Monday, August 25, 2008

Painless Acer Aspire One upgrade for wpa2-enterprise

I recently purchased an Acer Aspire One netbook running the Linpus (fedora) OS. Long story short I love it! At 1Kg it's the envy of my fellow geeks!

However I could not use it to connect to our corporate wireless network because the Linpus OS and Network Manager installed does not support WPA2-Enterprise.  So starting with this conversation on the Acer Aspire One Forum here's what I did to upgrade the Network Manager:

NOTE: It would appear that the prior instructions, as of 2008-10-09, are no longer valid. Therefore a shell script and archive that contains all that I needed to update the default Network Manager to one that supports WPA2-Enterprise are stored on my google site page.

Reboot the Acer Asprie One after installing the new Network Manger and enjoy WPA2-Enterprise.

For more information about this and all things Aspire One checkout the very informative Acer Aspire One Forum.

32 comments:

LoopyWolf said...

A very handy blog, tho did you forget to mention uninstalling the openvpn and vnpc (I got conflicts so I tried that)
Also the version numbers are not necessarily going to be there.. You need to FTP to that site first, and find out the version numbers
At this point, my network manager doesn't work tho I'm trying to figure out what I messed up

Unknown said...

I've found this very useful too. Thanks.
A few things to note: The url that you reference no longer has the exact same versions of the files, and it appears that these slightly newer revisions break whatever voodoo you're conjuring. When I googled for the exact file names, I found them on rpm.pbone.net
Also, the poster before me was correct. you need to remove openvpn and vpnc packages before this will work.

I've been designated as the unofficial official linux laptop wireless support guy on campus. It's not always an easy job, and pages like this save me a hell of a lot of heartache.

Michael and Rebecca: Cheese Lovers! said...

I followed your instructions to the letter, but now I dont have any Network Manager at all - What can I do to get it back?

kengell said...

lewis, peter, thanks for the feedback.

Michael, I would look at the log after the restart to see if there are specific errors and/or run the live update utility provided to see if there are package dependencies. The worst case scenario would be to reflash the entire netbook using the Acer CD provided and a USB attached CD-ROM drive or a USB flash card.

Tobias said...

Hi there!

I'm pretty green when it comes to Linux, but i've tried to find out how to connect to the wireless at my university.

I think the problem is that i can't choose PEAP or LEAP in the internet connection.

Will this setup fx this?

Thanks for all the info any way :)

kengell said...

Tobias, there are several flavors of PEAP and since I don't know which version used at your university it may be hard for me to give you a definitive 'yes' or 'no'.

Tobias said...

Hmm...

I got the same result as Michael s.

Some of the linkes to the files where dead, so i found the same files with new versionnames. Downloaded these, removed the existing networkmanager, but got å load of errors trying to install the packages i downloaded. No networkmanager.

Not a big problem really, i just reinstallet Linpus and I'm back to scratch.

I might be asking to much, but would it be possible to re-link the files with the current versionnumbers?

btw
This is the only proper guide to doing this i can find on the net. So thanks an enormous lot if i can make this work!

kengell said...

Tobias, thanks for the comment. I will investigate the specific errors and update the blog entry this week. I think it is related to recent Linpus updates that have been released. I will reflash my AAOne with the original OS, use the update manager to get the latest updates and then start from there with the investigation.

Thanks for you comment. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dave said...

A bit annoying that you seem to be claiming the shell script and archive as your own when you've just changed the wording of the warning slightly from my original, at least you linked back to the forum post I guess...

kengell said...

Dave, apologies if insufficient credit was given.

I downloaded the rpms from ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/

The shell script was indeed written from scratch on my AA1 using mousepad and is based on the instructions listed by (helomoto on Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:28 am) on the AA1 forum. The script follows a 'standard' format describing a) warning, b) purpose, c) error correction and d) a chance to exit cleanly (e.g. 'do no harm'). Now that I look at the script again I should add better error handling, a choice to do a debug (-vv) install and a comment/link to the AA1 forum that inspired it.

I generated the archive using xarchiver (0.4.9svn-r), because I was about to reflash my AA1 to test skype installation and wanted to save the (now removed) rpms to my google site.

Tom said...

Hey,

I dloaded your archive, extracted it, hit the shell script, but nothing happened...I assume something was supposed to?

I'm afraid I have sort of a Windows mindset still so tell me if there was something stupid in this process:

1. Dload archive
2. Extract to My Documents
3. Double-click / right click and click Execute on shell script

Thanks for suggestions!

kengell said...

Tom, try running the shell script in an xterm window.

Tom said...

Thanks for reply.

But how do I run it in the terminal?

I'm guessing something like "run filename" but atm I can't even figure out how to change to the right directory (My Documents) where it's saved (obvious stuff like cd user/documents or whatever didn't work).

Very newbie to this I'm afraid!

A C Green said...

I too got the same result as Michael. The Network Manager is no longer available through the Network Center, my wireless password is no longer remembered, and after timeout wireless disconnect network manager is no longer avaialable in the linpus 'system tray'

kengell said...

AC Green, if you run


$ sudo yum list | grep NetworkManager


in an xterm window what is output to the screen?

tpc said...

Keith,
I've downloaded your tar.gz, but haven't pulled the trigger yet - you appear to have skipped the openvpn rpm; was that intentional?
The versions on my recent One are slightly different than yours- specifically the first three:

NetworkManager.i386 1:0.7.0-lp.0025.o.4 installed
NetworkManager-glib.i386 1:0.7.0-lp.0025.o.4 installed
NetworkManager-gnome.i386 1:0.7.0-lp.0025.o.4 installed

Don't know if that will change anything, but thought I would inquire on those two points before I resort to chicken blood on the keyboard :-)

kengell said...

Thomas,

Good catch! I have updated the google site info and archive based on your careful attentive eyes!

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your very useful blog.

Since I've installed the wpa2-enterprise, the Network Manager disappears from the panel after waking up the computer from Standby, my wireless password is no longer remembered, and i cannot save my vpn settings

Terminal says:

[root@localhost user]# yum list | grep NetworkManager

NetworkManager.i386 1:0.7.0-0.6.9.svn3675. installed
NetworkManager-glib.i386 1:0.7.0-0.6.9.svn3675. installed
NetworkManager-gnome.i386 1:0.7.0-0.6.9.svn3675. installed
NetworkManager-openvpn.i386 1:0.7.0-2.svn3047.fc8 installed
NetworkManager-vpnc.i386 1:0.7.0-0.4.svn3030.fc installed
NetworkManager.i386 1:0.7.0-0.5.svn3030.fc fedora
NetworkManager-devel.i386 1:0.7.0-0.5.svn3030.fc fedora
NetworkManager-glib.i386 1:0.7.0-0.5.svn3030.fc fedora
NetworkManager-glib-devel.i386 1:0.7.0-0.5.svn3030.fc fedora
NetworkManager-gnome.i386 1:0.7.0-0.5.svn3030.fc fedora

kengell said...

Thanks Alexander for the comments. I seem to recall, though it has been a while, that the original NetworkManager that shipped w/ the AA1 also had the same problem. The problem being that on sleep, resume, the NetworkManager icon was not visible in the task bar, nor running. I could be wrong, but seem to recall it as so. I will 'downgrade' my NM back to the original and see if my recollections are correct. Thanks again for your comments.

/dev/kde

Tom said...

On my Aspire One the original network manager didn't have that problem, but the new one definitely does. Upon resuming from sleep, it's not running in the taskbar and can't be started. Restart fixes it, so that's what I've been doing, but it is a niggle.

kengell said...

Thanks Tom! I will grep my way through the rpm sites and see if there is a patch for this. Thanks again for providing the initial install information.

fdp said...

This is really useful; but I also have problems as described above:
(1) Password is not remembered- a real problem.
(2) Connection lost and manager not available after suspend
(3) Output of sudo yum list | grep NetworkManager is:

NetworkManager.i386 1:0.7.0-0.6.9.svn3675. installed
NetworkManager-glib.i386 1:0.7.0-0.6.9.svn3675. installed
NetworkManager-gnome.i386 1:0.7.0-0.6.9.svn3675. installed
NetworkManager-openvpn.i386 1:0.7.0-2.svn3047.fc8 installed
NetworkManager-vpnc.i386 1:0.7.0-0.4.svn3030.fc installed
NetworkManager.i386 1:0.7.0-0.11.svn4022.4 updates-newkey
NetworkManager-devel.i386 1:0.7.0-0.11.svn4022.4 updates-newkey
NetworkManager-glib.i386 1:0.7.0-0.11.svn4022.4 updates-newkey
NetworkManager-glib-devel.i386 1:0.7.0-0.11.svn4022.4 updates-newkey
NetworkManager-gnome.i386 1:0.7.0-0.11.svn4022.4 updates-newkey
NetworkManager-openvpn.i386 1:0.7.0-16.svn4027.fc8 updates-newkey
NetworkManager-pptp.i386 1:0.7.0-0.10.svn4027.f updates-newkey
NetworkManager-vpnc.i386 1:0.7.0-0.10.svn4024.f updates-newkey
yum-NetworkManager-dispatcher.noarch 1.1.17-1.fc8 updates-newkey

Any hints??? Thanks a lot in advance

kengell said...

fdepaolis, try the following:

1) find out if the NetworkManager is running:

/etc/init/NetworkManager status

if not then issue a start command /etc/init/NetworkManager start

2) if the NetworkManager is indeed not running see if it left behind some pid information when it tried to start/restart /var/lock/subsys/

3) also might want to look at /var/run/NetworkManager to see if there is a pid file (indicating the NetworkManager) did not shutdown/resume cleanly.

I've been living w/ these oddities for a while, but only use the AA1 when on the road and for short durations, so have tolerated the problems.

Unknown said...

I also found that passwords stopped being remembered after installing these new NetworkManager versions. After a bit of googling I found the solution to be to add a file

/usr/share/dbus-1/services/gnome-keyring-daemon.service

with the contents

[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.gnome.keyring
Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon

Hope this works for you.

Michael.

Sverre said...

I followed your instructions on an AA1 straight from the package, and installed the updated NetworkManager all right.

Now I can't find out how to run a wireless network. It doesn't do it automatically, and I can't figure out any settings that will allow it.

Trying the "/etc/init/NetworkManager" status command from the last post only results in a "No such file or directory"

I admit to being a complete Linux newbie...

Sverre said...

An update to last night's post after a long night of fidgeting: This morning it appears that the computer will run flawlessly on wireless some of the time before suddenly switching to only working on wired networks. Rebooting changes nothing. I can find no good explanation for this.

flavouredvanilla said...

Fair enough I haven't read all the other comments but I'm really peeved about the fact I can't connect to my University wifi and it's currently 3:35AM where I am so forgive me for lack of patience.

It seemed to work okay but when I tried to connect to my home network it refused to let me said. "The network has" and nothing else. I assumed an error in the tooltip or something.

I haven't tried it at Uni but unless it's gonna' be as portable as I need it, it's pointless and it'll also be pointless if I've spent £200 on something that isn't fit for what I wanted it for especially when only a few months ago I spent £1,000 on my proper laptop (which is 3.5kg and isn't suitable to lug about to and from Uni).

If someone can help with this before I find a solution myself my email is benarmitage@hotmail.co.uk

kengell said...

flavouredvanilla,

Let's start from a known state. What is the output when running


$ sudo yum list | grep NetworkManager


Does it look anything like the one I posted at my google site?

http://sites.google.com/site/kengell/acer-one-wpa2-enterprise

Ummon said...

I have the same problem. The fix is to restart the nm-applet
but its ugly.

Kim SJ said...

should be "/etc/init.d/NetworkManager ..."

Note the added ".d"

Francis St-Pierre said...

Indeed, restarting nm-applet (alt+F2 nm-applet) at least makes the system tray icon reappear, and the networks being available again. I dunno about passwords but this shouldn't be a huge pain to retype it.

Thanks for the great post Kengell (whatever your real name might be)

Unknown said...

I attempted to get the NetworkManager-openvpn working but I didn't have much luck. I did end up with the situation where nm-applet wouldn't start on a resume. nm-applet will startup when booting but if you close the lid and open it later then it won't be there any more. I fixed this by removing the KILL -SIG(whatever) nm-applet from /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/10NetworkManager

Also, I ended up with the WEP keys not saving problem so thanks mclarke for the solution to that.

And one more, if you want to know the NetworkManager status it is /etc/init.d/NetworkManager status not /etc/init/NetworkManager status