Linux Newbie, Wifi Issues
 

Hi all,

first let me preface this: I know there are many threads out there for something similar, and I've spent the last 3 days scouring them before I posted my own thread. I appreciate any help that can be given, I just installed Linux 3 days ago! Needless to say, I've got a lot of learning to do.

All is going well with my install of Mandrake 10.1, but they don't suppost my wireless card (Linksys WMP54G v2) and I have been trying to use ndiswrapper.

What I don't get is on the ndiswrapper installation wiki, it says to run the command "make" as root. How do I run a command as root?

Sorry for how silly this might seem to you all... Thank you for your time!

*deep breathe*
well, to sum it up. 'root' is a user on every *nix computer. it is like the administrator.
'root' knows (can see/read) anything, and can do anything to any user, file or directory.

look on google.com/linux about root.. also check here for the (brief :()explanation of 'root' from the Slackbook (or even read all of it! very informative)
what they are saying is that you have to be an administrator (root) in order to run that command, for security reasons. so you have to login as the root user then you will be allowed to do anything, and can do the command you are asking about. open a terminal and type su or sudo:
check the man page for su or sudo to learn about it. in each case, after you type 'su' or 'sudo' you will be prompted to enter the root users password for verification. you can then execute the command 'as root [user]'.

notice in my code sample above the last character in the prompt (the '$'). the ampersand lets you know that your just a normal user (or any user but root). when i entered the su command and entered root's password the prompt switched to a pound sign/'#'. it does this so you notice that your currently 'root' when your typing commands in. be VERY careful when you are root.. anything and everything you do CAN happen, WILL happen, and CANT be undone (well,.. ya.. lets leave it at that :).

when your done entering your commands, type 'exit' (or 'logout') at the terminal to stop being root, and come back to your sense as yourself and the normal user you are.. youll notice the prompt will switch back to the '$'. also.. as it mentions in the slackbook link i posted.. only become root when necessary, and never log in as root into your gui.

but search google.com/linux or somewhere about root, su, and sudo first. but thats a _very_ brief overview.

REMEMBER:: i havent really emphasized how powerful root is here.. but as i said, root can do anything. please read up about it to realize this, or learn the hard way!

Nadroj:
Thanks for the brief overview, I do understand the concept of root in a sense of administrator, I was lost on how to invoke commands AS root in a console interface... I'll give this a shot, again, thanks for the help with the sudo command and the quick reply. I'll update with any changes.

you can either briefly log in as root and enter the command, or you can do something like (as yourself/normal non-root user):
if you supply the -c option it will let you run just a single command as root without having to log in and logout as root. it will still prompt you for the root password, but will just execute the one command specified.
i always use double quotes with this one ("), in this case it might not be necessary.. only in cases where you have spaces.

hmm... ran into a new issue...

i'm not sure how savvy you are when it comes to Mandrake, but while installing ndiswrapper, it can't find my kernel. it should be in lib>modules>VERSION>build, but I dont have a "build" folder.
it is asking for the path to kernel in KSRC=<path>

thanks for all your help thus far.

first, check this out. mandrake is based on rpm packages, i believe.
scroll down to the 'How to make an RPM' section. follow that brief walkthrough on how to convert your source (.tar.gz) archive you downloaded into an RPM, along with the instructions (which is linked to in that section and also probably came with the download).
then, as it says, try installing the rpm file. if the rpm command they say to use doesnt work try 'urpmi <filename>'.
if this doesnt work, let us know.

I think you need to install the kernel sources. It is probably on the cd or you can download it (make sure you get the right one or it won't work).

I've had to use ndiswrapper on three computers to get my wireless working.
I'm getting pretty good at it now and I might be able to help you get yours going.
I can give you a general idea of what you need to do...

1 Get the windows drivers you will need for your wireless card. Put them where you will be able to access those drivers when you install ndiswrapper.

2) I use the ndiswrapper that comes with Mandrake. I have had a lot of trouble using the downloaded version.

3) Uninstall ndiswrapper if you have already got it installed. Got to the Mandrake Control Center install software section. Look for ndiswrapper. Install it. It will ask for an install disk.

4) After it is installed check it out. I got to terminal and sign on as su. I type ndiswrapper and see if it comes back with the options.

5) I have not had to install the kernel source when using the ndiswrapper that came with mandrake.
In terminal as su. I go to the directory that has the windows drivers you will need.
I type in ndiswrapper -i xxxxxxxxx.inf xxxxxx.inf=the window driver you have.

Then I type in ndiswrapper -l to list the drivers.. you should get a message drivers and hardware present.

Then type in ndiswrapper -m writes the configuration to a file (an alias).

THen I type in modprobe ndiswrapper to load ndiswrapper module.

Then i got to Mandrake control center and add a new wireless connection.
You should have a connection wlan0 or something similiar.

Just go and set that up and it should work.

If you want this to work everytime you boot up. Just add this line in the file /etc/modprobe.preload
That is the easiest way for me to set it up. Using the mandrake control center you don't need to use the iwconfig of ifconfig options. You can set it up to start when you boot up and set up encryption.... That has worked for me.

I thank everyone for the feedback, but i got a snag while trying what charlespc suggested. It was running all to smoothly it seems. When I used the command "ndiswrapper -l" i get back a message reading that the .inf file I installed is there, but no hardware is present! I will persist with ndiswrapper until I get this working! Any ideas, guys?

Thanks again.

hmmmmm,
If the wireless card is usb or cardbus you might try remove them and then reinserting them to see if the hardware get detected.

You might go to this web site and make sure ndiswrapper works with your card.
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/p...index.php/List
It lists the cards it is know to work with and also what they had to do to get it working.
Sometimes they had to download and get the drivers for other sources.

You can try the ndiswrapper -e and that i think removes the drivers and you can try it again.

I have four different network cards and they all by chance have worked without doing anything special. But you might check and see if you can find what other people have been doing to get your card to work.

Also, I have seen from another person installing the card. Make sure the *.sys file is in the same folder you are installing the *.inf file from. I think it will need both files.Just to be on the safe side i would put all the files that come with the driver in a folder then point ndiswrapper to the drivers

The wmp54g v2 should work. It uses the broadcom chipset. BCM4306 is what is listed.
Here is someone else trying it http://www.mepis.org/node/5937 They had problem with encryption so they are leaving it off till they get the card going.

Hope something here can help you. Linux and wireless are a real pain...

man, this just keeps the challenge going... everything now worked as it was supposed to, but no wlan0 or even something similar in the control center! maybe ill uninstall and try again... but at least i got it to work once!

i've uninstalled ndiswrapper and tried again, but still nothing... i am thinking that when I ran the program last time, the alias created with t he "ndiswrapper -m" command is still there and needs to be deleted so i can start fresh.
maybe its aliasing to a wrong location?
but i dont know where to find this alias.

any insight?

thanks again, guys.
i'm learning alot these past 2 days.