Newbie: Linux vs. Wireless Duel

[baylord]

I'm new to linux and need some help.

I recently downloaded Fedora Core 3 and cannot for the life of me figure out how to get Fedora to use my wireless card (Gigabyte 802.11g PCI WLAN Card).
*Note: Fedora detects the NIC on the PCI bus when I use the following code: [root@localhost Module]# lspci | grep RaLink

I've done quite a bit of research but I always get lost when I see the code I'm supposed to use (ex. [root@localhost Module]# make, [root@localhost Module]# make install) Both of these commands to not respond when I press enter in the command terminal.

I have also tried to follow the instructions for ndiswrapper (forcing linux to recognize & use the windows driver for the NIC).

I've even tried to simplest approach of manually configuring the network and forcing it to recognize the wireless card, but none of the options seem to work. I always get an error when I try to activate it.

I'd appreciate any help/insight that you might have.

Thanks!

 

[skab]

Stupid question but are you doing this as root?

 

[Wisdom]

Don't feel bad, baylord. I have the same problem. It always seems that the articles describing how to do things in Linux are written and reviewed by people that know how to solve that particular problem. But that doesn't mean the articles are written for newbies to understand them. Then it gets more complicated with the different distributions of Linux and how every single one has their own best and innovative way to do things. I solved my problem with a Hawking wireless router/bridge. So I'm using the motherboards wired ethernet connection and a cat 5 cable to the bridge, and then the bridge wirelessly connects across the house to get into the router. So far it works well. Good luck!

- Wisdom

 

[jajmon]

I used this article, it covers Suse, but would pertain. Once you get ndiswrapper installed, there is a link to follow on how to setup wlan

http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/04/pohletz_ndiswrapper.html

 

[Ben Cole]

Complete Newbie to Linux....

But I was expecting it to be a little more user friendly. I think most people would just give up straight away, but I battled for hours and hours but it turns out to be pretty futile.

I have read everything I can find about "ndiswrapper"

Managed to do everything it said in all the threads I found eventually. (it seems instructions about anything to do with linux assume massive background knowledge)

And after all that, my wireless network card drivers win 98-xp all result in "invalid driver" when checking with "ndiswrapper - l"

Any help would be appreciated, because at the moment it looks like I'll have to go back to being a Bill Gates follower.

 

[khiloa]

I would recommend that you try one of the debian based distro's that are easier to use like Ubuntu rather than FC. FC is rpm based and the package management is horrible compared to the apt-get system that Debian/Ubuntu/Kubuntu use. It really makes a big difference once you have to install and upgrade software. (rpm's create "rpm hell" where package A needs package B but B needs A for C to work but you can't install A without B...)

 

[Ben Cole]

I picked SUSE because it was supposedly more user friendly!!!!

When the frustration has worn off maybe I'll spent another few days downloading a debian based distribution.


Thanks for the tip....I haven't been this frustrated with anything PC based since I re aquainted myself with computing around `98..LOL

 

[Wisdom]

Ben, I agree with you that the amount of work required to get something working in Linux is foolish. The major problem is that there are so many distributions implementing their own ideas in unique ways. So we end up with software solutions that work for implementations A, B, or D - but fail on distributions C, E or F. That may change if the Linux standard takes hold (I can't recall the real name for this), but it's hell until then. I think the concept behind Linux is great and I also think that having x-number of distributions available negatively impacts the user community not only with distribution-specific hardware support, but also with application software availability. After all, how do you expect a developer to write the next big thing when he has to write and maintain it on multiple evolving platforms - SUSE, Redhat, Fedora, Debian, Mandrake, Knoppix, Ubantu, Uncle Joe's, etc... A professional developer can take the effort to learn the intricacies of each of these distributions - or he can learn a standard Windows interface and function calls and have a ready market of millions. Where do you think the effort is going to go?

-Wisdom

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Ben... it sounds like your windriver is bad to me. I've used ndiswrapper for my card and got the same error with a bad driver. I installed a known working driver using "ndiswrapper -i net8180.inf" then "modprobe ndiswrapper". Replace net8180.inf with your driver .inf.

Also, try pentoo. It's a linux-live distro that seems to reconize a lot of cards.

 

[Ben Cole]

Thanks guys...

Wisdom, That's my feeling exactly. I really wanted to get in to linux just so I'm not taking the easy Bill Gates route. But it really is a pain in the ar*e.

Cyrix...I'll have a look for a better driver.

 

[UnseenMenace]

Thanks guys...

Wisdom, That's my feeling exactly. I really wanted to get in to linux just so I'm not taking the easy Bill Gates route. But it really is a pain in the ar*e.

Cyrix...I'll have a look for a better driver.

Hope this helps with your understaning of Ndiswrapper :-

The chipset used by the wireless card has to be identified which is done by typing lspci in the terminal or console, this command displays detailed information about all PCI buses and all devices connected to them

When I do this along the listed information about the devices, I can locate detailed information about the Wireless harware used by my Acer Aspire 1522 WLMI.

0000:00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Linksys, A Division of Cisco Systems [AirConn] INPROCOMM IPN 2220 Wireless LAN Adapter (rev 01)

By typing in the terminal or console lspci -n more informaion will be diplayed as this shows PCI vendor and device codes as numbers instead of looking them up in the PCI ID database

0000:00:0a.0 0200: 17fe:2220

Once the chipset and device PCI ID codes are established you can easily identify drivers and issues related to your card from the list of devices known to work on the NdisWrapper website at the following url http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List Even if yours is not listed it does not however mean that it will not work, just that nobody else has achieved this and documented it. (its worth mentioning at this time that im NOT using the correct acer driver for my wireless, as another card using the same chipset works better, this I discovered by comparing my hardware information with knowledge on the ndiswrapper website)

The ndiswrapper kernel module is a set of programs which allows .inf files to be used to configure your WiFi card .inf files are the configuration files used by Microsoft Windows to set up your WiFi cards so are readily available. These files can be obtained from your cards installation CD or downoaded from the cards manufacturers website. If you are not sure which one to use try them all.
Install the ndiswrapper application as described by the ndiswrapper website or the specific packages specified by your distro.

In the command terminal call ndiswrapper -i /path/to/driver.inf where driver.inf is your inf-file (windows wireless-lan driver) The .sys file that accompanies it in Windows installs / driver files must be in the same directory as the .inf file before calling the driver (NOTE:- you may need to have root access to do this, depending upon distro being used)

In the command terminal call modprobe ndiswrapper to install the needed module (NOTE:- you may need to have root access to do this, depending upon distro being used)

Don’t forget to type ndiswrapper -m if you want to load it at startup automatically (NOTE:- you may need to have root access to do this, depending upon distro being used)

Use the Networking tool to configure networking on the new interface, or edit /etc/network/interfaces by hand to your liking.