Gentoo not detecting D-link 520rD WLAN Adapter

Nathan1993 · 12-23-2005, 10:14 AM

I am in the process of attempting to install Gentoo Linux on my computer. For fast results, I ran a 100 foot network cable to my room and installed a network card (about 5 of those lying around) into that computer.

I have that card working fine, so I have the net (even though I am on a different computer right now) but it refuses to do anything with my wireless card.

It is a D-link 520 revision D. I have the windows drivers, so should I just wait till I have it installed and install ndis wrapper, or should I have gentoo do this now. How can I do this now! Basically, how can I make Gentoo recognize this card (and have drivers so it is usable) so I can configure it.

Sorry, I am very new and I am a noob.
Thanks!

okmyx · 12-23-2005, 10:41 AM

In the HCL section it seems everybody has managed to get this card working with ndiswrapper.

There doesn't seem to be any standard drivers yet.

gruven · 12-24-2005, 12:39 AM

I would definitely try the madwifi drivers first. Most D-links I have seen have an Atheros chipset (some don't, not sure about yours), and the madwifi drivers work great with the atheros chipset.

It is worth a try.

Also, the result of an "lspci" would help us help you more.

Nathan1993 · 12-24-2005, 12:31 PM

OK... but how do I get it to even recognize that it exists? I know which PCI slot, which chipset it is and everything, I am just not that good with linux. (yet).

gruven · 12-26-2005, 07:05 PM

For the OS to recognize it, you must download and install the drivers, then modprobe the drivers. Then, it will recognize *th0. The madwifi drivers create ath0. The module you need to probe would be ath_pci.

You will have to unmask the "madwifi-driver" package in portage and then emerge it. You will have to be wired to the internet until you get this working.

To unmask the driver:

Code:

echo "net-wireless/madwifi-driver ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

To install the driver:

Code:

emerge -av madwifi-driver wireless-tools
modprobe ath_pci
modules-update
echo "ath_pci" >> /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6
iwconfig ath0 up

Check out http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Wireles...on_and_Startup to set it up on every boot. I have done this procedure and am sure it works.

Once again, I am not sure this hardware uses the madwifi driver, as I have not had any experience with the Rev.D of this card. If the madwifi driver doesn't work, then ndiswrapper will be your best bet. But, if you have the Atheros chipset, the madwifi-driver will work.

Also, it is better to do this right after the first reboot, because it will use the kernel source of the kernel you are running. You will have to reinstall after every kernel update, so make sure and do a

Code:

emerge -f madwifi-driver

to download the tarball of the driver, so you can just emerge the driver after rebooting into the new kernel. If the tarball is in /usr/portage/distfiles already, then portage won't try to connect to the internet to download it. You can do that before you do your first reboot if you want.