Wireless and NDISWrapper problem on Slackware 12.0!

biske · 12-18-2008, 02:11 AM

Hello there, it is first time I write on this forum. I have trouble about configuring wireless in Slackware 12.0, actually to find drivers for it.
I have "Dell Inspiron 1525" and "wireless card Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card". Manufacturer is Broadcom Corporation.
I tried to find on the net something but some people told me that there is no driver for my wireless card and that i have to work with NDISWrapper istead.
I downloaded from sourceforge ndiswrapper-1.53 and have problem installing it. With tar i uncopmressed archive and went into
directory ndiswrapper-1.53. Then i typed make install and got next message "Cannot find kernel version in usr/src/linux-2.6.21.5, is it configured? Stop"
and of course instalation stops. Is there anyone who can help me with installing this or is there driver for my card?

P.S. I didn't installed source from disk during installation of system.

vitalstrike82 · 12-18-2008, 02:32 AM

Hi,
can you find this directory in your system from what the terminal has prompt: usr/src/linux-2.6.21.5

Do you have the package kernel-source installed?
If its not available, install this kernel-source might solve your issue.

regards

eylli · 12-18-2008, 02:58 AM

Why you dont download the package for your distribution from slackbulids or linuxpackages. I am running 12.1 and i tried it and it worked form me on dell Latitude D830

Nikosis · 12-18-2008, 02:59 AM

This might help Alien BOB's Wiki

biske · 12-18-2008, 04:53 AM

How to install kernel-source package. I have DVD for Slackware and i think there is a source?

eylli · 12-18-2008, 05:05 AM

yes for sure that it is!! you can install it by installpkg

phodopus · 12-18-2008, 06:22 AM

I had some problems as well (few months ago). Maybe this helps:
I gave my lsmod, and this was the response from someone:

Code:

Thanks for the lsmod output, it was helpful. =)
I couldn't see ndiswrapper module loaded. The b43 kernel module (driver) won't work for our wireless cards. You /need/ to use ndiswrapper.

Go to www.slackbuilds.org and search for ndiswrapper. You will need the ndiswrapper.tar.gz SlackBuild package, and the source code tarball. Unpack ndiswrapper.tar.gz:
-----------------------START OF CODE SECTION------------------------
$ tar zxf ndiswrapper.tar.gz
$ mv ndiswrapper-*.tar.{gz|bz2} ./ndiswrapper/
$ cd ndiswrapper/
$ chmod +x ndiswrapper.SlackBuild
$ sudo ./ndiswrapper.SlackBuild
$ sudo /sbin/installpkg /tmp/ndiswrapper*.tgz
----------------------END OF CODE SECTION--------------------------

After ndiswrapper is successfully installed, get your Dell-supplied drivers CD, pop it into the drive, and find the .EXE (which is actually a .ZIP folder in masquerade) and unpack it:

------CODE-----
$ unzip -e [archive]
---------------

After you have the bcmwl5.inf file installed, you will need to blacklist several conflicting modules (in the kernel), and edit the rc.local file. Add the following lines to the end of "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist":

---CODE---
blacklist b44
blacklist b43
blacklist ssb
---------

Then add the following lines to "/etc/rc.d/rc.local":

---CODE---
/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
/sbin/modprobe b44
----------

Reboot your laptop, and that should do it! =)

Maybe it helps...

biske · 12-19-2008, 05:33 AM

Ok installed driver for wlan and it works fine. But when i try to make interface with:

iwconfig wlan0 192.168.1.1
there is a error message "wlan0 no such device".

Note, i work in slackware as virtual machine (VMware) and i am just learning. Does this problem will exist if i install slackware on hard disk.

Command:

ifconfig -a

gives lo and eth0 and some info about them.

Can someone explain me why by default there are these two interfaces but not wlan0?

biske · 12-21-2008, 07:35 AM

Can anyone help me or give me some usefull links?

bgeddy · 12-21-2008, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Note, i work in slackware as virtual machine (VMware) and i am just learning. Does this problem will exist if i install slackware on hard disk.

Do you mean you have Slackware installed in a VM ? If so then wireless devices are not going to work as VM's (VitualBox and VMWare) don't support them. You need to set up the host OS to access the wireless card and the guest setup in the VM with NAT accessing eth0. So far as I know bridged networking doesn't work on wireless devices with a linux host.

Note that the devices the Virtual machine accesses are just that, "virtual" , and are not the actual devices attached to the host.

biske · 12-22-2008, 08:30 AM

Yes, I have Slackware in virtual machine (VMware). All of this I done just to learn how
to setup wireless driver in linux with ndiswrapper. Actually i just tried it to get work
on Slackware but i wanted to learn and then to install on Backtrack3. So i installed Backtrack3
on hard disk and then succesfully installed ndiswrapper-1.53 and that works fine. Thank you.
I have just one more question about phodopus's post and conflicting drivers. Does I have to
blacklist these drivers. Did you mean it is just for Slackbuild or for any type of installation
of ndiswrapper.

vitalstrike82 · 12-22-2008, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biske

Yes, I have Slackware in virtual machine (VMware). All of this I done just to learn how
to setup wireless driver in linux with ndiswrapper. Actually i just tried it to get work
on Slackware but i wanted to learn and then to install on Backtrack3. So i installed Backtrack3
on hard disk and then succesfully installed ndiswrapper-1.53 and that works fine. Thank you.
I have just one more question about phodopus's post and conflicting drivers. Does I have to
blacklist these drivers. Did you mean it is just for Slackbuild or for any type of installation
of ndiswrapper.

Hi,

you do not have to blacklist those drivers if you do not have them install.

You have to check to see if those packages are install in your system.

For example for my system, i have the bcm43 package install in my system. Therefore i will need to blacklist the bcm43xxx package in order not to conflict with my ndiswrapper.

cheers