Normally I like to lurk a while before I register on a forum to make sure I don't look like an idiot, but I'm getting kind of desperate and want to get this resolved quickly.
I entered the Linux world a couple days ago by installing Mandrake on an unused computer. I ran into various trivial problems and one quasi-serious one: I can't connect to my network through my wireless usb adapter. I've searched the internet high and low but can't find anything that could help me resolve the problem - well a couple sites came close, but aren't applicable to my distribution.
Specs:
Mandrake 10.1 Community
Kernel 2.6.8
Netgear Wireless MA101 (Revision B) USB Adapter (to a Netgear MR814 router, but I haven't gotten that far yet)
Right now I'm using an ethernet cable, which was auto-detected within seconds, but eventually this machine will be moved. The Control Center seems unable to install the drivers for any wireless device, or else I am grossly misusing it. 'ifconfig -a' gives me devices eth0 (lan connection), lo (local loopback), and sit0 (I have no idea), but I see no wlan0. 'iwconfig' simply says "no wireless extensions" for those three.
I've never compiled a kernel or driver before, I don't know how they interact, and I don't fully understand the 'make' tool, but I tried anyway. First I attempted to compile the atmel driver, which told me to change some kernel options first and load in a patch. I can't even begin to tell you what the errors were, there were just so many at different stages. Then I read up on the at76c503a driver and tried that one. I think I'm slightly closer, but there's still no wlan0.
I'm working under the assumption that if I plug in my adapter and see a device in ifconfig named something like wlan, that means I've succeeded and I can proceed to work with the network itself. If I'm wrong, let me know - the last thing I want to do is direct my efforts at the wrong solution.
Anyway, here's my syslog from when I plugged in the adapter:
Code:
Dec 26 19:06:53 localhost kernel: usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 7
Dec 26 19:07:00 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using address 8
Dec 26 19:07:00 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: using compiled-in firmware
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: reset full speed USB device using address 8
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: device firmware changed
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: unable to get descriptor
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: unexpected opmode 185
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 8
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: wlan%%d disconnecting
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: at76c503-rfmd disconnected
Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using address 9
Dec 26 19:07:04 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: using compiled-in firmware
Dec 26 19:07:04 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: getting firmware failed with -32, or version is 0
Dec 26 19:07:04 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: this probably means that the ext. fw was not loaded correctly
And my lsusb:
Code:
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0864:4102 NetGear, Inc. MA101 802.11b Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
So I assume this means I need to load in the firmware somehow. I downloaded firmware images, but even if I knew which one applied to my hardware, I have no clue what to do with it.
If you have ideas or suggestions, I'd really appreciate any help.
[edit] Gah.. I see there's a restriction on new posters entering url tags, but since these are sites that I referred to for technical reasons and don't benefit from page hits, I'll post their urls:
at76c503a.berlios.de
at76c503a.berlios.de/fw_dl.html
And for the record, I have indeed searched these forums and others - believe me, asking for help is normally a last resort for me.