Ethernet Driver

arzer · 10-15-2006, 07:10 AM

Hi,

I am currently still playing around in RH9 and have installed it on to a machine with a TP-LINK wireless PCI card in it. The anaconda installer didnt detect the card so I have no access to the LAN or internet.

I'm pretty sure that Tp-link dont do Linux drivers, and just wondered if this is a common problem with manufacturers and if so are they third party drivers or general drivers which can be used to get stuff like this working? Maybe there is an on-line resource for drivers written for Linux?

Any ideas?
Thanks, Arzer.

MensaWater · 10-15-2006, 07:28 AM

A couple of things.

If you're doing a new install you really ought to look at going with something more current than RH 9. After RH 9 RedHat diverged between commercially support RedHat Enterprise Level (RHEL) and non-commercially support Fedora Core (FC). RHEL/FC are now up to version 5 which means there are 5 releases BEYOND the 1 you are using. You really ought to go to at least RHEL or FC 4.

On the other question. Many drivers are written by the Open Source community (just as Linux itself is). Looking at the MadWiFi site I did see several TP Link models listed. You may wish to check to see if any of these are the ones you use. Even if not it may work as it appears the main component is an Atheros chip which is what the MadWiFi driver is for:
http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility

Bruce Hill · 10-15-2006, 08:35 AM

You might find out what chipset that TP-Link card has by issuing "/sbin/lspci"

arzer · 10-16-2006, 06:51 AM

Hi,

Thanks guys for your responses.. I have been trying to install FC5 but the ISO DVD I downloaded was corrupted, so I am in the process of getting the individual CD ISOs this time and will try again, however, I like the look of the madwifi site you pointed out to me, but I wonder if someone would be so kind as to clarify:

Assuming that I will have FC5 installed, so will therefore require an RPM package for it (as I dont know enough about compiling etc. at present), when I go to the URL: http://atrpms.net/dist/fc5/madwifi/ i am presented with what seems like a never ending list of the same driver (i.e. the RPM description etc are the same for all files), but the files themselves have subtle differences, such as some begin with madwifi-devel some with madwifi-hal and some madwifi-kmdl etc.. I wonder would someone be so kind as you enlighten me as to what I would want to download?

I am (soon to be) running Fedora Core 5, on an x86 32-Bit PC, and would preferably just want to install a precompiled driver?

Thanks so much..

IndyGunFreak · 10-16-2006, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arzer

Hi,

Thanks guys for your responses.. I have been trying to install FC5 but the ISO DVD I downloaded was corrupted, so I am in the process of getting the individual CD ISOs this time and will try again, however, I like the look of the madwifi site you pointed out to me, but I wonder if someone would be so kind as to clarify:

Assuming that I will have FC5 installed, so will therefore require an RPM package for it (as I dont know enough about compiling etc. at present), when I go to the URL: http://atrpms.net/dist/fc5/madwifi/ i am presented with what seems like a never ending list of the same driver (i.e. the RPM description etc are the same for all files), but the files themselves have subtle differences, such as some begin with madwifi-devel some with madwifi-hal and some madwifi-kmdl etc.. I wonder would someone be so kind as you enlighten me as to what I would want to download?

I am (soon to be) running Fedora Core 5, on an x86 32-Bit PC, and would preferably just want to install a precompiled driver?

Thanks so much..

Hmm,, I had no prob with the FC5 DVD iso.

We're you getting Grub Error 17?

IGF

arzer · 10-16-2006, 06:59 AM

No, I got as far as entering the password and confirmation for the root user account, then anaconda stopped and complained the the install tree was knackered and it couldnt continue. I restarted, and performed a media test which also failed.

I may have been the crappy download excelleration software I used, so I am trying an alternative..

arzer · 10-16-2006, 10:08 AM

Hi,

Thanks guys for your responses.. I still cant determine what I should be downloading from the driver database!

There are so many different options. I know the URL looks right for the driver I need ( http://atrpms.net/dist/fc5/madwifi/ ) but the files all seem to be the same, excepting the filenames are subtley different, such as some begin with madwifi-devel some with madwifi-hal and some madwifi-kmdl etc.. Is this the "norm" for linux drivers in a package? I just dont see how you can determine which one to download?! :O

As mentioned previous, I just need a precompiled driver for Fedora Core 5, on an x86 32-Bit PC..

Thanks for any advice!

Thanks so much..

arzer · 10-16-2006, 03:07 PM

In response to some of the discussion going on in my other thread about difficulties with getting to know Linux I have decided to change the direction of this thread to make it more useful to me (if someone out there of course is willing and able to help me):

So - I want to download and install the madwifi driver for my distro - lets call it FC5 since that is what I am planning on installing sometime soon. The hardware is an i386 32-Bit, and the driver in question is for a PCI TP-LINK TL-551G network card.

I have determined from the website mentioned above that the madwifi driver supports my hardware, and that there is an FC5 package available, and I have workout out that I get the relevant files from the URL http://atrpms.net/dist/fc5/madwifi/

At this point I am stuck. Could someone explain what all these files are (obviously I can tell that there are different hardware architectures in there, and I would guess that the kmdl and hal stuff is probably kernel stuff but all the versions seem to be consistent so I dont really know what I should do next.

Thanks very much for you time.
Sorry to be an annoying newbie!

kvedaa · 10-16-2006, 06:59 PM

Howdy,

I would sugguest taking a look at:

http://madwifi.org/

If you follow the download link, it will take you to a more manageable looking page off of SourceForge. The package there will hopefully address the needs that you have for this device.

Happy Hunting!

JaseP · 10-19-2006, 01:00 PM

Better yet,... instead of switching to FC5,... how about switching to Ubuntu or Kubuntu,... they have much better wireless support once you activate the univeral repositories in the install program,... Synaptic is the program's name.

If point and click installation of Linux hardwre is what you want, you are better off with a newer distro, and one that supports apt-get, versus an RPM based Distro like Fedora, as long as you have access to broad band internet.

I use both SuSE (9.1, haven't upgraded it yet) and Kubuntu,... I much prefer Kubuntu in terms of staying with an up-to-date system. You can't beat the power of apt-get and the graphical tools which help make it even easier. RPM based distros are better when you only have access to a CD to install from...

MensaWater · 10-19-2006, 02:23 PM

You're entitled to your opinion. Personally I find rpm and yum much easier to use than apt-get, dpkg etc...

farslayer · 10-19-2006, 02:55 PM

That's funny I find yum to practically be a knock off of apt-get..
and think they are both pretty easy if not almost identical to use..

yum install <package>
apt-get install <package>
yum remove <package>
apt-get remove <package>

sillyness.. what was the discussion here.. I forgot

Oh yeah Mad-wifi.. check out the Distribution specific instructions on the madwif site for whichever distro you have.. Provided that is the correct driver for your card.. /sbin/lspci as mentioned earlier should tell you if the card has an atheros chip or not..

http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/Distro/RedHat - RHEL and Fedora

that should walk you right through the install..