Hello im travis and am a novice at using linux at a whole, how ever i can do what needs to be done. Im using PCLinuxOS and need to install my Broadcom 4321AG a,b,g,draft n wireless card...iv already installed ndiswrapper and done ndiswrapper -l inffile.inf with success. iv also installed the wireless network tool, however when i run wpconfig i get 2 variables... "lo" and "sit0" and both say that no wireless extension found... or close to that...and nothing i do allows me to view my AP or see an essid...any idea whats wrong?

"lo" and "sit0" shouldn't have wireless extensions. They are both virtual network interfaces that serve internal purposes to the computer. You're probably looking for an interface named wlan0.

I think getting something in the way of firmware in one of the firmware directories would probably be a good start.

I tried to get my friends Broadcom wireless to work forever and we eventually just gave up. But I think we tried about everything... at least to the extent that i understood what I thought we were trying...

thanks patrick...well wlan0 isnt there...sigh and iv done soo much to explain it all would be hard....where should i go from here? i havt recieved an error although when do iwconfig sit0 esssid essid it says essid isnt a variable or something...but if sit0 is a virtual then that can explain that...

Try the command, as root, "ifconfig -a". That should show you all the possible connections. Ignore lo and sit0. Depending on your setup, your wireless may be wlan0 or it may be eth1 or eth2 (depending on whether your wired hookup is eth0 or eth1 - sometimes a firewire port gets read as eth0).

ill try that thanks

Pclos has an easy to use gui for configuring wireless via the control panel I believe. Ndiswrapper is already installed. All I had to do with .92 was find the proper broadcom .inf and .sys files and put them on my desktop. I had full success with the infamous 4318 on two different laptops. Look in the Pclos forum for step by step instructions.

You have to load ndiswrapper's module in order to use it...

Run that to make ndiswrapper load as a module on boot. (or add to /etc/modules)

You know I had the same problem and Im totally new to Pclinux . I had real big problems with Ubuntu trying to understand the Broadcom Wireless Issue . I finally got it to work and it really wasnt as hard as I thought and I didnt have to do the modprobe or anything else that might confuse someone new to this . I figured out that you can just go to your PC or Laptops manufacturer ie Hp , Gateway, Dell or your cards manufacturer and dowload the Windows Xp driver from them . Then put it on a thumbdrive and access the correct inf driver you download of there sight using ndiswrapper . WHat I did was go to the Configure your computer - Network & Internet - Set up a new network Interface - Wireless - Use a windows driver with ndiswrapper . Just point the computer to the driver you downloaded which is an inf driver which should be something like Bcml5a.inf and Pclinux will do the rest . Thats the success I had which was on a Gateway 7320 laptop which run horrible with Vista installed and now that I have Pclinux its been nothing but bliss .

If you like doing things the Windows way, I guess... Point & Click = Unreliable Control, err... I mean No Control...

Well you need to understand that the majority of the world is used to the Point and Click interface and that my friend is never going to change . The reason Linux has become more successful over the years is that they are trying to make it more user friendly ie "Ubuntu , for the people " I really dont think people really care to use an operating system if there hardware isnt going to work immediately . Alot of us in the real world dont have an overabundance of time to sit and read through endless forums filled with knowledge that doesnt make much sense to people who are only familiar with Windows. Does the typical user know what a Kernal is? Or what a Konsole is ? Or what Kde is ? The answer is No . So in this case I think its appropriate to give a simple solution to an obvious problem thats affected alot of new users to Linux . Maybe if they like the results they will take the extra time to learn something new and we can totally be free of Microsoft . Enough said

i gave up and returned the laptop, got one with core duo, intel chipset and intel wireless....ubuntu loves it now thanks for all the help....this topic may help a future user

Well said.

Your statement makes perfect sense, and it is in fact well said. I just don't agree with it. I am no guru or expert by no means so I just feel if I could do it, then so can anyone else. Personal preference I guess.

lol, I created a user here just to say my meanings. You are COMPLETELY right. I mean, I am so willing to gain knowledge in all the basic aspects about linux. But the second I fire up openSUSE 10.2 KDE, my first linux experience, things dont work and I'm stuck. Only got one pc, and can't learn anything new without internet connection.
So I agree that there should be many more simple guides for these type of problems on the net, so people can get started!
PS. If someone out there actually does find a solution to the Broadcom 4321AG, please post the answer here !
(personal reminder, including myself)