I am looking for a good description of how to install a hardware device driver. Specifically, I need to install a device driver for a CNET CNWL-311 wireless PCI network card. My research indicates that this is a piece of hardware that has been successfully run in Linux machines. I am running SUSE 9.0. It detects the card, and even configures it in YaST, but it isn't working. Plus, the driver it says it is running is a 3Com network card driver. I have downloaded the Linux driver for this card, but have no idea what to do now. I am new to Linux, but willing to read and learn. Thanks for your comments and help.

Check to see if there was a README or an INSTALL file that came in the driver package. Normally those are the best places to look when installing something. If there aren't either of those, try the site you downloaded it from. If you just need help loading the driver try using "modprobe" or "insmod". There's always google as well - i guarantee someone has loaded it before. =)

Thanks. The driver comes as a .exe file. Couldn't open it in Linux, so took it and opened it up in Windows, extracted it. It has a readme file but lists compatibility with RedHat 7.1-9.0. Does that mean it won't work with Suse 9.0?
It gives installation procedure but I can't make any sense out of it.

It says "run 'make config' to set up module install directory" but where/how do I do that?

Then it says "run 'make install' " and then says that this will do everything (install the driver and the necessary files.

Then it says "run '/sbin.....

And so on. Jeez, is there no place for hand holding in this operating system? Just to get a freaking driver installed is unbelievably hard.

Thanks for anyone's help.

Here is the readme file that came with this driver:

Description:

This is a linux device driver and utility for Ralink RT2400.

=======================================================================

1) Compatibility.

RedHat 7.1
RedHat 7.2
RedHat 7.3
RedHat 8.0
RedHat 9.0

2) Installation Procedure

- run 'make config' to set up module install directory.
(If the new kernel has a different version string, you need to
change the directory. The default answer is correct for most users.)

- run 'make install'
(This will do everything (install the driver and the necessary files ).
(make sure that you logged on as root).

- run '/sbin/insmod rt2400.o' (as root)
run '/sbin/ifconfig ra0 inet YOUR_IP up'
run '/sbin/route add default gw YOUR_DEFAULT_GW dev ra0'
(where [YOUR_IP] like [192.168.1.1], [YOUR_DEFAULT_GW] like [192.168.1.254])

- run '/usr/local/bin/RaConfig' to start the Configuring Utility.

3) Uninstall Procedure

- run "make uninstall"
============================

Now what do I do with this information? Besides, this says its for RedHat. Will this not work on my SUSE machine? To where do I install the driver? It shouldnt be nearly this HARD. And everyone says to compile a kernel is great. Jeez, I can't even install a driver.

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!

RaLink has since open sourced the entire driver, it used to come with a half binary part-precompiled driver, but the've since just opened the whole thing.

Look at the bottom link of this page:

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_...s.802.11b.html

And download that file from minitaur, then unpack it with:

tar xvzf minitar-thingy.tar.gz
cd minitaur-directory-name

And read that README as they've even made a GUI tool for configuring that card.

Post back if you get stuck.

Cheers,

Finegan

Many thanks for your reply. I downloaded the file onto a floppy and when I clicked on the tarred file it automatically unpacked it into module and utility folders. I don't see a Readme file but a few other .txt files...read them but still all pretty cryptic. But saw nothing regarding a GUI tool....any more hints up your sleeve? There are various config.mk, Configure, load, makefile files that look like they include some instructions but are still pretty incomprehensible to me.

Your help is much appreciated. Thanks!!

After unpacking the tarred file, I typed "./Configure" and it goes into the "Ralink RT2400 Configuration". It then asks for the Linux kernel source directory, and suggests /usr/src/linux-2.4.21-99-default. I just pressed Enter and it says "linux source tree 'default' is incomplete or missing. I've been looking around to find where SuSE puts it...to no avail. Pressing on...

check /usr/src directory for the kernel tree if you installed kerlnel source it should be something like
/usr/src/linux-xx.xx

The linux kernel is not in /usr/src.

Saw somewhere else that sometimes kernel is not is not installed sometimes. How can that be?

Here's the post I saw somewhere else:

However, you may not have
installed the kernel
source code when you installed Mandrake. You can
run `rpm -q -a | grep
kernel-source` to see if it's there. If it returns
something like
"kernel-source-2.4.19-16mdk" then it is installed.
If not, you'll want
to grab your Mandrake 9 CD and install the rpm file.
It will be in the
Mandrake/RPMS directory on the CD, and just run `rpm
-i
kernel-source-2.4.19-16mdk.i586.rpm`. Then retry
compiling your driver.

How can linux even run without the kernel source code installed? This os just keeps getting better and better.

So I would like to have some particular directions on how to get my SuSE 9.0 kernel source code installed so I can get this driver installed.

Un-freaking-believable!

Thanks.

the function of the source code is completely different fromt he function of the actual kernel. One does not always install the source code because it takes up a lot of space and its pretty much usless until that moment comes up when your tweaking the os and all of a sudden you need the source. the kernel is compiled and stored int he /boot directory. this is the actual kernel that runs your machine. the source code is just the human readable precurser that the kernel is built from.

I, too, have a cnwl-311, but I am running RedHat linux and I am trying to figure out to install the card. Somebody please help me. I'm a total newbie, I just installed RH 9.0 today.

Huh, what kind of chipset is it?

Also, man, when starting out like this, feel free to start a new thread, no need to tag onto a 3 month old one, but while we're here, let's go from here. I'm not familiar with that model number, so these commands will help us figure out what's under the hood:

/sbin/cardctl ident

and

/sbin/lspci

Just open a Konsole, Xterm, whatever gives you a command line, and type those in... this card may not appear under lspci if its not a cardbus pcmcia card, so if there's no ethernet device listed, don't worry about posting back with that info, cardctl will tell us what we need to know.

Also, RH9 isn't all that hot, since RedHat stopped the end user desktop distro and spun it off into Fedora, RH9 is very very old now, about a year and a half. Things move fast in Open Source, and there's some things missing from RH9 that are fun to have around. Fedora Core 1 may be a better bet, it depends on a lot...

Cheers,

Finegan

I have similar problem as above

OS Slackware 9.1 installing rt2400

I got the configuration file config.mk working fine by editing and putting in the correct path.

but the install is failing in the make file

on this line it's failing
cp ifcfg-ra0 /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ ;
looks like it was made for RH||fedora

what I would like to know is what is a equivalent DIR in Slackware

it would be that place "ifcfg-ra0" would go to

There really isn't one, what a naughty install script...

Its assuming the Redhat-esque sysV init structure whereas Slackware has a BSD-ish init. Its best to take the contents from the file and just recreate the calls and stick them in /etc/rc.d/rc.local or quite possible hack them into /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1. What's the ifcfg- file look like? I could probably sort out what to stuff in rc.local

Cheers,

Finegan

In case it helps:

Finding information in the minitar forums is tricky, but it can be done.

Here's my installation procedure for Gentoo, that i wrote for myself so as not to forget what i worked out:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Installing rt2400 without X
kernel 2.4.20-gentoo-r6 GRP install

emerge wireless-tools

Download
From http://www.minitar.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=355
rt2400_linux-1.1.0-kmalloc.patch
rt2400_linux-1.1.0-setssid.patch
From http://www.minitar.com/index.php?maincat=download
rt2400_linux-1.1.0.tgz.gz


unpack source rt2400_linux-1.1.0.tgz.gz
patch the source with something like "patch -p0 < ./rt2400...............patch"
kmalloc
setessid
build module source in the Module directory
./Configure
make
make install
Adjust modules.conf
add "alias ra0 rt2400" to a file in /etc/modules.d/
run modules-update

Add this to /etc/conf.d/local.start:
Notes:
Ignore such things as /etc/conf.d/net and rc-update add net.ra0
setting the AP gives the same error setting the ESSID was prone to, so it's commented out.
The utility may be useful to set the card, then run iwconfig, to see what settings to put into the above iwconfig calls at startup. I knew the settings from a previous redhat install.
There may of course be an easier way to do this, or a way that fits better with gentoo's conf.d/net. It's nice to know it's possible however.
All the above files fit easily on a floppy.
Many pings died to bring you this information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was for gentoo. I still have no idea about 2.6 kernels.

For Redhat:

I have installed and had the card working happily, after patching, in Redhat, prior to moving to Gentoo. I had much troubles before patching. The redhat instructions work, though the Utility thing is very annoying and can be (sort of) ignored as above.

To use a variant of my above in Redhat is even easier:
rpm -ivh (whatever rpm package has wireless tools)
The modules should be set up automatically by the "make install"
The script to edit is (from memory) /etc/init.d/rc.local instead of /etc/conf.d/local.start
There may be redundancy between ifcfg-ra0 and rc.local with that script.

It's all excessively complicated. I learned a lot about linux trying to get these rather dodgy drivers working.