I am new to Linux in the sense of configuring it myself. I am trying to install the drivers for my wireless card. I have an Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG card in my laptop.

I have gone on Intel's website and downloaded the drivers that are made for Linux. I have tried following the installation instructions located in the INSTALL files, however I can't seem to get anywhere because I am very unfamiliar with Linux.

My first problem comes when I am trying to install ieee80211-1.2.17. I have extracted the files using:

% tar zxvf ieee80211-1.2.17
% cd ieee80211-1.2.17
% make

When I hit enter after typing "make" I get the following error:

Checking in /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686 for ieee80211 components...
find: /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/build/: No such file or directory
grep: /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/build//.config: No such file or directory
grep: /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/build//include/linux/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
find: /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/build/: No such file or directory
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/build M=/home/jared/ieee80211-1.2.17 modules
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [modules] Error 2

I have tried performing the above commands as a regular user and as root and I get the same thing both times. I am not sure what I should do from here. I have tried searching and I cannot come up with anything.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Welcome to LQ!

You need to install kernel sources if you want to build the driver yourself.

However, drivers for your wireless card are available also through apt-get and that's the easy way.

http://packages.debian.org/stable/so...es-contrib-2.6

Hi,

I've had lots of experience with Intel drivers. If you have a latest Debian version, the drivers should be included with the kernel automatically. All that will be required is the microcode, which you might find in Debian's repositories, or, if not, here:

http://bughost.org/ipw3945/

If your Debian distro is up to date, it's not recommended to change or install a new ieee80211 subsystem.

So, in short, skip the ieee80211 install, and grab the microcode either from a Debian package, or from the website.

If the wireless driver is not automatically initiated, try "modprobe ipw3945"
If you get an error, go ahead and install your kernel sources and kernel header files, and install the Intel driver from here:

http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/

Hope this helps,
Sam

PS
The regulatory program ipw3945d may be useful to you afterwards. See if you can install it from Debian's packages.

First off I would like to thank both of you for your help so far! But I have a few questions on your replies.

How would I use "apt-get"? I downloaded the modules from the link given by Emerson, and I also downloaded the microcode given by samstar but I am not sure how to use either.

I apologize for the "newbie" questions. I come from a Windows background and used to everything just "working" but I am eager to learn and be part of the Linux community.

Thanks!

http://www.us.debian.org/doc/manuals.../index.en.html

http://www.us.debian.org/doc/

Debian has great documentation.

Thank you very much. That helped tons. I was unaware of the documentation that Debian has!

Hello everyone. I have a question regarding Intel Wireless Card. I saw a lot of information about that in internet but I have one problem. When i try to: apt-get install ipw3945-modules-$(uname -r) ipw3945d firmware-ipw3945 i receive a message: E: Couldn't find package ipw3945-modules-2.6.26-2-686

ok I found a solution: http://wiki.debian.org/iwlwifi

aptitude install firmware-iwlwifi

it works