 'nouveau',
> plus
> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-<modulename>.conf
> blacklist <modulename>
> which should be sufficient for OP's case.
>
> man 5 modprobe.conf
> man 5 modprobe.d
>
> And there is a potential problem - one/module-to-many/devices.
> However OP should upgrade, anyway.
>
> Regarding terminology, there is a discrepancy in naming scheme -
> (kernel) module vs driver.
> Where from come this le	chauffeur?
>
>
> poma
>