LinuxQuestions.org - Setup Wireless LAN on Dell Inspiron

When you install SuSE 9.3 on Dell Inspiron 5160 you will not have Wireless LAN connectivity.

1) Install the package ndiswrapper from the distro DVDs/CDs

2) Download the Windows drivers R94825 for the Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN mini-PCI rev4.5 (Chipset: BCM4306 rev3) for Windows XP from the Dell website. (R94825)

3) Make directory for your WLAN Drivers and change to that directory

linux:/home/dobriain# mkdir R94825WLAN_Driver
linux:/home/dobriain# cd R94825WLAN_Driver

4) Run the command below to extract the Windows drivers:

linux:/home/dobriain/R94825WLAN_Driver# unzip R94825.EXE

5) Find the name of the .inf file.

linux:/home/dobriain/R94825WLAN_Driver# ls *.inf

bcm15.inf

6) Install it using the NDIS Wrapper

linux:/home/dobriain/R94825WLAN_Driver# ndiswrapper -i bcmw15.inf

7) Confirm the installation of the driver

linux:/home/dobriain/R94825WLAN_Driver# ndiswrapper -l

Installed ndis drivers:
bcmw15 driver present, hardware present

8) Load the NDIS module to the Kernel.

linux:/home/dobriain# modprobe ndiswrapper

If you receive no error it should be loaded successfully.

9) Confirm this with the command

linux:/home/dobriain# iwconfig

wlan0 IEEE802.11g ESSID: off/any Nickname:"linux"
etc... etc...

10) Scan for Wireless networks

linux:/home/dobriain# iwlist wlan0 scan

Cell01 - Address 00:00:D3:EA:3B:54
ESSID: "1234 5678"
Protocol: IEEE 802.11b
etc.... etc....

11) Configure interface

linux:/home/dobriain#iwconfig wlan0 essid "1234 5678"

12) If DHCP is running on the access point do a dhcpcd to get an IP Address

linux:/home/dobriain# dhcpcd

13) Check for an IP Address

linux:/home/dobriain# ifconfig wlan0

Note: I have assumed an Accesspoint with Managed mode and no security. You will need to change the parameters for the iwconfig command if this is different. man iwconfig will give you the list of parameters to help achieve this.