LinuxQuestions.org - Setting up a USB 802.11g networking dongle

Hello All,

I am quite a linux newbie!... With the help of a friend I have just installed Fedora Core 1 on a stand alone machine. I've upgraded the kernel to 2.6.7 (the latest) and I deliberately included all the support for USB, hotplugging, networking (incl. wireless) that I thought could be useful as part of the kernel (that is, not as modules). This kernel is working fine...

My problem is I have a 3Com USB wireless 802.11G dongle (3Com part # 3CRWE254G72) which I want to use to connect this machine to then rest of my LAN (a hybrid LAN/WLAN mainly running under Windows XP). 3Com provides drivers for Windows, but not for Linux.

From checking over the internet I know the dongle uses one of the 802.11g Prism GT / Prism Duette / Prism Indigo Chipsets, which are supported by Linux Kernel 2.6.x (the main reason why I upgraded to this version so quickly). If I use "lsusb" in a terminal the output shows that Linux knows the device is there (I have checked, and the hot plug feature seems to be working - if I remove it it's not there, and if I plug it back in it's there again). It is a 3Com device with ID#506. I just am not sure what to do now to start the thing working.

There is no entry for this particular 3Com device using the Gnome GUI networking setup, kudzu does not seem to detect it. I have been reading HOWTOs and FAQs until my eyes and brain are very sore, but I cannot see what to do. Can someone please show me (e.g.- with a terminal listing or somesuch) what to do? Or point me in the direction of a FAQ outilining the process. Hopefully I've provided enough information for this...

Thanks in advance,

Kerouac