My first goal is to get my Netgear wireless PC card (model WG511) running on my old Compaq Armada using Damn Small Linux. I type NDISwrapper -l in the Terminal...and then what do I do?

Normally I should see the green and amber lights blink on the card itself even before I make a connection. At least that's what happens when I use it under Windows. I'm running off the live CD, but I can install it if that would make a difference. I don't know if another distro would be better. DSL is all that will run on this old jalopy with only 123MB of RAM.

Thanks for any help you can offer this Linux novice.

ndiswrapper -l will only list the currently loaded driver. It would not do anything else.
Here is the excellent guide to install a driver. I followed the instructions in there and had no problem.

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/j...iki/Itemid,33/


cric.

you know, i think that you have to be able to connect to internet first on a hard line before there can be wireless stuff

Not true, however it definatly makes it easier to be able to download any needed tools to make it work. In absence of a wired connection, there are plenty of other ways to get the needed files onto the machine.

I am able to go on-line using a network cable, but since I am using the Live CD, how would downloading anything help? I haven't actually installed DSL on this laptop, but I am willing to do so with some simple step-by-step instructions. Also, I read in another thread that DSL (which is the only distro that runs well on an old jalopy like this Armada) is really made to be run from the Live CD, not installed. Does the Live CD access files on the HDD?

Thanks for your help. The good folks here are slowly turning me into a former Windows user...at least on this laptop which I thought was ready for the trash can until I read about DSL.

It is made for running from live media as well as installed, mostly for older machines though

Well folks, I'm not one of those ranting, first-time Linux users who takes a Live CD out for a test drive and then posts an angry diatribe about how confusing it is. I'm committed to learning and using it. And I'll continue relying on the good people in this forum for coaching.

That said, my eyes glaze over when I read...

You need a recent kernel, at least 2.6.18 or 2.4.26, with kernel headers, and gcc-3.4 or newer. Make sure that /lib/modules/VERSION/build is a link to the kernel source, where VERSION is the version of the kernel you are running; this should be setup automatically by distribution package. If this path is not valid, kernel modules can’t be compiled. Also make sure gcc and associated packages (e.g., libc6-dev on Debian based distributions) are installed so C programs can be compiled. For help with these steps, refer to your distribution documents.


...on the NDISwrapper website when attempting to see if my Netgear WG511 wireless PC card will run under DSL. Speaking for the novices, we need something more basic. For starters, I don't know how to check the kernel version, much less...

Go to the source-directory and run make distclean and make. As root, run make install. This should compile and install both the kernel module and the userspace utilities. If you don’t need USB support in ndiswrapper, with recent versions, you can compile with make DISABLE_USB=1 and install with make DISABLE_USB=1 install. NOTE: Source-directory is for the ndiswrapper directory that you just created. (NOT the /usr/src directory)

Maybe a tutorial for how to enter commands would help. I'm not complaining, just confused.

Thanks,
Relztrah

type uname -r in a terminal to find your kernel version and type gcc -v to find the gcc version

bash: gcc: command not found

that means that you need to install gcc