You will need at least kernel 2.4.23 to be able to compile ndiswrapper, to get your kernel version type in console..
uname -r

If you are new to linux, I'll suggest you to read how to's on installing a new kernel, I will come handy... be very pacient.

As it will always happen to newbies - RTFM - and if you don't understand what you are reading - damn - read it another 3 times :-)



It seems I got it stable running now with ndiswrapper 0.3. It took me a while, but as I usually don't give up so fast ...



After carefully going through the steps from the ndiswrapper installation readme, the module has been created and the loaddriver command could be executed. Then I have created a new configuration in

'/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/' named 'ifcfg-eth1'

so that the adapter fetches the IP address via DHCP from access point automatically - works fine.



But there are some limitations, as e.g. the 'depmod -a' returns following error:

'depmod: *** Unresolved symbols in /lib/modules/2.4.20-28.9/misc/ndiswrapper.o'
This prevents the module to be loaded correctly at boot sequence (I can only assume), so I have to run a small script, every time I want to use the WPC54G NIC, including:
'insmod /lib/modules/2.4.20-28.9/misc/ndiswrapper.o'
'/usr/local/bin/loaddriver 14e4 4320 /lib/windriver/lsbcmnds.inf /lib/windriver/bcmwl5.sys'

Further on I have modified the '/etc/modules.conf' file with 'alias eth1 WPC54G', so that it's shown correctly in the GNOME network configuration window :-) - disable/enable -> perfect!!!

Maybe someone has an idea how to solve the boot issue, so that I get rid of the script :-)

There must be a way to control the boot start-up sequence to:
1. PCMCIA cardmanager
2. ndiswrapper & loaddriver
3. bring the eth1 if up

I am satisfied with this days achievements - and will soon begin to study the new kernel how-to's, I promise ... but now I will enjoy surfing without cable first ;-)

Think I was quite brave today, so maybe a newbie deserves another hint on the start-up problem ... ?!?!?!?!?!?!

hey guys,
I've been reading the thread and im trying to get the linksys wireless g card workign with the
ndiswrapper.
Everything "seems" to work ok but when I try to ping other machines on the network nothing
happens.
I'm probably doign something very stupid here, can anyone spot any misconfigurations in the pasted
info below?
many thanks.

utils/loaddriver 14e4 4320 /root/windriver/*.sys /root/windriver/*.inf
Calling putdriver ioctl
Parsing the inf file.
Driver version: 07/17/2003, 3.30.15.0
Adding setting: RadioState = 0
Adding setting: PowerSaveMode = 0
Adding setting: PLCPHeader = 0
Adding setting: frag = 2346
Adding setting: rts = 2347
Adding setting: PwrOut = 100
Adding setting: FrameBursting = 0
Adding setting: BTCoexist = 1
Adding setting: antdiv = -1
Adding setting: Rate = 0
Adding setting: IBSSGMode = 2
Adding setting: Rate = 0
Adding setting: Channel = 6
Calling startdriver ioctl

iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
ndiswrapper 46780 0
nvidia 1969472 15 (autoclean)
uhci 25948 0 (unused)

ifup eth1

lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
ndiswrapper 46780 1
nvidia 1969472 15 (autoclean)
uhci 25948 0 (unused)

ping 192.168.1.1
system hangs here

dns setting and all that are fine if i bring up the internal network card everything is grand so
their seems to be something im missing for the wireless module.

alright, i'm trying to install ndiswrapper 0.3 (which should work with my 2.4.22-10mdk kernel) in Mandrake 9.2, and it says a prerequisite is having a link to your kernel source in /lib/modules/<VERSION>/build.

Now, my problem is I dont' seem to have the source installed anywhere besides /lib/modules/<VERSION>/. /usr/src/ only has the directory /RPM/ in it (I was under the impression the source should be in /usr/src/ but this could be totally wrong). Any clue as to what I should do, i.e. what I should point the link 'build' to? ask for more info if it's needed. Sorry, I'm new to linux so I might be totally missing something. Thanks in advance.

got mine working last night, seems i just needed to turn on wireless extensions in the kernel and do the iwconfig stuff properly, thanks to everyone who put info on this thread

I've update to kernel 2.6 on my Fresh installed suse 9.0

been trying this ndiswrapper for about 2 days now, can get it to work

Can insmod ndiswrapper, but when i try to load the driver, my stystems hangs

the latest message i get is

Calling putdriver icoctl ????

Wi-Fi card iw Linksys WMP54G

i have now got my WPC54G up and running, but am getting the same depmod error at startup. does anyone have a solution that allows us to ditch the script?

for instance, is there some startup file that I can just put the contents of the script into that gets loaded when I start up the computer, or even startx?

The easiest thing to do is to follow the standards.

Put the script in /etc/init.d/wlan (or whatever you want to call it).

Ensure that the script will happily accept an argument of "start" without complaint on the command line.

Then ensure that the script gets run after all of the other network level scripts are run:

# ln -s /etc/init.d/wlan /etc/rc3.d/S999wlan

Regards,
Mandell Degerness
http://mandell.isa-geek.com

awesome, that worked great. thanks alot!

Glad I checked this thread!
I'm thinking of getting a WMP54G for my Linux box. It mainly comes down to it being kinda far from the cable modem. Anyways, it looks like this is possible w/ the right wrapper, although seems to be a bit of a hassle.

Are there any other cards that are less painless, or should I just step up to the plate and get this one?

Dont think anyone reads this thread anymore but:

If you dont want to bother with all of this buy a Cisco Aironet Card.

340 or 350 series.. Can usually get one for around $50 off ebay

No configuration needed.. just slap it in and go

If you haven't bought the linksys card yet and were just researching like me you will find the link below a good resource for 54g support under linux w/o wrappers!

http://prism54.org/

I just bought the linksys 54g and got it working (without WEP) by installing ndiswrapper 9.0 from sourceforge and installing the improcomm dirver. The old linksys 54g cards had a broadcom chipset but they have switched to an improcom chipset in version 4. So in order to get the hardware to be recognized as present you have to install the wlipnds.inf driver from your installation disk or the web. I could not locate a linux driver and havn't tried the Linksys HOWTO.
ndiswrapper appears to be an ok workaround until a driver is available for linux.

Incase people are still reading this and incase some people have not seen this on the net yet.


ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net
download the ndiswrapper api software

decompress it and the run
make install

after it compiles then download the software for the linksys wpc54g card or other wireless cards ( as far as i know this works for any card)
And yes you are downloading the windows version of the driver

decompress it in to it own directory
then find your way into the direct with the inf file

on the command prompt type ndiswrapper -i The Name if the .INF file

it should load the driver

after this follow these steps

modprobe ndiswraper
dhcpcd wlan0
ifconfig wlan0 up


you should then be able to ifconfig eth0 down and then run a ping like ping ddd.com and it should hopefully go thru


If you have any questions please email me
Please note my email address has change to gopher0749@yahoo.com



The GoPhEr

I purchased a WMP54G for my mythtv box fedoracore1. This was not a Broadcom chipset and ndiswrapper resulted in a kernel oops as soon as I did a modprobe ndiswrapper. But I did find a linux driver on the written by the vendor that made the chipset. The wnp54G I have is VER4 . The only goofy thing is it is device ra0 not wlan0 or eth0 and a ifcfg-ra0 file does not do the trick. So I manuially start it via a scrip run at S11. But it works thats all that matters.

So if your pci 54G WMP54g is a Ver4 and uses the RT2500 chipset go here:

http://www.ralinktech.com/supp-1.htm