For the past 3 hrs I've been trying to get my broadcom wireless NIC to work. I've run into nothing but walls.

Since I have absolutely no internet connection on my laptop I downloaded and burned ndiswrapper-1.3rc1.tar.gz and the 64-bit_Broadcom_54g_Drivers.zip drivers from my desktop onto a CD and put them in my /home directory on my laptop. Then I ran these commands:




When I use the make command I get the following error:



There's no build folder in the /lib/modules/2.6.8-11-amd64-k8/ called build, only kernel, boot and initrd. PLEASE HELP

You need to get the "kernel-sources" package installed for your kernel. It should be on your install cd or on your distros website.

OK, I FINALLY got everything installed in regards to ndiswrapper. The problem was that I didn't install kernel-headers.

Now, I don't have X installed yet because I want to get my wireless internet running first so I get get apt-get downloading from the debain servers.

Now how do I actually get the wireless card to connect to the net? Please help this newbie.

as i can see, this forum sometimes does not help newbie on difficult problem.
this is why i think using windows is better, easy and effective.

I'm inclined to agree with you. I'm not asking for a free lunch, but just enough to get me going on an issue. It's been 3 weeks and I still haven't fired out how to get my wireless internet to work on Debian. No wonder linux isn't taking off. Apt-get is a step in the right direction, but it still have miles to go if it wants to break the niche market that it has. It can't just be an OS for programmers or those who have massive amounts of time to read every little thing. I haven't given up on it yet, but it's really getting on my damn nerves.

I hate to say this and start a distro war, but why are you using Debian? I don't think it's the most user friendly distro. Definitely Mandriva, SuSE, or Ubuntu/Kubuntu would be a good start since it auto detects a lot of hardware and gets the X server going right away.

Now, in regards to starting up your wireless card, I believe it would involve logging in as root and typing:

ifconfig --help

Probably one of those options would turn on your wireless card or give you more of a direction on what to do next.

Good luck!

Have you done a little searching around here for information on how to get your card up and running? I know I've personally posted exactly how to do this at least half a dozen times, probably more.

So if you want this to work, load the ndiswrapper module with modprobe, configure the card with iwconfig and then request an IP address with dhclient. If you're really stuck, post the outputs of iwconfig and ifconfig along with an explanation of what you've done to try and get the card working.



Futurist, next time post something helpful. Thank you.


Actually linux is doing quite well. You might want to read this for a better perspective.

To add to the above:
The Tutorial section has several ndiswrapper how tos and this comes up a lot - the Search function works well.
Equally, the ndiswrapper site has a very detailed how to.
To quote just about everyone "Google is your friend"
And finally, to bump your post you should post further details on what you have tried. Read this to see what you need to do when you post a question.

It is also helpful to give the Make and Model of your laptop. Maybe someone else here has the same one and has successfully got wireless working.

There is always:Linux On Laptops

Google: Make model of lappy Distro and wireless. "Dell 600m Debian wireless"

Use Search button in this Forum: make model distro problem. "Dell 600m Debian wireless problem"

Check the HCL here to see if the hardware is compatible.

We are here to help.
I am not crazy about ndiswrapper myself. I purchased a 802.11g card that works with Linux.(is in the mail due tomorrow.)

Please feel free to write/call/bitch at Broadcom for not providing us with drivers.
I know I go to great lengths to support those hardware companies that support Linux. Hopefully if enough of us do it they will see the light.

Regards,
Blair

who said it wants to break niche market?

as a poster above has stated, wtf are you starting with a distro like Debian for, didnt you read into what might be the right distro for a newbie??? ffs