Linux Gurus Read Me!
 

Hi guys noob here!:D

This is my first time to install Linux and I chose Fedora 11 so far it has been hard.
Im trying to revive an old laptop and it does not have a built in Ethernet port, all I have is a wireless PCMCIA adapter WPC54G ver 3(does not work out of the box).

I am trying to get the wireless to work because it is the only way I could get an internet connection to get all the repositories.I downloaded ndiswrapper from rpmfusion manually from another comp and transferred the file via USB stick. As it turns out I needed to update F11 (which needs internet connection!) because ndiswrapper gives me dependency errors. Now I was thinking if it did not work cuz I only have the installed live cd and the repository which ndiswrapper needs would be in the full install DVD/CD. So I tried to install F11 using the set and ends up needing an internet connection to look for packages on the 1st CD while partitioning the hard drive. They say that its a bug and a solution to this is to try to install into a different cd/dvd rom. Now im stuck with an installed version of the live cd and no internet connection at all.

I really dont know what to do from this point but buying another PCMCIA or USB ethernet adapter would be my last option.

any suggestions will be greatly appreciated :):)

Hmm yes I think the only way out is to buy some piece of hardware that will enable such an old system to connect and get the needed updates. If you -must- have auto updates...

However, I'm running my FC11 system "updateless" - I've never allowed it to connect to do auto-updates. IMO auto-updates cause much more problems than they ever purport to solve.

I once did almost exactly what you've done (or are trying to do) - revive an old system with backward hardware. My method took a while - basically I set up FC3 on the system, and then manually searched for and download all the packages I needed on a remote system that was much more modern and was connected to the internet. I then transferred them over by repeatedly writing CD-RWs and WALKING around with them to the target system!

Took a while but this eventually got the old system running and it was 100% workable afterward...

My first suggestion would be to use a title that has some relevance to the content of the post. In general, the most knowledgeable people are also the busiest, and they don't have time to click through to topics they've no idea if they can help with.
You can infer what you wish from the fact I had time to reply ;)


IIRC, the WP54G is a Linksys card? If so, they've a nasty habit of changing the chipset quite substantially between (and even during) minor revisions. Check which revision you have, at least one has a Linux driver.

Have you tried manually downloading and installing the dependencies? I'd imagine Yum has a feature to simplify this.

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

You say 'old laptop'. Post some hardware specifications. I suggest that you try a LiveCD from 'The LiveCD List' to see what actually is recognized. From that list try 'KNOPPIX' first to see if the hardware is indeed recognized (good test). Depending on the age of the 'old laptop' you may need to roll back to earlier versions of a distribution because of the legacy hardware.

Just a few links to aid you;

Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

:hattip:

BTW, I suggest that you look at the next two links;

can you post the output of
lspci
ifconfig
ifconfig -a
iwconfig

Not quite...

That title is not one that will attract many a reply; you can edit it to something more descriptive.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...Ask_a_Question

Thanks for your suggestions guys!
I do apologize for the thread title I was getting kinda desperate.
I have solved all my problems..although my method was not easy..I just bought a usb ethernet adapter that works right out the box (linksys usb300m):P. Seems like this is the best solution for my problem even if i had to spend like 20+ bucks. Installation with the CD set again tried to connect me to the internet right after the HDD partition part. After that all it did was download all the software/updates from the net without using the other 5 CD's!!? Fed team should fix that bug. Then I got ndiswrapper to work with my PCMCIA wireless card. Anyway glad to have installed F11 and getting a wifi connection from an old laptop that previously ran windows 98, Pentium 3 with 64mb ram and no ethernet port thought it was never possible.. but it was not that easy since i have 0 knowledge of Linux. Did not know that installing Linux would be soo epic I had to swim an ocean of threads..and to think I thought of myself as an advance computer user. Now its time for me to tinker with linux..:D

Hi,

Since you state the problem is solved then please select from the 'Thread Tools' the option 'Solved'.