how to use wireless on fedora 7?
 

Hi all,

first of all, im a linux newbie. hope can learn info from you guys. i have installed fedora 7 on my compaq v3206AU laptop which is an AMD X2 based. i can get the wired network up n running etc. but somehow my wireless is missing, anyone can kindly advise me? will be greatly appreciated... thanks in advance. :)

First of all lets see if your wireless card is detected. Easiest way for a newbie with Fedora 7 is to do the following:

System -> Administration -> Services

Search for a service called Network Manager and start it, you can also start the NetworkManagerDispatch service. This should put an icon in the taskbar near the clock. If you click this icon it should show you any wireless networks available. Let me know if this works for you, if not what Wireless card have you got in the laptop?

hi lapthorn,
thanks for your replies. i did key in iwconfig in the terminal but i cant see any wireless stuffs there, is it correct ?

hi guys, anyone can help ?? Thanks!

What wireless card are you using?

err, mine is those built in one?

if based on my own hardwares, my laptop should come with the broadcom wireless lan built in... thanks in advance.

You're not really helping much here. Broadcom make a range of chips for wireless network cards and the driver and procedure for installing are different for each one. From a terminal, type 'lspci' or '/sbin/lspci' and look in the output for your Broadcom card, then post the exact model details here.

Without knowing what hardward you are running, making it work is going to be difficult!

hi wayno, im sorry abt it. i know im nt helping much by giving info as im really newbie to linux.. i just tried typing the command as given, seems that it prompted me no such file or directory. seems funny... sorry for the trouble here. Shalom.

hi lapthorn, i tried ur suggestion. i started the NetworkManagerDispatch service, but nothing came up at the taskbar. means it cant detect my wireless broadcom ? appreciate your kind reply. Thanks.

re: how to use wireless on fedora 7
 

tomcatz:
you need to run the lspci command as the root user, either by doing:

sudo lspci

or by
su -
rootpassword
lspci

you should see at least two "ethernet controller" entries, one of them having remarks about being wireless. Take note of what chipset is mentioned in the wireless one, and we can help you take it from there. More than likely, you need a package called ndiswrapper, and the appropriate windows drivers for that card.
at the very least, find out what chipset your wireless card is either via lspci, or just searching the net for clues (lspci will be more reliable) and report back on your findings.