Cardservices functionality at 2.6

[Russell King]

On Fri, Mar 12, 2004 at 10:45:58AM -0500, Steve Jones wrote:
> This question is by definition a FAQ -- upon googling it turns up
> frequently but I have never seen it actually answered.

Ok, I think it's time I added this to http://pcmcia.arm.linux.org.uk/
Once this post has been through the mailing lists, I'll add a link
from that site.

> I use a Netgear MA-401 wireless card with no problem under a 2.4
> I kernel. But can't get it working under 2.6.3.
> 
> cardmgr results in:
> 
>   "cardmgr[5834]: no sockets found!"
> 
> and exits.

This happens when the kernel is unable to locate any socket drivers
for your hardware; effectively cardmgr is saying it has nothing to
do.

> In researching this, I gather that cardservices is deprecated for
> 2.6.

That's incorrect, and I've heard that and similar things in the past.
Could you provide me with a pointer to the information which drew you
to that conclusion, so it can be corrected for future readers?

The reality is that the in-kernel PCMCIA subsystem has been undergoing
an overhaul, and various interfaces have been deprecated and/or removed
due to redundancy or bugs.

One such interface is the CardServices() function.  This does not mean
that "cardservices" (meaning the PCMCIA subsystem) has been deprecated;
it means just the CardServices() function itself.  There are other ways
to access the services it provided, and these methods are also present
in older kernels.  Therefore, any drivers which are using CardServices()
need to be updated by their respective developers.

> If I have been sketchy with my information, I will be happy to
> deluge you. :) Whatever you want...
> 
> How do I use my PCMCIA wireless network card under 2.6.3?

First you need to give us some information about your system, so we can
work out where the problem is.  Can you provide:

- a description of the hardware
- lspci output
- lsmod output under the working 2.4 kernel
- lsmod output under the non-working 2.6 kernel
- any error messages found in /var/log/messages referring to "yenta"
  "ds" or any other PCMCIA-related message.

Thanks.

-- 
Russell King
 Linux kernel    2.6 ARM Linux   - http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/
 maintainer of:  2.6 PCMCIA      - http://pcmcia.arm.linux.org.uk/
                 2.6 Serial core