Hello all, I recently put the latest version of Ubuntu Linux on my Compaq Presario 1694 notebook. Just for the record it has a peppy 450 MHz AMD K6-2, 192 MB RAM, 6.5 GB HDD, USB 1.1, DVD/CD-ROM. Anyways, I am close to a professional in Windows but I am a new one to Linux and I need some help. I have a PeaBird 802.11b USB Dongle, which contains the ZD1201 chip. The device works great under Windows XP but I still have yet to get it straight under Ubuntu. I have read that on the internet that it can be done and can work seemlessly. Can someone please give me a step by step, excuse my french, but "dumbasses" guide to installing this thing. Please explain it as you would to a toddler, I really want to get this thing working but half of the time I do not know what is being said, complie this and make config that; I just do not know all of this lingo yet. When this is installed will it have a utility sort of application to search and connect to WiFi networks or will I have to manually edit some configuration file and insert the SSID of my network and the WEP key. Please someone or anyone help me, and please explain any directions or steps in the simplest form possible. Thanks to anyone's help. ----Jaimy

if you have an xp driver for the dongle then it is easy enough (ha ha ha).
you have to have a 2.4.24 or later kernel, with the sources. the kernel has to have been compiled with support for wireless (non ham radio) networks and probably usb bluetooth, not normal bluetooth.
I also had the blueZ utilities installed, but I am not sure they were used.
you also need gcc 3.2 or more recent (I know 3.0 or earlier doesn't work, and 3.3.6 does)
download ndiswrapper,(only available as source I believe but comparitively simple 'make ; make install' to install, and use ndiswrapper (check the documentation) to load the xp driver (the .inf stuff just like on windows).
>ndiswrapper -l xxx.inf
then to activate it:
>modprobe ndiswrapper

then its the wireless tools, if 'iwconfig' tells you lots of stuff for 'wlan0' you are up and running, its just a matter of telling iwconfig the ESSID and your security key, binding dhcp to wlan0 and away you go.

ndiswrapper is the package that makes it possible, read the instructions carefully, put 'usb linux ndiswrapper' in your favourite search engine for more tips

good luck,
utopic dog.