Sorry for the verbose post, but I wanted all you peoples to know that I HAVE done my homework.

I am (almost) a nOOb with GNU/Linux. I have played with DSL as a live CD on my home system and when one of the database PC's NTFS patitions crashed at work, I impressed my boss by booting up DSL and saving the databases over the network via Samba. I didn't think it was all that hard, but it sure impressed my boss.

Now, I've decided I want to set up a Linux file & web server to replace my win2k server. (Delusions of granduer) In order to do that, I need to play first. I don't want to take down my web site in order to play. So, I took down my gaming system instead. WOW, huh? Giving up my stress relief in exchange for stress. My wife thinks I am a nut.

After doing research on the various distros, I settled on Debian. I downloaded all 7 ISO's and used Alcohol 120% to extract them to a seperate HDD (FAT32 partition) and installed from there. I had some trouble installing because after the 1st HDD boot with the minimal system, the mount point is gone and apt-get can't get. I worked around that and had to install X manually using dselect. This was after figuring how to mount a HDD from the console and how to get apt-get working. I made the mistake of telling the installer I would configure X manually and ended up with an empty /etc/X11/XF86Config file. I had to do much reading to get the file constructed and working with my nVidia card. I then had to work around a "Caught signal 11" error that kept dumping X after 5 to 10 minutes of running.

Once I got X up and running, I started looking at all the HOWTO's I had downloaded in advance and started installing more packages and drivers. Thank goodness for doing the homework. Well, almost.

Up to now, the experience has been frustrating, but fun in an odd sort of way. Now the fun factor is starting to wane. I am trying to get my NetGear WG311v2 (note the v2) with the TI ACX-111 chipset to work. I have tried Craig's HOWTO on the subject, but have had no joy. When I try to compile the drivers, I get an error on the sanity check. Unfortunately, I don't have internet access on this machine (since I can't get the wireless working), so I cannot upload log files or anything like that. However I wrote this error down and then manually typed it in here at work:

Kernel configuration found, performing sanity checks
All of the following items are required by the driver:
Loadable modules support is enabled.
Wireless LAN (non-hamradio) support is DISABLED.
Wireless extensions support is DISABLED.
The following is needed for PCMCIA/CardBus cards:
PCMCIA support is enabled.
CardBus support is enabled.
The following is needed for USB cards:
USB support is enabled.
The following is needed for PCI card support:
PCI support is enabled.
Kernel configuration lacks needed options, please correct! ABORTING.
make: *** [config.mk] Error 1

So, I go into my /lib/modules../.config and remove the CONFIG_NET_WIRELESS=y command and try again and get....

Kernel configuration found, performing sanity checks
All of the following items are required by the driver:
Loadable modules support is enabled.
Wireless LAN (non-hamradio) support is enabled.
Wireless extensions support is DISABLED.
The following is needed for PCMCIA/CardBus cards:
PCMCIA support is enabled.
CardBus support is enabled.
The following is needed for USB cards:
USB support is enabled.
The following is needed for PCI card support:
PCI support is enabled.
Kernel configuration lacks needed options, please correct! ABORTING.
make: *** [config.mk] Error 1

Notice the difference? This is not fun. Didn't catch it? OK, the first error message says that it wants wireless lan disabled (line 4), so I disable it and then it wants it enabled. So, I enable it and I go back to error message #1. Hmph.

I would really like to get this going, but I am this close to saying screw it and re-installing XP.

Is there an easier way to install this card? Something I can print out here at work and bring home? Or perhaps a fix? Something? Please? Pretty Please?

RK

Oh yeah, sorry......

Debian 3.0r4 with the bone stock Kernel.

RK

Sounds like you have a Woody install. If you have installed Woody I would recommend trying a Sarge install using a 2.6 kernel with the boot switch linux26. There is some info on the card re using ndiswrapper to get the networking going with the card mentioned at;

http://linuxcompatible.org/thread30523-1.html

Since you would not be able to get your network running using the netinstall version you will probably need to get the at least the first 3 cd's for Sarge.

Ah...... You make it sound soooooooo easy.

What about just compiling the kernel to 2.6?

First though, I'd like to try just using NDIS straight up and see what happens. I'll let you know.

Thanks

RK

If you use ndiswrapper you'll need at least a 2.4.x kernel. In a woody install the kernel is too old IIRC. What does "uname -r" say or do you know the kernel version by heart? I think you'll need to upgrade your kernel before ndiswrapper will work.

I was just on the NDIS site and yes, I will have to upgrade the kernel. Woody has 2.2.x

I noticed that there are 15 CD's for Sarge. 15!!!

How hard is it to compile a kernel?

RK

You can use a sarge netinstall. Then you only have the programs you want. Or you can just use the first CD (same for woody)

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2949 This is a guide for compiling a debian kernel the debian way (with dpkg). It's also possible to use a normal source install (which I always use) Have you ever installed something from source? Most important thing is that you have read on it. I'm not sure but it might be possible to have a kernel with a lot of stuff in it so you don't have to choose yourself what to include. For ndiswrapper you will need wireless non hamradio and wireless extensions in it. If you know your hardware it helps a bit too. There's often a help function on an option which will tell you something about it. First time can be hard depending on how much you want to set yourself.

edit: you can use that guide for other versions of the kernel as well. not only 2.4.20

you can "upgrade" from woody to sarge by editing your 'etc/apt/sources.list' file, running 'apt-get update' and then 'apt-get dist-upgrade'.

my etc/apt/sources.list file looks like this:

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ testing main
deb http://jrfonseca.dyndns.org/debian ./
deb http://archive.kalyxo.org/kalyxo/ staging main
deb ftp://ftp.tux.org/java/debian/ sarge non-free
deb http://www.bootsplash.de/files/debian/ unstable main

there are clearly some unofficial sources in there, but i've never had any problems with them, and you really have to use some unofficial packages if you want to have certain things. i believe it's got something to do with debian's social contract. those sources will give you a sarge (testing) system, and some of the unofficial ones there are good for installing blackdown java and media codecs. you can skip the one at the bottom.

as far as getting a 2.6 kernel, it's no problem at all. you can apt-get one like any other package. there is also way, using some debian tools, to compile and install a kernel customized for your hardware, and this is not terribly difficult, though it's something that takes a little time to get right.

try 'apt-cache search kernel-image' for kernel installer binaries. pick a 2.6.x one that fits your architecture and 'apt-get install' it. you should be able to boot right into it without trouble.

OK, I couldn't really do a net install of Sarge, because my wireless card isn't working and my mother board doesn't have an onboard LAN. Well, my wife's PC had a PCI NIC in it she wasn't using, so I yanked it and put it in mine. As I'm doing this, I ask my wife what kind of NIC it is and she hands me the driver CD for it. Now, how's this for ironic....

It's a Microsoft MN-130 NIC.

...and I'm going to install Linux with it.

Would somebody notify Bill Gates for me?

Well, Bill gets the last laugh because the boot floppy wouldn't detect it. So, I root around in a friend's parts box and dig out a NIC and he says he has no idea what it is. Well, guess what..... It worked.

So, I did a net install of Sarge via a CAT-5 strung across my bedroom floor.

Now, I have kernel 2.4.27

Now, X won't start. Not even with the XF86Config file I saved to a floppy. Grrrrr.... Solved with the nVidia driver.

I download ndiswrapper and get errors trying to compile. I then find out that apt-get can get it for me. KEWL!! So, next thing I know, I have ndiswrapper installed. It reads my drivers and I get Installed ndis drivers:
wg311v2 driver present, hardware present

Yipeeee!

So, I modprobe ndiswrapper and get an error about the module not being found.... More research and I'm in module-assistant and it works.

iwconfig can't find it. I decide to upgrade the kernel. Now, I'm at 2.6.8 and modprobe stopped working and iwconfig STILL doesn't see the card. ndiswrapper -l reports that that the card and driver are present and module-assistant wants to play with 2.4 rather than 2.6

Any ideas?

RK

This post is being brought to you by a NetGear WG311v2.

I was missing a kernel source tools package which is why ndiswrapper wouldn't compile.

Since then (in, like, the last 10 minutes), I have used what I have learned and fixed to compile & install the nVidia drivers for 2.6.8-K7 and have gotten my sound card working.

OK, now for the HP 3500C Scanjet scanner and the USB joystick and I'll be a happy camper.

Thanks to all of you who helped me.

RK