Problem detecting Wireless LAN card...
 

I'm running SuSE 9.1 pro in a shuttle SN85G4v2, Athlon64 3400+. I've just set the machine up and installed the OS but am having a problem with my shuttle PN15 wireless LAN module. (plugs in through a USB header.)

It seems to be listed as an unclassified USB device and Im having no luck installing through YaST. It isn't detected automatically and no amount of different manual configs seem to give any joy.

Does anyone have any experience of shuttle wireless LAN under Linux?

Thanks you in anticipation.

Mike

Not likely. Most linux users check the list of compatible hardware and don't pick usbwireless cards or cards that don't have "success" pages written for them. I went out and got a Motorola Wireless G card from walmart because it was on the list for ndiswrapper sucess... and boom, online I go.

its an Intersil!
 

Well according to the retailers the chipset of teh card is an Intersil spanicker(ISL 3880IK), which they tell me is made by Prism. I've been led to believe that prism chipsets are supported under Linux.

I did try looking at the SuSe compatibility lists, but even on the official site these seem to be years out of date.

Assunming I can actuallly find a driver for the Intersil chipset how would I go about actually detecting the Wlan module which Yast lists as an unclassified device?

Hope someone can help?

Or failing that can anyone recommend a PCI Wireless card which wil deffinately work staright from the box and be detected by SuSE 9.1 without any intervaention?

Thanks.

M

Check this list for cards that work with ndiswrapper:
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/List

Thanks for that but I've heard people having endless problems getting ndiswrapper to work and was really looking for a card that would work with kernel support rather than needing any tinkering around.

I'm sure I could get something to work with ndiswrapper but this machine is part of a project to prove to a friend that my Linux machine will do everything that his windows machine can do without having to touch any drivers or command line.

well then you should have never thought to put a wireless card in. heh, unless you tinker windows will remain superior for now in the wireless world...hell you prolly have to edit modprobe just to get the http not running terribly slow.

PS: if you don't need the ndiswrapper route...www.linuxant.com a commercial wrapper...very very easy to use...but well isn't as good and only works for 30 days unless you pay.

So the general consensus is that wireless networking under Linux is still in its experimental phase and not really suitable for us virgin users?

Never mind I'll just have to find myself a 75ft ethernet cable! :rolleyes:

Just as an aside; the challenge between me and my friend is to assemble a linux and windows machine side by side and have it fully installed set-up and configured in a day. It must be able to browse the net, email, usual office applications, reda and write CDs and DVDs as well as access a range of external USB devices. We then plan to run various tests and benchmarks. I think that I have by far rteh trickier job! Hence all my stupid questions and the extensive research I'm doing in advance!

Mike

It' s not that hard. It was the first thing I did in linux. Command line only as well.

LOL then it's of no use ;)

It's not experimental. There's just not much support by the hardware manufacturers. Ndiswrapper and driverloader for example are using the windows drivers cause manufacturers don't support much drivers and don't give info on their code. So you can get it to work as newbie if you have a card that's supported by a project. But even if you're an "expert" you won't get an unsupported card running unless you program the whole thing.

My $ .02:

Linux wireless works fine.
It's never automagic, plug & play or similar euphemisms.
With the right card/kernel combo, it can be nearly painless.
The Shuttle PN-xx wireless have been problematic for Linux users, from what I've seen on the Sudhian XPC forum, assumedly due to the USB header design as much as the chipset.

Try the Prism54 driver page/driver http://prism54.org/ There are a number of links there including dev mailing lists and IRC channels that may provide more info. A quick Google seemed to indicate that there is development work around the chipset you reference in USB devices (although it was called Frisbee). FWIW.

heh plug and play was one of the best computer innovations ever >=)

In linux maybe, not for windows in any case :p I hated that and the way it assigned IRQs

seeing how yer active darkleaf...i'm still cookin to get xsupplicant to auth me on my network on campus...just posted an update as to where i am on this...can you check it out ?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...80#post1241580

I'll check later tonight as I've got to go to training now :) Note to moderators PM function disabled or I got no access to it?

I went out and bought a motorola card at wallmart. Had suse install ndiswrapper off the dvd. Loaded the driver, typed ndiswrapper in as the module in yast2 network config and have been online since.