I have a workstation loaded with Debian 4.0 that works fine except that I can't get it connected to my home wireless network. This workstation was previously running Windows XP and uses a Linksys PCI wireless card.

After some research it appeared that the only way to make this work was to install a package called ndiswrapper. I found instructions for doing so on a couple of websites and tried that but in both cases I end up at a pop up window that displays the following.

module-assistant, error message

Installation of the ndiswrapper-source source failed.

Ignoring this package. Maybe you need to add something to sources.list, maybe the contrib and non-free archives.

Being new to Linux I haven't a clue what this is referring to.

Can anyone help shed some light on how to get ndiswrapper installed on Debian 4.0?

Can you post the errors? Saying it gave an error doesn't really help.

The error message was quoted exactly as displayed on the screen in the original message.

The following lines are what was displayed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
module-assistant, error message

Installation of the ndiswrapper-source source failed.

Ignoring this package. Maybe you need to add something to sources.list, maybe the contrib and non-free archives.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above lines are what is displayed in the window that pops up after running the commands detailed in the web page

Debian forums

entitled Ndiswrapper the easy Debian way...

Here are the commands that I ran (as listed in the instructions).

su
aptitude update
aptitude install module-assistant ndiswrapper-source ndiswrapper-utils
m-a prepare
m-a a-i ndiswrapper

My workstation is equipped with a Linksys WMP11 PCI Adapter which worked fine when I was running Windows XP.

Could you post your sources.list ?

cat /etc/apt/sources.list
could be a simple misconfiguration in your sources list that is causing all the grief.
(CDROM install media not commented out in sources.list is a common misconfiguration)

did you install build essential ?

aptitude install build-essential

did you update and prepare module asisstant before trying to build the module ?

m-a update
m-a prepare
m-a a-i ndiswrapper

As I indicated in my post I am for the most part a Windows veteran and do not know what steps are required to install an additional package within Linux. I find Linux to not be user freindly at all!

You did not respond with the information I requested even though I provided the command you needed to type to provide that information.

Not sure what we can do for you, if you won't even try....

dbl post DOH !!

Ok, allow me to try and guide you through what farslayer wants you to do, step by step.

1. Open a terminal (the terminal is the Linux command line, similar the cmd command in Windows)
2. type:
This command will return your sources.list file entries. Sources.list is how the Debian package managers (Synaptic (GUI), apt-get (command line) and aptitude (command line) find the packages on the servers to download and install them. When the cat command returns your sources.list, please post it here. If you do, we can help you further. Linux is very user friendly in most cases, it just takes some getting used to

You might try Auto-NDISwrapper
http://easylinuxwifi.org/


A Ubuntu howto but it applies to Debian also.

HOWTO: WLan via Ndiswrapper - Ubuntu Forums
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=31926

Debian User Forums :: View topic - Ndiswrapper the easy Debian way...
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=17719


NdisWrapper: The Ultimate Guide - LinuxQuestions.org
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...ltimate_Guide/

Here is what I get with the command supplied.
------------------------------------------------------
csellers@debian:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r4a _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20080803-21:07]/ etch contrib main

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r4a _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20080803-21:07]/ etch contrib main

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
# deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
csellers@debian:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r4a _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20080803-21:07]/ etch contrib main

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r4a _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20080803-21:07]/ etch contrib main

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
# deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
csellers@debian:~$
-------------------------------------------------------------
I really would prefer having the ability to directly interact with someone to learn more about Debian Linux and how to get it to work resonably as a replacement for Windows.

As I think I stated from the outset I am new to Linux and not familiar with all the command line entries that can be used. I am a DOS person from long ago. I appreciate the help and appologize if I do not respond immediately. I kind of gave up on this for a while. I would still like to get it working if at all possible.

I would edit the sources list
Comment out the line for the CD
Un-comment the line for the security repository.

Original
New
open a shell
applications -> accessories -> terminal

at the prompt switch to rthe root user using su then edit the source.list file

linuxbox:~$ su -
password:
linuxbox:~# nano /etc/apt/sources.list


If you want direct interaction, my best recommendation is to find a LUG (Linux Users Group) in your area.
Search in Google for 'City' 'State' LUG

The only repo in your sources.list is security.

Follow farslayer's directions to use nano to edit your /etc/apt/sources.list

Then make it look like:
You might also want backports and debian-multimedia.org

# Debian Stable Backports
# For information visit
# http://www.backports.org/dokuwiki/do...d=instructions
# apt-get install debian-backports-keyring
#deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib non-free

# Marillat For info visit http://www.debian-multimedia.org
# Unstable
#deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch main

Once you have updated your sources.list do:

su
aptitude update
aptitude install build-essential module-assistant ndiswrapper-source ndiswrapper-utils
m-a prepare
m-a a-i ndiswrapper

The Guide here will walk you through the steps:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...ht=ndiswrapper

You also might consider installing sidux, etch is a bit aged.
Then follow : http://manual.sidux.com/en/internet-...swrapper-basic

If you need help I would suggest using irc, Debian has a channel on irc.oftc.net and on irc.freenode.net then join #debian or ##linux.

Here's something you might like.

http://tldp.org/guides.html

Welcome to linux.

I took a brief look at the site above and it looks like there is a lot of information that I can use there. I have not taken the time at this point to delve into anything in particular but will definately add this one to my bookmarks.

Thanks again!

I thought the linksys cards running broadcom chips that are supported if you added the firmware.
any way if farslyer and craigevil cant get you through this no one can