Hangdog42

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That's weird. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but personally, I avoid ndiswrapper rc versions like the plague. My experience with them has not been good, so try dropping back to the latest stable version and see if that helps. Other than that, try checking your logs for ndiswrapper oddities and maybe try running top in a separate console and see if anything in particular is consuming system resources.

pappy_mcfae

I agree. There is something really cool about learning and helping others at the same time. While I played with Linux in 1994 after it first came out, it was nothing like the Linux of today. I think this is a great testament to the ideal behind GNU and completely free software. I am glad that I have my own small part to play in making it a better system.

Blessed be!
Pappy

srupesh

hi friends
thanks a lot for ur guidance

i just followed step by step procedure in the following article

and got it done.

http://www.learnaboutlinux.net/wirel...90.htm#bcm43xx

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...714/page2.html

but only thing is that i am not able to configure it using the network
manager to bring wlan0 interface just like etho..

can anyone tell me how to start ndiswrapper during boot up
and bring wlan0 in network manager and assign it dhcp??


thanks
Rupesh

Hangdog42

You need to tell us what distro you're using since how to get things to load on boot can vary between distros. However, one of the more common ways is to add a file to your /etc/modprobe.d directory.

srupesh

my distro
fedora core 6
[root@localhost ~]# uname -ar
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 #1 SMP Mon Oct 16 14:37:32 EDT 2006 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux
[root@localhost ~]#



hi friends,
thank u for all ur help

to start at boot up:

In the /etc/modprobe.conf file, add:
*
alias wlan0 ndiswrapper
options ndiswrapper if_name=wlan0

*Alternatively, you can just perform *sudo ndiswrapper -m* (which
will add that "alias" directive to /etc/modprobe.conf for you), and just
add the last "options" line to /etc/modprobe.conf.

Also, create a file called
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0, and place this in it:

*IPV6INIT=no
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=yes
PEERDNS=yes
GATEWAY=
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=wlan0
HWADDR=
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NETMASK=
DHCP_HOSTNAME=<whatever your hostname is>
IPADDR=
DOMAIN=
ESSID=<whatever essid you want to connect to when you log in>
CHANNEL=11
MODE=Managed
NETWORK_TYPE=g #of course, only if your network supports 802.11g
RATE=Auto

*If you have WEP in your desired network, create
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/keys-wlan0 and place this in it:

*KEY=<whatever your key is>* #but this file keys-wlan0 did not work for me i used wifi radar which u can add from gui package manager by search

That should be all you have to do.


thank u once again
Rupesh

Hangdog42

I need to tell you I'm not a Fedora user, so I may not know all the details about it, but what you have looks about right. When you boot, does ndiswrapper get loaded automatically or do you have to load it manually? Check the output of lsmod after booting and see if it is there.

If it is loaded automatically, you might check your system logs and see if dhcp is leaving clues about failing. Also check the iwconfig output and see if it is actually being configured.

srupesh

hi friend,

ndiswrapper got loaded automatically.... during bootup
i checked iwconfig..its fine.. and also ifconfig....

i also checked lsmod
ndiswrapper is right in there

thank u
Rupesh

root@localhost ~]# uname -ar
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 #1 SMP Mon Oct 16 14:37:32 EDT 2006 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux
[root@localhost ~]#

Hangdog42

Um, so if everything is fine, is there still a problem?

FreshHorses

I'm really getting frustrated with this! I've tried some of the suggestions that people have posted in this thread and it either doesn't work or doesn't make sense. I can't get ndiswrapper to compile because the terminal won't recognize the directory. I'm really new to fedora and if I can't get this wireless network working, I have the right mind to return to windows and forget all about this OS! I don't want to but fixing problems in here seems far more difficult than fixing problems in windows (never thought I'd hear myself say that!) So I really need some help and some clarity here.

FH.

Hangdog42

Welcome to LQ!

One thing right off the bat is that you shouldn't equate FC as equivalent to all Linux distros, particularly FC7. There are significant differences between distros, and to be honest, FC has generally been the most difficult for wireless users because of the way they make life difficult for ndiswrapper. Fixing problems in Linux really isn't any more difficult than fixing problems in Windows, but you usually have to take a rather different approach than you would in Windows. They are two fundamentally different OSes, and if you aren't willing to take the time to learn how to use Linux, then you really should stick to Windows.

So if you want to learn Linux, there are a couple of things to think about. If wireless is an important function for you, then FC is probably not a good distro choice. One of the *buntus would be better. If you need to stick with FC, then if you post your wireless card/chipset, maybe we can help you avoid ndiswrapper. If it winds up that you do need to install ndiswrapper, posting the errors your seeing in the terminal will certainly help us give decent advice.

FreshHorses

Ok, It's Broadcom BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g. It's in an HP DV5020ca laptop. I do want to learn how to use this but after spending the majority of this morning and last night working on one problem, it got a little discouraging. If I need to go to these other distributions, do they have a graphical interface and can I get the same applications for them? (apps like a word processor, PCB layout, electronic schematics software, etc.) And can I get them to work with my printers (another problem I'm having)? Please let me know.

FH.

Hangdog42

That chipset doesn't work very well with the native Linux drivers, so ndiswrapper is your best bet here.

I can understand that. I don't know if it helps or not, but wireless, particularly with Broadcom chipsets, is one of the tougher nuts to crack.
Yeah they do. The *buntus are really aimed at new Linux users so pretty much everything is GUI driven.
Any Linux application should run on any Linux distro. Here is where the *buntus also have nice features. They use a program called Synaptic that can install software from repositories on the Internet at the click of a button. It is based on Debian's apt-get system which is one of the easiest ways to install software in Linux. There are bunches of word processors, but I'm not sure about PCB layout or electronics schematics programs. There is likely something you can use, but it might take a little digging to find them.

Some printers (like some wireless cards) simply don't work under Linux, but those that do work will likely work on any distro. Printer support doesn't vary much (if any) between distros.

One thing to consider is that the *buntus install off of a live CD, so you can just run it from the CD without installing to see if you like it.

pappy_mcfae

I agree wholeheartedly with Hangdog42 on this issue. I set up numerous different distros when I first decided to dip my feet back into the Linux pool. I tried about twenty different distros and I can say with absolute surety that Fedora is not for the faint of heart, or the newbie that doesn't have a well founded background in computers...and by that I mean someone who has had the cover off their box, or put it together. Even for people who have this level of computer knowledge, or better, Fedora can be a real pain in the tush. My own personal experience with it left a bit to be desired. I couldn't wait to get it off my hard drive, and move on to the next distro.

As far as the Ubuntu family, they are all great choices. I have installed Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and standard Ubuntu, and all three set up well, and ran at least as well as anything that came from Redmond. While I don't like the fact Ubuntu doesn't allow for a root account, the Synaptics package manager means you can use any software that will run on Debian (the root of the Ubuntu family). This gives incredible versatility without having to install Debian...something that can also be a trial sometimes.

I personally use Slackware-12 on three machines, and Debian Etch 4.01 on my print server. While the Debian machine doesn't have wireless networking, two of the three Slack machines do. The setup for those two machines was very straight-forward. Considering that one has to update ndiswrapper when one updates their kernel, you could say I have compiled and installed ndiswrapper a few times.

One caveat with ndiswrapper is you must have the kernel header files installed. If you installed your distro, and haven't done any kernel compilation, then your headers should be installed by default. If not, be sure to install the kernel header files once you have compiled and installed your new custom kernel.

Once you get wireless networking to operate properly under Linux, you will be amazed at how well it works...at least I was. Since both of my wireless machines are also dual boot, I can say that once you get Linux wireless set up properly, it is just as usable and stable as Windows. With a little tweaking, and the inclusion of a few scripts I have written, my Linux wireless networking is more reliable and less prone to problems than the Windoze side of things.

Seriously, when my Windoze wireless network was set up using DHCP, it took forever for the adapter to negotiate with the wireless router. Sometimes, I couldn't connect to the network without pressing the "repair" button...sometimes numerous pressings were required before the adapter would connect. In order to get stability under Windoze, I had to set up static IP addresses and DNS servers, too.

Not so with Linux. Once I got wpa_supplicant to straighten up and fly right, I had no problems connecting. While I did have a problem with the adapters going comatose, a little script writing and tweaking the ndiswrapper configuration fixed that problem. Obviously it did. I am writing this message on one of my two laptops using wireless networking and Linux.

So, don't give up just because you had bad luck with Fedora. Considering the cost of most Linux distros (free), it's worth the time and effort to set one up, especially if you want to get away from the Redmond Software Junta. As soon as I find a really workable audio editing and mixing program, I am going to leave Windoze in the dust myself.

Blessed be!
Pappy

FreshHorses

I have a lot of experience with computers. I've built countless machines, installed networks, I've done programming, I've done phone support for computers, etc. I built the desktop computer I use as well. The lack of experience doesn't lie with computers themselves, it lies with Linux. All the work I've done on computers in the past has been with DOS or Windows, never with linux.

FH.

Lantzvillian

Hey everyone, I had a Fedora 7 distro and had wireless working via ndiswrapper. It was the broadcom 4328. Worked like a charm and i wollowed some livna yum installation guide. Now I have backtrack botting off my hard drive and it will now work with ndis.. Same windows drivers as well. I blacklisted the bcm43xx driver and unloaded it. Iwconfig sees it as well as in the booting sequence.

What I don't like is what iwconfig sees.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11a ESIDff/any

theres alot more, but that will do for now.