installing ko files v ndiswrapper
 

Advice / suggestions phase please.

I have a small old hd (4110Mb) that I've installed FC4 and later FC5 on. In both cases, I'm trying to get linksys wireless (I've tried both WUSB11 and WMB11) cards detected. I don't care which version or which card...I just want to get online with this hd/box.

Question 1:
In FC-4 there are several .ko files in /lib/modules/<kernel,FCnumber>/kernel/drivers/net/wireless that I would like to 'install'. I don't know how (ie, where/if to move the file to be detected (I'm not good with links) and, if it needs compiled & or linked into the kernel (presuming an object file needs linking, not compiling). Finally, because of the small hd size, I've hesitant to add a huge 'development' installation, just for one driver. So, do I need an 'environment' to compile/link? If so, where might I find the 'bones' mimimum?

Question 2:
RPM's. Totally lost where to find what I need to use this option...

Question 3:
I'm reading alot about ndiswrappers (windows devise drivers right..?). Well, another option, but still appears that I have to compile/link...so, which one is better for the linux / c novice?

Thanks in advance.

The wiki on this site has instructions on installing a wireless device with ndiswrapper. I wrote a small section on how to use "rpmbuild" to install it from source. The advantage for me is later after a kernel security update. I can rebuild the RPMs and install the new ndiswrapper-kernel RPM package. Then I'm back in business. I'll do it before rebooting to the new kernel.

Before you do that you will want to run "lspci -v" to obtain information on what controller chip your card uses. Sometimes there may be different controller chips used on identical models. "lspci -n" will list the manufacturer/model code number for the device. With this information you can check the HCL on this site or search in google. If it uses a broadcom chip, you will need to use ndiswrapper.

You will also need to install the wireless-tools and wpa_supplicant packages.
The wiki will guide you in wrapping the windows driver. The programs mentioned later such as "iwlist" and "iwconfig" come from the wireless tools package. The program from the "wpa_supplicant" package will be needed for authentication.

After you get ndiswrapper installed, if the command "/usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan" shows you information about access points that were detected, that means that ndiswrapper and the device are working. Your regular network configuration program may allow you configure the rest, such as if you want to use DHCP to obtain an ip address. There should be a section where you can set wpa-psk, and enter the key that matches what the router wants.

I'll try to answer your questions in order:
1) There may be an ndiswrapper RPM package that you can install using your software installation program. It may do the job without the need to download the ndiswrapper source.
2) Since Fedora Core uses RPM packages, you need to read your fine manual. This is the most common method of installing software on Red Hat, Fedora Core, Mandriva, SuSE and others.
3) There may be an ndiswrapper RPM as I already mentioned. Also look for a ndiswrapper-kernel package. This contains the ndiswrapper.ko kernel module that you need. ( I'm basing this on SuSE, and assuming that they are two separate packages in Fedora Core ) Installing this way, you don't need to compile or link. You will need to use some root programs that should be on your system already, such as "modprobe" and "lsmod". The Wiki should guide you through it.