LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Hardware
User Name
Password
Linux - Hardware This forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 09-04-2008, 05:41 PM   #1
freezerburn666
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Sep 2008
Posts: 3

Rep: Reputation: 0
Damn Small, damn annoying with d-link DWA-130 wireless N USB


recently i revived a very old toshiba 220cds with 16mb ram. DSL runs fine on this thing, but i NEED internet access (theres no ethernet port). my only option is to use my d-link dwa-130 wireless n usb adapter. i have the driver i need, it's a .inf file for win xp and i've been trying to use ndiswrapper-- but thats not the problem. i know this adapter works fine in linux, i use it with ndiswrapper on my HP laptop and it works like a dream. after i run ndiswrapper -i for install, ndiswrapper -m (alias already exists), and then modprobe ndiswrapper all appears good. ndiswrapper -l says device install hardware present or whatever it says. i go to run iwconfig, theres nothing except for the loopback 'lo' displayed. i get 'no wireless extensions.' i know the usb port works on this thing, thats how i installed DSL in the firt place (no cd-rom). so, my question is, if ndiswrapper and everything works fine, where is my wlan0 ? i've tried downloading the latest version of ndiswrapper only to find out that i didn't have 'make' or a compiler on DSL... i got the clacker MyDSL package and tried 'make distclean' in the new ndiswrapper extracted folder, i get the error that KBUILD is not in the kernel tree (something like that)... i'm no expert with this kind of stuff but seriously, it's been driving me nuts.. the kernel i'm using is 2.4.31, i tried the 2.6x kernel with DSL-N but that for some reason was dreafully slow and took the laptop atleast 10 mins to boot. any help would be greatly appreciated.......
 
Old 09-06-2008, 02:21 AM   #2
pinniped
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2008
Location: planet earth
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 1,732

Rep: Reputation: 50
The wireless LAN is not necessarily named 'wlan*'. Try:

ifconfig -a

If ndiswrapper makes good use of the /sys virtual filesystem you may even find the interface name there:

ls -l /sys/class/net

I just hope you didn't get anything else screwed up while attempting to get things to work.
 
Old 09-06-2008, 07:09 AM   #3
Hangdog42
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Maryland
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 7,803
Blog Entries: 1

Rep: Reputation: 422Reputation: 422Reputation: 422Reputation: 422Reputation: 422
Quote:
i have the driver i need, it's a .inf file for win xp
Are you sure that is all of the driver? Frequently Windows drivers are in two files, a .inf file and a .sys file. Since the .sys file is the actual driver, this might be the problem.

Quote:
the kernel i'm using is 2.4.31
This might also be the root of the problem. The 2.4 series of kernels really don't support wireless well, if at all. You really should check and see if DSL has a pared down 2.6 kernel, or roll one of your own.

You also should check your log files and see if ndiswrapper is complaining about anything.
 
Old 09-08-2008, 12:04 PM   #4
freezerburn666
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Sep 2008
Posts: 3

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinniped View Post
Are you sure that is all of the driver? Frequently Windows drivers are in two files, a .inf file and a .sys file. Since the .sys file is the actual driver, this might be the problem.
hey thanks for the reply, it is an .inf and .sys file actually, but i have both, used it the same way i did on my ubuntu box with the same peice of hardware. i'll give those commands a try and see what i can come up with.. not too worried about f'ing things up because it's a fresh install and i can just do another hd install which doesn't take very long at all. thanks a lot for the suggestions. a gut feeling tells me it might be the 2.4 kernel though. i wouldn't have the slightest clue on upgrading to 2.6

Last edited by freezerburn666; 09-08-2008 at 12:05 PM.
 
Old 09-09-2008, 01:33 PM   #5
freezerburn666
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Sep 2008
Posts: 3

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
arrgh i must have missed it before, but i checked dmesg and saw that ndiswrapper was spitting out errors after all, and a bug in usb-ohci.c which says a bug in call to c1842201 or something and "use async!" tried searching for the error on google and it just brought me to pages with source code.... blaaaah. perhaps it could be the fact that i have so little ram and the driver cant load or something.
 
Old 09-09-2008, 05:28 PM   #6
Hangdog42
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Maryland
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 7,803
Blog Entries: 1

Rep: Reputation: 422Reputation: 422Reputation: 422Reputation: 422Reputation: 422
OK, here is a suggestion. DSL-N, which apparently has more up-to-date stuff, including a 2.6.x kernel. They don't stick to the 50MB limit DSL does, but with a newer kernel, I'm betting wireless stands a chance of working. I just have my doubts about getting it to go on a 2.4 kernel.
 
  


Reply

Tags
dwa130


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Wireless USB device DWA-130 on Ubuntu vwr0527 Linux - Hardware 4 10-28-2010 08:55 PM
Cant find a working link/mirror to download Damn Small Linux!! gggggggggggggggggggg Linux - Newbie 11 08-18-2008 09:36 PM
usb wireless Dlink DWA-130 for Ubuntu 8.04 not working? New to Linux kencoop Linux - Newbie 1 07-03-2008 09:32 PM
Using D-Link DWA-130 with Opensuse 10.3 jbhoch Linux - Newbie 1 01-28-2008 07:06 PM
Damn Small Linux can't get an IP with wireless FWSquatch Linux - Newbie 3 07-08-2007 03:54 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Hardware

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:31 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration