Hi;

I examined the topic Guide to ndiswrapper and Sarge with no compiling : linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=333141&highlight=ndiswrapper

I decided the issue not to be that complex to be applied.

The difference between my situation and that topic is my distro version is: etch, not sarge. My kernel version is 2.6.12-1-386, not 2.6.8-2-686. And also the module package from the archives is: ndiswrapper-modules-2.6.8-2-386 package version 1.1-2 and I don't know it brings up a problem because module version doesn't meet with the kernel's. Also ndiswrapper-utils package version 1.1-4 as you see this package version also doesn't meet with the module's.

My PCMCIA wireless card is:
Linksys WPC54G V1.2

I thought it is the folloving one in the list at ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net:

Card: Linksys #[WPC54G], 54mbps -- [link here|List#WPC54G]
# Chipset: Broadcom BCM94306
# Driver: ftplinksys.com/pub/network/WPC54G_driver_utility_1.3.1.zip
# pciid: 14E4:4320

I downloaded the file indicated above from ftp.linksys.com

followed the steps from the guide, installed the INF file. Now the PCMCIA card is inserted and the power led is giving light. But when I give the command ndiswrapper -l the output is only:
lsbcmnds driver present

But there is nothing about the hardware. No Hardware present or Hardware not present.

What can I do in this situation?

Thanks for all the help.

Is this the inf file you used bcmwl5.inf
I don't remember seeing this lsbcmnds but may not remember

You might want to download the source from the ndiswrapper.sourceforge.org website. It should produce a ndiswrapper.ko module for your particular kernel version. The source directory contains a debian subdirectory so installing it may be easy for you. ( There is a ndiswrapper.spec file to produce an rpm for other users. ) Or you can simply run "make" and "make install". See the INSTALL file for the prerequisites and full instructions. Sometimes a version packaged for a distro isn't new enough for a particular card, or a certain feature of that card.

lsbcmnds is a .sys file.

the .inf file that I don't remember now what its name is gets that .sys loaded.

Ok then,

what is the difference between kernel-image and linux-image packages, linux-headers and kernel-headers packages. In my system linux-XXXXX-2.6.12 -386 packages are installed. And the linux-kernel-headers-2.6.13+ package.

at sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/InstallDebian

it says: For ndiswrapper it basically requires the same packages to be installed (kernel-image, kernel-headers, ndiswrapper-source and ndiswrapper-utils)

In my first attempts before NoCompile attempts I couldn't succeed because of some errors after module-assistant. Is it possible of those errors to be about wrong kernel packages were installed?

ok I understood the problem. kernel-headers are for 2.4 kernels. linux-headers are for 2.6 kernels.

But in the step:

COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l | grep kernel-headers-uname -r

I cannot find out anything, no screen output.

And the step:

cd /usr/src
tar jxvf ndiswrapper-source.tar.bz2
cd modules/ndiswrapper
fakeroot debian/rules binary-modules

it complains no kernel-header installed.

I believe that the kernel-headers package will install the symbolic information that would be generated by running make.

I read somewhere that some packages expect this information, and running "make" could resolve the problem, even if you don't use the new compiled kernel. But your source version needs to match the version of your running kernel. You mentioned both versions 2.6.12 and 2.6.13 in your post. Which version does "uname -r" return?

Change your grep search a bit to see if any kernel-headers package is installed. I.e. "grep kernel-headers". Then compare the version number with the version that "uname -r" returns. Then check that either /usr/src/linux-`uname -r` exists, or if it is a link to another directory.

The problem you may be having is that after downloading a security patch, the running kernel's name is changed a little bit. The version is the same but something is added at the end. But the source directory is still the same. This may not be the problem however. On my system, what's after the version number differs slightly and ndiswrapper compiles OK. (See the next paragraph)

Another possibility is that /lib/modules/$(uname -r) does not exist. In this directory should be a link called build.
Here is what mine looks like:
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 536 2006-02-05 05:52 2.6.13-15.7-default
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 72 2006-01-28 16:26 2.6.13-15-default
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 88 2006-01-28 16:26 precompiled
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 104 2005-11-29 16:32 scripts
> uname -r
2.6.13-15.7-default

So in my case, while there isn't a perfect matchup with the endings (after the version part of the name) in the /usr/src directory ( linux -> 2.6.13-15.7 the -default isn't there ), /lib/modules/ contains a directory that matches exactly.
ls /lib/modules/
2.6.13-15.7-default 2.6.13-15-default precompiled scripts

One last note. The ndiswrapper source contains a deb target, as well as an rpm target. So you can run "make deb". I think that this will produce a deb package for ndiswrapper and a separate package for the kernel module.

My system is RPM based. Running "make rpm" produced two rpm packages:
jschiwal@hpamd64:/usr/src/packages/RPMS> ls -R
.:
noarch x86_64

./noarch:

./x86_64:
kernel-module-ndiswrapper-2.6.13-15.7-default-1.8-1.x86_64.rpm ndiswrapper-1.8-1.x86_64.rpm


Hope this helps some. You may need to pay closer attention to the details. Versions 2.6.12 and 2.6.13 are completely distinct.

Good Luck!

Here is a link that may do a better job in helping:
http://mail.kdewebdev.org/pipermail/...ch/000142.html