I started using Knoppix 2.4 a few days back because my Windows crashed(I don't have my Windows installation CD). Its a live CD. I tried configuring my wireless adapter but Knoppix doesn't detect my wireless card at all. When I type iwconfig it just shows me

lo no wireless extentions

It doesn't recognize my wireless card at all. I have tried copying the .inf and .sys files of my Broadcom driver to /ramdisk/home/knoppix# and running ndiswrapper -i to install the driver, but it shows the driver as an invalid driver when I type ndiswrapper -l.

Is there anyway to make it detect my wireless card?? I'm not able to connect to the Internet at all.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

If you're really using Knoppix 2.4 (though there was no 2.4, just 2.2), you should try a recent version (latest is 6.0). The newer kernel may solve most of your problems.

I am using Knoppix 2.2. Its actually because I have no windows installation with me right now. The kernel file said 2.4, thats the reason I thought the version was 2.4. Thanks for enlightening me on the kernel version. I am a novice when it comes to Linux. I have not used Linux extensively before. Is there any website or ftp from where I can download Knoppix 6.0? Because I tried a download link a few hours back and it didn't work.

Thanks for your help.

I have downloaded the live CD for Knoppix 6.0 and I tried running it. It boots successfully and detects my wireless adapter too. But I am unable to connect to any networks. I tried adding a network but it still doesn't connect. I even tried typing
"ifconfig wlan0 up".
It says
"SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory"

What do I do now?

Help appreciated.

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Wireless_Networking
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Network_FAQ

I'm not too good with wireless since I don't have any linux laptops. But maybe the link will give you some pointers.

This info is out there but sometimes hard to find, and a lot of it out of date. You might start at
http://www.linuxwireless.org
The kernel uses b43 and b44 for broadcom cards and you don't need ndiswrapper at all. It's one (ndiswrapper and it's driver) or the other (b43/44 and the firmware)

lsusb List usb devices)
lspci (list pci devgices)
lspcmcia (List pc cards)

They all take -v(verbose) -vv and perhaps even -vvv which tells you not only all about the chip, but who's going out with who on the production line :-).

If you need instructions for b43, or b44 post back. I don't know about ndiswrapper.

Thanks for those commands, very informative. By the way, when I type "lspci -v" this is what i get for the network controller:

02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company BCM4311 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at d6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [d0] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel <?>
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Kernel modules: ssb

Its a b43... Can you tell me how to proceed now?

Thanks

Actually for the 4311, Broadcom's own driver is a better bet than b43. Just be sure to blacklist b43 and ssb if you use it.

If you go with the b43m use
1. The most recent kernel - 2.6.26.20 or the like.
2. a line like this in /etc/modprobe.d/somefile

install b43 /sbin/modprobe ssb; /sbin/modprobe b43; /sbin/modprobe btusb

modprobe b43 should then load the lot. From your output, the modules are loading. This is my output from iwconfig

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"dlink-dec"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:22:B0:90:0B:4B
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thr=2352 B
Power Managementff
Link Quality=88/100 Signal level:-41 dBm Noise level=-71 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

There is also iwlist. Try iwlist scan to see what's about, iwconfig to set the options. Then use iwconfig wlan0 ap <your access point>. The big thing is the access point. If you're not associating, you have not set up correctly. If you have no wlan0, it's your kernel and the modules. If these are right and things still don;t work, it's probably turned off. There's about 4 ways to do that, but it's difficult to turn on.

I switched to knoppix 6.0 recently. I'm sorry I forgot to mention that when I posted the output of the "lspci -v" command. Will the commands you mentioned above work with knoppix 6 too or do I need to make any changes? I'm not sure what kernel it uses though. I'm a total newbie when it comes to linux.

The commands should work if you installed the right packages.
find out what your kernel is with uname. Man uname

Don't ask about building a kernel. Read.