okay so first let me apologise if this has been asked before,i have searched but could not find the question i am about to ask.

As i am sure everyone knows by now there are issues with the atheros ar5007 wireless card and Linux.
My question is that i wish to install Linux mint as a dual boot on a HP g6030ea laptop with 64bit processor and vista home premium.
Now i realize that Linux Mint uses Ndiswrapper and that Ndiswrapper doesn't recognize the vista drivers for the wireless card.
So can i just download the XP driver then install Linux Mint,as you normally would for dual boot, and then use Ndiswrapper and the XP driver (i had just downloaded) to get the ar5007 wireless card to work?

Have you tried the Atheros ath5k Driver for Linux ?

http://madwifi.org/wiki/About/ath5k

Ick not a pretty solution..


ndiswrapper shouldn't care whether the driver you use is from XP

i have not tried anything as of yet. I am looking for the easiest and most consistent message for solving this problem before doing dual boot on my laptop ( i do dual boot on my desktop though and use Linux mostly).

So if i get the xp driver then its 32bit version of that and then save it to eg hda1, the Ndiswrapper part should be sorta obvious?

Sorry if this sounds stupid but i am a total newbie when it comes to this.

For a first timer, I'd recommend you get your system installed with a cable connected to your router, first. Then and only then try to get the wireless working. Trying to get it working for an install is going to be a hair-pulling issue.

im not trying to get it working before i set up the dual boot i am just wondering if my idea of 1.download the xp driver to my vista partition 2.install linux mint 3.then use ndiswrapper and the xp driver to get the wireless working will actually work.
My concern is that since the xp driver isnt actually installed in vista ndiswrapper wont be able to use it.

I don't think fwcutter will care one way or the other whether it's installed on Vista, as fwcutter is run from Linux. As long as you can find the file, it should be OK. You might also do some searches. Someone may have already done the work for you and have a working file/procedure you can use.

cheers, i will try this on the weekend and report back if it worked.
If it doesnt then i will use Linux for the boring computer stuff and watching dvd's etc.
One bricked laptop here i come