Hi people.

I need your help please !


I am totally new to Linux.. I’ve tried to find dummy guides but they seem too much to understand and confusing. Linux to me is like learning Mongolian.

I really need a noobie guide on how to get my hdd install on the net and my wifi card working on kismet / airsnort.

Initially I installed Knoppix 5.01 Live in VMware running on my Windows XP pro platform. The net wifi connection was bridged and was showing eth1 (or 0) and so I got onto the internet through the emulation with no problem. I ran Lspci and it gave me the wifi card info fine. AR5212 Atheros on ath and other tools showed eth0.

Kismet and Airsnort of course did not work due to what may be have been needing ndiswrapper or Madwifi drivers.
Regardless, it was a headache for me being a noob and I think its the wrong way to go - working in an emulator on the network side for some apps.. I needed a better solution.

I decided to get out a small old hard drive and do a hard drive install.

My card is a Netgear WG311T with Atheros AR5212 abg chipset.
The knoppix install went really well. No problems there. Sound card picked up, everything else seems to function all seemed good. But on closer inspection my WG311T card does not appear to be anywhere in Lspci or Dmesg now. If I run a prompt and type in netcardconfig a few seconds later up come a message saying something about ath0 which can’t be a bad thing so the system ‘finds’ the wifi card. Dmesg and lspci though do not show the card as visible (installed).

I am totally unable to get on the internet / net. Do I need some command to redirect ath0 to eth0 or do I have to use some kind of iwconfig command to bring the connection up ? Drivers ? Madwifi ?

It would also not work in Airsnort or kismet as well. This I thought likely as there was no internet connection and I must have to install the Madwifi drivers? I have downloaded the latest MADWIFI drivers and have them to hand. I tried to ‘make’ them and got something about the kernel not being ok with the build and also my directories seemed amiss.

What I need please is to get my machine on the internet and for Kismet and Airsnort to find the ath0 (or is it eth0 for the 'lan' ?) card please !!!!!

I’d like the option just to be able to just roam for networks in kismet and airsnort instead of providing my router ssid as it appears I need when trying to use Kwifitools. I am not 100% sure what mode I need to put Kwifi tools into to do this – ad-hoc, managed, etc if I just want to roam ‘hotspots’. (<< confused here)

This Linux is really like another language ! Please help, I hope someone understands what I need !

Please make it simple for me to understand if you can, real dummy guide please. I’m great on Windows XP and similar OS and so have seen a lot of bad confusing and sometimes totally wrong information for newbs on the net that sometimes is irrelevant and totally of scew. I don’t mean to be rude honest ! I just need the meat and two veg version and not cryptic clues if at all possible. No offence people !


I have the Madwifi drivers, tried to use them but I’m really stuck – don;’t know what to do. Read lots on the net but I’m going round in circles. I really don’t want it to take me months. Its so frustrating especially when in Windows it would be a doddle.


Cheers !
p.s. calling myself a noob to give me inspiration !

Hi, In the interim any chance someone can tell me how to reinstall kwifimanager as I deleted with the intention of reinstalling it to get rid of it being in the German language

Cos I got no internet connection on the box no repositories are available. I can browse my cdrom and thought I might find kwifimanager on the install cd but nope. Knoppix 5.01.
Please help ! Tried to download it on my windows xp but just cannot find the application of kwifimanger - keep finding old versions. The ver that was installed on the knoppix live 5.01 was 4:3:52-1+b2 but its no where to be seen and definately gone off my hdd install.

As far as the german language goes what gives? It crackers, everything in English apart from the meat and veg of kwifimanager - the one I need most ! gutted

p.s. I got the card kind of running net wise but it said that the Access Point - is not assigned or known or something simiar when kwifimanager was running (in German). Still need help with the Madwifi drivers if anyone could be so kind please, don't all rush at once !!

ta