ndiswrapper and drivers
 

I am really worried about ndiswrapper.

It still seems to be the case that ndiswrapper is only compatible with XP drivers, but XP drivers are getting harder and harder to find. Does anyone know if there's any progress being made in updating ndiswrapper to work with Vista drivers?

The reason I'm worried is because if this shortcoming is not addressed, then eventually Linux systems will no longer be able to use wireless networks at all. This could mean the end of Linux, and I do not think I'm being unreasonably pessimistic - this shortcoming needs to be addressed as a matter of considerable urgency.

Any ideas/opinions?

Opinion:

I think you make a valid point, however I don't believe that at this time, the situation is as pressing as you make it out to be. XP is still being shipped with many machines, and (though I have no proof) I suspect that MS still offers downloads of drivers from its various support web locations, for XP users.

I have no clue about the status of Vista drivers with ndiswrapper (or Win7 drivers for that matter).

As for your statement about "..Linux will not be able to use wireless networks at all..", that's a bit much. While I agree that Linux suffers somewhat in the area of wireless networking device support (relative to other OS(s)), this situation is improving at a good pace, and with newer kernels, there has been much improvement in this area.
It's likely this problem will persist to some degree for a long time, however there are a good number of wireless devices that have good Linux support, as well as a smaller number whose manufacturers provide Linux drivers natively. Ndiswrapper is not the be-all/end-all of wireless on Linux.

What to do meanwhile? Choose to buy wireless devices that are known good with Linux, and if possible, are supported by their manufacturer for Linux OS's. Even if the driver is partially closed-source (as is unless I'm mistaken Broadcom), supporting them because they offer a Linux solution, shows them we as Linux users recognize & appreciate their Linux support, and sends a (albeit small) message to the OTHER manufacturers, that their bottom line won't include profits from Linux users; while today, this number of us is relatively small too, it too is getting larger all the time, and I honestly believe that MS will not be the "only major" player forever, and that more and more hardware companies are (even if grudgingly) realizing that Linux matters.

Sasha

I agree with Sasha, the wireless situation in Linux has improved to the point where ndiswrapper should be fairly irrelevant. Broadcom chips were always the major reason for ndiswrapper, and between b43 actually becoming usable and Broadcom's sta driver, Broadcom chips are fairly well supported. At this point I think the biggest problem is the Internet itself. Because of the sheer volume of information about how to use ndiswrapper, new users are largely unaware that there are alternatives.

I agree with the above two posts and the only place I have used ndiswrapper is when setting up an old broadcom 430X card with the older distros. Most of these are so old now that it you rarely see them and with the later releases have been able to make them work with the native linux drivers. I do not think there is much to worry about at all. You will always be able to find XP drivers somewhere for the older chipsets.


Larry

Thanks for your replies.
I was concerned because the other day I got a new PC and was planning on putting Ubuntu on it, and the thought of trying to get the wireless to work was scaring me, I'd always had to use ndiswrapper before. However, when the time came, it was no problem at all: whilst connected with a network cable, it offered me the choice to download proprietary drivers for Wireless, so I did, and it worked without a hitch! Very impressed!

the same situation sucks when it comes to find the drivers and they are not in the repertory.... especially for anything linksys they somehow missed half of them.... and installing manually is the biggest pain...

Not the fault of Ubuntu, or any distro for that matter. Manufacturers that don't offer Linux support, or won't take advantage of support offered by the developers, don't have Linux drivers. It is entirely their fault. Just look at the difference between Intel cards and Broadcom cards. Intel helps write the drivers and lets distros distribute the proprietary firmware. The result is the the overwhelming majority of Intel based cards work out of the box. Broadcom on the other hand has a proprietary driver for only a small number of their chipsets and won't allow firmware to be distributed for the remaining ones. The result is that Broadcom cards are completely hit or miss, and most often miss.

Be annoyed if you want to, but put the blame where it belongs, on the chipset manufacturers.

broadcom has a go to your vendor we do not support linux and leave us alone attitude
I had a dell net book with a broadcom wifi card
dell would not even tell me what file the wifi driver was in
there attitude was we did not install linux on it get lost
so I turned it on and left it in a hot car wrapped in a blanket all day
then I returned the corpse to the store where I got it
(they would not tack it back because the wifi card is windows only)

don't buy dell or broadcom get a atheros wifi card and toshiba

Yes, Atheros is allegedly another decent one to use.

As for your statements above: that sounds to me more like a Dell situation than a Broadcom one. And, as is discussed in any number of other threads, the majority of machine vendors including Dell, HP, and whomever else, do not support Linux being installed on their machines; it'll "void your warranty" :/

But, speaking of the Broadcom NIC itself, regardless of what sort of machine it's in-- Broadcom now offers Linux drivers, downloadable from their website, and there are a number of threads around here where people are installing them, and they work :) granted they (Broadcom) may not (yet?) offer drivers for ALL their hardware, but they've made a start.

Kind regards,

Sasha

Funny you should say this, but my new system IS a Dell with a Broadcom wifi chipset, and it works just fine under Ubuntu Karmic. It prompted me to download the proprietary driver, which I did, and it started working.

Granted with the newer Broadcom Cards but I have an older Dell D600 and it runs a 4306 chip and I have never been successful with linux drivers. I have learned to live with ndiswrapper. I have used proprietary drivers on later model cards and had good luck. But they probably figure these cards are so old that they are not worth the trouble to work the bugs out of their older drivers.


Larry