EDIT: SEE THE NEXT POST

Woops. Disregard all that

Apparently I wasn't paying attention. I feel rather silly.

I just went back and looked at the output you posted. It is working fine. Disregard the errors.

Next steps...
1) Don't use dhcpd. In its place type the following:
2) Configure the wireless settings using iwconfig (or the Mepis OS Center)

3) Bring up the wireless interface using either the Mepis OS Center or the following command:
If you don't like the command line, the Mepis OS Center makes things much easier.

ok. im still a noob on this subject. let me get this straight.
input: modprobe ndiswrapper
then
input: ifup wlan0

i'm a bit lost after that. what would the procedure be from there on? sorry, i am still trying to get a handle on this. thanx again for the patience.

Correct.

If you like the command line, then you would use the command iwconfig to configure the wireless settings. I could walk you through it, but it would be better if you learned how to learn for yourself (if you like the command line that is). To learn about the iwconfig command type the following:
Use the arrow keys to move up and down, and type q to exit.

After iwconfig is actually when you would probably want to type the ifup wlan0 command.


Or, if you don't like or want to learn the command line, then you can use the "Mepis OS Center." To use it, after typing modprobe ndiswrapper at the command line you are good to go and can leave the command line (yes, forget about iwconfig, ifup, and ifconfig).

In the Kmenu you will find the Mepis OS Center. Start it. Once it is running you will find everything you need in the "Network Interfaces" section.

EDIT: let me know if you have questions

sorry. still no go. here are the results:



root@1[Drivers]# ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf
Installing net5211
cp: writing `/etc/ndiswrapper/net5211/ar5211.sys': No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
uniq: write error: No space left on device
cp: writing `/etc/ndiswrapper/net5211/net5211.inf': No space left on device
root@1[Drivers]# modprobe ndiswrapper
root@1[Drivers]# ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
airplus driver present
bcmwl5 driver present
lsbcmnds driver present
lstinds driver present
mrv8k51 driver present
net5211 driver present, hardware present
netr33x driver present
prismnic driver present
wlanuig driver present
wlipnds driver present
root@1[Drivers]# ndiswrapper -m
Adding "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" to /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
cp: writing `/etc/modules.conf.old': No space left on device
root@1[Drivers]# ifup wlan0
Operation failed.
Failed to bring up wlan0.
root@1[Drivers]#

Yes, that is because you have to use iwconfig to configure the wireless settings. I caught that in my next post. I will go back and edit the post that had the bad information.

no joy:

[1]+ Stopped man iwconfig
root@1[Drivers]# IWCONFIG
bash: IWCONFIG: command not found
root@1[Drivers]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

root@1[Drivers]# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 No such device

root@1[Drivers]#

Here is the order that you need to do things:

1) ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf
This installs the windows driver into the ndiswrapper framework.

2) ndiswrapper -m
This modifies the module aliases so that ndiswrapper is identified with wlan0

3) modprobe ndiswrapper
This loads the ndiswrapper kernel module into the running kernel

4) iwconfig
This will list all of the available interfaces. If wlan0 is not now one of them, then open up the file /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper . If that file does not exist or does not have a line that says "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper," then one of those warnings about running out of space may have been real. This step is the point of reckoning. If you don't get a wlan0, wait a little bit longer and try again. Sometimes it takes time. If you still don't get a wlan0, then something may be wrong with your ndiswrapper or your hardware configuration, and fixing that could get more involved.

5) if you do have a wlan0, use iwconfig or the Mepis OS Center to configure wlan0... something like:
iwconfig wlan0 essid your_essid
iwconfig wlan0 channel your_channel
... etcetera ...

6) ifup wlan0
This brings up wlan0 (ie: starts the wireless connection). You can also do this from the Mepis OS Center if you prefer.
With other drivers sometimes I have had strange success with the OS Center when ifup refuses to bring up the interface, so you might try that if ifup doesn't work.

NOTE: You will need to do all of these steps whenever you boot in live-mode (ie: not an hd install). If you run an hd install, these settings will stay and you won't need to redo them.

Hopefully that works...

unfortunately, i have no further progress as of yet. as you suggested, dping, the /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper file was in fact empty. with that in mind. i have downloaded a version of ndiswrapper and i am curious if i can simply uninstall the version as mepis live is running and then install the version i have DL'd. as always, i appreciate any input.

No, that wouldn't work. In order to install a new version of ndiswrapper you need to compile the accompanying ndiswrapper kernel module, which can't be done on a live-cd.

Judging from the stats you gave earlier, I doubt that you actually are running out of space.

You could try (while following the steps), along with "ndiswrapper -m," manually opening up that file and adding the missing line if it is not there. Make it so that the file when you open it looks like this:
The "ndiswrapper -m" command also writes, I believe that same line, into the /etc/modprobe.conf file, but I don't think you would need to do that, though you might check it and if things still don't work you could try adding it too.


If you wanted to install mepis to a hard drive partition, you could dual boot with windows. I doubt you would have these same ndiswrapper problems with an hd install, and that way you could still see if wireless would work in Linux without first destroying windows.

thanx yet again for such a prompt response. let me address the hd install issue. i've had little experience with qtparted and the last time that i used it it wiped everything. i can't seem to remember how to manually partition (to include fdisk) as it's been about a year since i did that while experimenting with gentoo. to be safe, i would like to try and avoid an hd install for the time-being. with all that said, i will see if i can simply write to the file according to your instructions and see what happens.

ok. here is the result after attempting to mannually modify the file:

The document could not be saved, as it was not possible to write to file:/etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.
Check that you have write access to this file or that enough disk space is available.

i'm not sure where to go form here. i don't even think there i can write the file elsewhere and link it. i'm out of ideas.

Hmm. And I'm assuming that you did double-check that you had write access to that location.

It looks like you have three options...

1) Try different live cd distributions

2) Use the partitioning tools to add a small linux swap partition to your hd so mepis can use it

3) Add partitions and install Mepis to the hd to dual boot

If you want to use the command line partitioning tools and partition without losing data, then you will need to use the tool called parted, not fdisk. None of the different fdisk tools can resize partitions without destroying data. I would however, recommend using qtparted. Qtparted is much easier to use than parted, and is generally quite reliable.

One cardinal rule when resizing windows partitions is to _always_ leave the main windows partition at the beginning of the hd. Never put a partition in front of it. Put all of the new partitions after your windows partitions.

here is where i am:

i double checked the permissions (/etc/modules.d/ndiswrapper) and i do in fact have necassary permissions. i tried to write to it yet again and recieved the same error 'disk is full'

after that i looked at installing mepis to the hd and couldn't do it without wiping the hd. i have a small 3g partition setup for windows and the remaining 8.x is setup for backup purposes. i cannot, for the life of me, firgure out how to install a custom setup. qt won't let me resize the extended partition for some reason. as a result i can't skip over this step as there is no root partition set yada yada. at this point, i'm going to lookup more info on using qt. i could try the latest knoppix....but i would prefer to stick it out with mepis. it's getting a little personal now. as always, any suggestions would be appreciated.

ok. i'm getting closer. after some research and trial and error, i've come to install mepis to a pertition on the hd. my fault entirely as it were. i did realize that i had the hda5 mounted when i tried to write to it in qtparted. nonetheless, that issue is resolved. however, i am still having difficulties with the wireless. here is the results now:

root@1[Drivers]# ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf
Installing net5211
root@1[Drivers]# modprobe ndiswrapper
root@1[Drivers]# ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
airplus driver present
bcmwl5 driver present
lsbcmnds driver present
lstinds driver present
mrv8k51 driver present
net5211 driver present, hardware present
netr33x driver present
prismnic driver present
wlanuig driver present
wlipnds driver present
root@1[Drivers]# ndiswrapper -m
Adding "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" to /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
root@1[Drivers]# dhcpcd wlan0
bash: dhcpcd: command not found
root@1[Drivers]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

root@1[Drivers]# ifup
ifup: Use --help for help
root@1[Drivers]# ifup wlan0
Operation failed.
Failed to bring up wlan0.
root@1[Drivers]#