Atheros Communications Inc. AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet (rev b0) 1.0.0.7 bug fixed on Kernel 3.2.43-rc1

Finally the problem with the Atheros Communications Inc. AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet (rev b0) 1.0.0.7 bug, was resolved by the kernel devs.

I noticed the problem when I tried to transfer big files over the local network, and all the files, were corrupted, independently from the network protocol I used (NFS, Samba)

I did more test and I figured out the problem was the driver on the linux kernel, so I sent an email to the kernel devs, but the first 2 times I didn’t have too much luck, but I decided to send another email and the kernel devs starting to track down the problem.

The problem was related to the use of the pci-msi who corrupting the dma channel. After various test the team decided to dropping the use of the pci-msi (the fix was included on the Kernel 3.2.43-rc1  and in the successive kernel’s tree).

After 2 and half  year finally the problem was fixed and I’m happy was the one send the request in the first place but I’m more happy to  sense the spirit of community of the kernel devs.

You will find more information on the this mail list : http://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg230298.html

So if find any bug in linux, don’t say somebody else will fix that, remember always : “If not now, when? if not me, who?”

KnutClient 1.0.4 for Kde4 (Debian Sid)

Hi,

NUT (Network UPS  Tools)  is a framework tools for using different brand and types of UPS , so you can see all the information the UPS  send to the PC with a usb/Serial/network port.

There are different clients  (GTK+, Kde, CGI) for different systems (Linux, Windows, Solaris etc).

I’m using KDE  4.6.5 (now 4.10.2 ) in Debian Sid and the version 1.0.4 of Knutclient build  from source.

I reinstalled the OS today and I lost my Knutclient package.

I noticed , in the debian repository, I couldn’t find the knutclient for Kde 4.

The only package available is the old 0.9.5 for kde3 and when I tried to install, it want to install some old dependencies,

so I downloaded the new version and created a new package for Kde 4 and I thought to share to all.

This package is made  for Amd64 on Debian Sid

Feel free to download from here

Have fun!!!

ATL1E : TSO still broken

Hi,

I’m using Debian Sid with kernel 2.6.39.2 and I have a motherboard with Ethernet  chip Atheros Communications AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet (rev b0).

I’m using a NFS v4 on the server and i noticed a problem : if  I  transfer a file transfer of 1GB or more the file is corrupted, a quick md5sum or sha1sum can confirm that.

After different test I discovered the TSO in the ATL1E driver is broken and after I found out this problem is from kernel version 2.6.26.

I tried also the official driver on the website but the problem is still the same , so the patch for now is to disable the TSO

1) install the ethtool (in debian : apt-get install ethtool)

2) insert this string to rc.local :

ethtool -K eth0 tso off

If this don’t fix the problem I suggest to add proto=udp in the /etc/fstab related to the NFS mount point.

I already did send a email to the kernel-dev …so I hope they will fix the problem.

Support IPv6 to IPv4 Tunneling in Debian

Ipv6 is coming… expecially after this announcement.

For now the ISP and the hardware avaible are really low but if you want, you can have a 6to4 tunnel in your linux machine.

The 6to4 tunnel is a technology to receive a ipv6 connection encapsulate in a ipv4 connection (for more info)

Right now I’m using a Debian Sid with a gogo6 connection/tunneling.

First step : Go to the site and create a new account.

For install in Debian , open your terminal :

sudo apt-get install gogoc

after that open with an editor the file

/etc/gogoc/gogoc.conf

insert yout userid and password, and change

server=anonymous.freenet6.net

to

server=broker.freenet6.net

Now change

auth_method =anonymous

to

auth_method =digetst_md5

save the file

In terminal write:

sudo /etc/init.d/gogoc start

and we goign to thest the connection with

ping6 -c4 ipv6.google.com

if you receive the ping you are on, you can also check  with ifconfig and see another interface TUN  is avaible

Another test is going to sites with ipv6  ready like ipv6.google.com , kama.net, ip6.me.

FIREFOX

On Debian  the ipv6 is disable by default, so for re-enable :

1. In the Location bar, type about:configand press Return.
   • The about:config “This might void your warranty!” warning page may appear. Click I’ll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
2. In the Filter field, type network.dns.disableIPv6.
3. In the list of preferences, double-click network.dns.disableIPv6 to set its value to false.
4. Now check one ipv6 site

Why all this?

1. For fun

2. To educate yourself to  new standard, so when in this year the ISP and other companies will jump on the Ipv6 train they will find you already on board.