I'm looking for a good reasonably priced 802.11b/g card. I am running SuSE Linux 9.1 with a 2.6.5 Kernel on a Thinkpad T20. Currently I am using a SMC2635W and NDIS wrapper. I'd like to upgrade to a G card, and the driver for my old card tends to crash a lot. Also, I would like to be able to wardrive effectively if I ever chose to do so. I have looked around but am not sure what the best option would be. Could anyone recommend a particular card? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Wireless Networking and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

My first stop when buying hardware is always the LQ HCL. Not that I don't trust the grand claims and pretty colors on the manufacturer's boxes, mind you. I just trust the users here a little more.

Netgear WG511 works pretty good and there is a driver in the kernel - no setup problems.

After giving up on a D-Link DWL-650 Rev V.P1, I bought a Netgear WG511, since everyone seemed to be saying it was easy to install. I even reinstalled Linux on my system to get a fresh start (Scientific Linux = Red Hat Enterprise = kernel 2.4.21-15 ) I tried building the code from prism54.org and it complains that I do not have kernel module support enabled. How do I enable this?

Alex


[root@localhost prism54-cvs-latest]# make clean modules
make -C ksrc/ clean
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/smith/prism54-cvs-latest/ksrc'
rm -f *.o *.ko *~ core* .dep* .*.d .*.cmd *.mod.c *.a *.s .*.flags
rm -rf .tmp*
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/smith/prism54-cvs-latest/ksrc'
make -C ksrc/ modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/smith/prism54-cvs-latest/ksrc'
make -C /lib/modules/2.4.21-15.0.2.EL/build SUBDIRS=/home/smith/prism54-cvs-latest/ksrc modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21-15.0.2.EL'

The present kernel configuration has modules disabled.
Type 'make config' and enable loadable module support.
Then build a kernel with module support enabled.

There are different ways to install that driver.I just patched the kernel source and then compiled the kernel again.That quick install thing they got on the website went nowhere for me.Easiest way:get a kernel above 2.6.5 and install it.The driver is included in the kernel.

i have suse 9.1 on a thinkpad t20 like the first post, i also have a wg511 card, it is not working for me? i am new to linux so doubt i could do any recompiling of kernels or anything what shall i do? i posted in another part of this site but hers a copy of what i posted.

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just installed suse 9.1 personal in replace of windows xp and its running great only problem is i dont know how i can get my wireless card to work, it is a netgear wg511 (wg511ge is written on the side of the packet), suse has three devices in the networking section of yast under network card which are:

- intel etherexpress pro/100 + minipci (my network card im currently using for internet access)
- netgear d-links DWL-g650 A1
- wireless network card

they all have similar option when i try and edit them but the drivers or whatever linux uses must be wrong because no lights are on on the card, but that might be normal i dont know... please help if anyone knows anything about linux or has set up a wireless card on linux..

FuriousGibbon

Furious G,

I also could not get any lights to light up, even after installing a 2.6 kernel. I ended up installing Fedora Core 2 (FC2) and following this post (below), which may be specific to FC2 and got it to light up and blink like it is trying to connect. I think it is almost there, but the configuration is not quite right for me to connect. I suspect eth1 is not set up right. Curiously eth1 does not show up in the GUI network setup, yet is visible if I do /sbin/ifconfig. I would like to have wireless just use DHCP rather than setting anything by hand. Anyone have any thoughts on this or know how to set it up to use DHCP? What is different than in the instructions below?



Worked really well once I got all of the pieces in place. I had to search for different bits and pieces of this and thought I'd try to help anyone just wanted to get the card working quickly. I hope this helps!


1. Download "http://prism54.org/~mcgrof/firmware/1.0.4.3.arm" and rename 1.0.4.3.arm to isl3890


wget http://prism54.org/~mcgrof/firmware/1.0.4.3.arm
mv 1.0.4.3.arm isl3890


2. Create /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/ directory
su root
[password]
mkdir -p /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/


3. Move isl3890 to the new directory.
mv isl3890 /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/


4. Create file /etc/load_wireless with the following - credit to David Cafaro (http://www.cafaro.net/david/MM20ReviewAndInstall.html)


#!/bin/bash
# Note you may have to change all references to eth1 to eth0 if you do not have another network card already installed
# Dry start to load firmware
echo -n "Bringing up wireless card..."
/sbin/ifconfig eth1 up
# Wait a sec to make sure it's good and loaded
sleep 2
# Now really load it
/sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid [SSID SET IN ROUTER] mode Managed channel 6 key [WEP KEY SET IN ROUTER]
/sbin/ifconfig eth1 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0
/sbin/route add default gw 192.168.0.1
echo "done"


5. Make /etc/load_wireless executable:
chmod u+x /etc/load_wireless


6. Test your script:
/etc/load_wireless


7. Put a call to this script in your rc.local if you want to automatically load the wireless card at boot.

thanks, well does this mean i need to install fedora core 2 instead of suse then? and also i am a complete newbie so what do you mean by put a call to this script? anyway just to confirm do i need to install fedora core? i am really liking suse at the moment??

It should be supported in SUSE also, as long as you have kernel 2.6 or higher I believe. (Should give the kernel version at bootup I believe) If I were you I would use Google and search wg511 and SUSE and try to find someone else's notes who got it working. Good luck.

i see, im restarting now to see what kernel i have then if it is the latest one i might install fedora i can always put suse back on tomorroe if needed

i have managed to get the lights flashing on the card and i cannot visit webpages or use the internet but i can access my routers configuration page from my laptop now, any ideas?

You are further along than me now! When I have time I will look at a how-to on network to see if I have eth1 set up properly. Should use DHCP to get an IP address, etc, for the configuration of my router. Let me know if you have any success.

i am now on fedora core 2, when i get to step 5 of what u have written:

Make /etc/load_wireless executable:
chmod u+x /etc/load_wireless

i get this come up....

chmod: cannot access `/etc/load_wireless': No such file or directory

.....the lights are flashing now so i can probably access the router although i havent tried because currently my network cabke is pluged in ill restart and try again

bump