Newbie Alert - WMP54G setup - and I'm clueless!
 

For starters, I have joined so many linux forums that I can't remember which ones I have joined and which ones I haven't.

I am having one hell of a time getting my wifi working on my linux box. I am running Debian Sarge. I have installed wireless tools (or I tried at least), ndiswrapper, and the drivers listed for my version. I have followed the destructions on the ndiswrapper website up to the point where I am supposed to type "modprobe ndiswrapper". When I do this, I get an error saying "modprobe: module ndiswrapper not found" or something close to this. I have no idea where to go from here and if anyone could help me out here I would appreciate it.

That error usually means something went horribly wrong with the compile process. Did anything happen when you ran make or make install?

Thanks for the quick reply!

To answer your question, I have no idea! I have had so much trouble along the way that I really don't remember what went wrong and how. Would it be easier to start over with the debian package of wireless tools and ndiswrapper and go from there? If so what do I need to do to get back to a clean install (do I need to uninstall and how)?

Travis

Modprobe is something that can only be done as root.

Open a console
Type su
Type the root password
Then type modprobe ndiswrapper

Also, http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...iewcat&catid=1 has several Linksys howtos - I have found them to be helpful.

I was root when I attempted to modprobe ndiswrapper... I will check out the link later on though.

The wireless tools I'm not so worried about (at least at this point) but it might be a good idea to start over on the ndiswrapper bit. For this I would actually start with the source code from ndiswrapper rather than the debian package. The reason I'm suggesting that is that if the debain package was compilied against a different kernel than you are using, it will cause problems. If you've found the ndiswrapper wiki site, I would follow those instructions on removing the existing install of ndiswrapper, and then go through the install and post any errors. Also, be sure to have the kernel source code installed. Ndiswrapper needs that to compile. If it isn't already installed (in /usr/src), then you should be able to find the debian package on the CDs or at the debian site. Be sure to install the version that matches your kernel version exactly.

Another way to go would be change gears, and install a different Debian distro that picks up all that stuff automatically. One example that I now use is SimplyMEPIS (here) which has ndiswrapper all installed and has picked up without hassle the wireless cards I have tried on it so far.

I personally hate repeatedly screwing around with the wireless card thing--there's so much else I want to do with and learn about Linux--and so have kept changing distros until I found one that just worked and left me alone.

Ok plan A - Try to get what I have working. I will follow the instructions posted on the ndiswrapper website on uninstalling everything. How do I check to see if I have the kernel source code has been installed? And do I just start from the beginning of the directions with the ndiswrapper source code?

Plan B - Which distro would be a good version for a beginner that I can use wifi on (easily) but still have a powerful enough distro to keep me busy for a while?

If I were you, Iwould download the live CD of SimplyMEPIS and a couple of other distros (check out LQ's site), see which ones run wifi w/o trouble on your machine, and install the one of those you like the best. Almost all of them will give you more than enough power to keep you busy for a couple of years.

But hey, everyone has their own preference for pain...

Have a look in /usr/src, there should be a directory there either named linux, or linux-kernelversionnumber. If there isn't anything there, you don't have your source code installed. Note that most distro's dont' install the source code by default.

Yeah, that would good. If you haven't seen it, ndiswrapper has Sarge specific instructions that include compiling from source.

Jerry, Thanks for your input... except there isn't a linux that I DO like at this point - but I'm not planning on giving up quite yet.

Can anyone narrow down the distro's to a couple that are easy to install, easy to set up wireless lan and that have a gui installed with them?

As for re-doing the ndiswrapper install, I am leaning towards going with another distro, but I may try to get it working before doing so - and if I some how screw up and fix this problem, I may just keep ol' debian around a while longer...

Sounds good. For the record, SimplyMEPIS is a Debian-based distro...

You should be aware that wireless is currently a bit of a mess in Linux, and there isn't a single distro that is significantly better than another in this regard. The main issue is that many wireless card makers don't offer any linux support and distro-hopping doesn't solve that particular problem. For the cards that do have linux support, the support tends to be kernel based, not distro based. If you're not happy with Debian, or simply want to try something else, fine. But don't switch in hopes of finding wireless nirvana, because it simply isn't out there.

That makes sense, so do you recommend sticking with Debian and just working through the wireless problem, or is there a better (more powerful/user friendly) distro that you would recommend for a noobie?

As far as power goes, it really depends on how you define "power". Me, I'm one of those freaks of nature that actually LIKES a command line, so Slackware works well for me. Debian is a well-tested distro with lots of help available even if it isn't the most new-user friendly, and the fact that you've got it installed is a big plus. Unbuntu seems to be developing a reputation as a good first distro and Mandrake has a well-deserved reputation as an easier to use distro. Jerry's suggestion of Mepis is a good one too, however if you plan on getting wireless up and running, working with a live CD distro may not be the best approach. Wireless frequently involves a lot of tinkering and that can be more difficult to repeat and keep working on a CD-based distro.

My opinion is that people make a bigger deal of the differences between distro's than is warranted. When you actually start doing stuff instead of tinkering, the differences tend to fade into the background. Personally, if I had Debian up and running, I would stick with that. However, if you're still in the early stages of installation and you're seriously concerned about initial ease of use, Unbuntu or Mandrake would be worth a look.

That's good advice, Hangdog. My only point as a noob is that a distro that has ndiswrapper already installed and a number of drivers already loaded will provide a much happier starting-with-Linux experience, especially when a single command will load any other driver needed. I actually don't understand why every distro doesn't have this, at least as an option, with a common database available to all from which the required driver can be automatically downloaded and installed at system installation.

Finally, SSgT, remember that you have another option if you really like what you have installed: spend $40 and buy a card that works out of the box with Linux. Netgear's WG511, for instance, is available from Amazon within a couple of days, and works fine w/o ndiswrapper. Good wireless hardware compatibility list at http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz

Ok I decided to give up on Debian, and I downloaded and installed Mandrake 10.1. I am learning this slowly, but I am trying to figure out how to install the kernel source. I am not sure what it is talking about in the ndiswrapper install instructions, nor do I have any idea how to do this. I have already downloaded the ndiswrapper source and from what I understand the wireless tools is already part of this distro of mandrake (I tried iwconfig and recognized the command, so I'm assuming that it is already installed and working). Can anyone provide me with a quick answer to this question so I can continue with my install? Thanks,

Travis

I haven't seen anything better than this: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/p...p/Installation

Click on the "Distributions" link, then on "Mandrake 10.1"

Good luck!

Of course, I *still* think the easiest is to start with the live CD of SimplyMEPIS and then, after you see that it picks up your card (or if not, you will have to install the driver using the command as root: ndiswrapper -i <driver>), install it on the hard drive and never look back...

I followed the directions from the distro-specific section of ndiswrapper website:

Mandrake 10.1 has built in the ACX100 Sourceforge Project Driver as a kernel module, you will need to remove this before install the ndiswrapper

HOW?

To get out ACX100/111-Support, you can do "find /lib/modules/ -name acx*" or look in /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/kernel/3rdparty/acx100 then you have the list of this module components, move them for example in ( /usr/src/backup/ ) to keep a copy, for the end do "depmod -a"

Additionally you will have to remove NDISwrapper support from the Kernel (version 0.8, really old) for newer ndiswrapper versions to work. It should be located somewhere like this: /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/kernel/3rdparty/ndiswrapper. Move it to a backup directory as explained above, and finally enter "depmod -a". All of the above has to be done as ROOT.

after doing this I read this on Mandrake's website:

How To / Linksys Sans filG
WPC54G(FR)
802.11g / 2.4Ghz / 54Mbps
– In terminal on root :
#urpmi ndiswrapper
– Inser cdrom Linksys or Download driver Windows
# cd /mnt/cdrom or directory driver.
#ndiswrapper i
lsbcmnds.inf (instal driver Windows)
#ndiswrapper l
(Listing Driver & Hardware present)
#ndiswrapper m
(Add alias wlan0 in modprobe.conf)
– Reboot your system
– Verify in #lsmod ndiswrapper was present in list module.
– In terminal on root or with MCC
#drakconnet
– Configure your Wlan0 > ! CAUTION ! WEP Key don't work.
– Verify your configuration with : #iwconfig wlan0
(If you don't have iwconfig or iwlist install wirelesstools)
– Open your WebBrowser
and test your connection
www.mandrakesoft.com.

(edit: I know that this is not the same wifi card that I have, but I figured that the install would be the same except for the driver. If I am wrong please tell me)

I couldn't get past the first step. I also experimented with the generic instructions on the ndiswrapper install page. I couldn't get ndiswrapper (source code) to install for some reason. I then deleted all of the files that I copied from floppy (ndiswrapper source code), and moved the /ndiswrapper and /acx100 folders back to their original locations. I tried urpmi ndiswrapper again (while in the /lib/modules/2.6.8.1.12mdk/kernel/3rdpary/ directory. Still no ndiswrapper package error message. I am re-installing mandrake to see if that will fix something (and so I can start over clean in case I have screwed something up) and I guess I will go from there.

There is one thing I can now help anyone here do. If anyone needs someone to install Debian woody, Vector Linux, Debian Sarge, or Mandrake linux - I'm your guy. I don't know crap about this OS, but I have installed these distros several times in about the last two weeks. Now if I could just get the hang of the other stuff....

Still no luck. I keep getting the following error when I try to "make" while in the ndiswrapper directory (of the source that I installed):

can't find kernel sources in /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/build; give the path to kernel sources with KSRC=<path> argument to make
make[1]:*** [prereq_check] error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/travis/ndiswrapper-1.1/driver'
make: *** [all] Error 2

From what I can tell this has something to do with the kernel source. What haven't I done and how do I do it?

Sorry, Travis, I can't help you here--because this is about the moment I said there is no point to my spending so much time on this! Some big Linux gun is going to have to answer you here.

BTW: Just for the fun of it, why don't you download SimplyMEPIS, run it as a live CD, install your driver if you have to, and see if the damn thing just works? Having ndiswrapper all installed is a huge saver of time and aggravation.

I'll give that a try until I get an answer to my question...

It seems that I remember there being a live cd version on the mandrake install CD or DVD. Is that correct?

Not sure. I left Mandrake 10.1 over this very issue, and have not paid much attention since...

Sorry, was away for a couple of days........

OK, I need you to confirm that you do have the kernel source code installed in /usr/src. You should see a directory there named something like linux-2.6.8.1-12mdk. If you don't see that, then you need to find the RPM for the kernel source code and install it.

If the souce code is there, then, as root, issue the following command in the console:

export KSRC=/usr/src/linux-2.6.8.1-12mdk (but adjust the linux bit to whatever the real path to the kernel source code is. Then you should be able to follow the ndiswrapper install instructions.

Ok I have checked in the /usr/src directory and the only thing there is a RPM/ directory which contains a RPMS/ directory which contains atholon/, i386/, i486/, i586/, i686/, k6/, and noarch/. I think all of these directories are empty (all that I checked).

How do I go about installing the source if it is not there (where do I find and how do I extract the RPM files)?

This frist result from Googling "Mandrake kernel source" might help:

http://www.speculation.org/garrick/kernelprep.html

No I was able to list a couple of packages but when I tried installing them, it said that it was already installed. I tried rpm -q kernel-source and rpm -q kernel-source-2.6 and neither worked. I then tried rpm -qa | grep kernel and it listed one package kernel-2.6.8.1.12mdk-1-1mdk. When I attempted to install it with rpm -i it said it couldn't find the file or directory. I also tried urpmi kernel-2.6.8.1.12mdk-1-1mdk and it said that everything was already installed.

Not quite sure what is going on, but I sure would like to find out soon!

The RPM you are looking for is here

Thanks for the link, BUT it is saying you have to be a member in order to D/L it. Is there anyplace (or anyone) I can download this from since it seems that it is the only thing that is holding me back!!!

Also, after getting my hands on this file, how do I go about installing it?

Seriously though, I appreciate everyone's help on this, and I thank you for putting up with me for this long. Don't give up now!!!

D'OH! I'm starting to have a much better appreciation of Slackware.......... One thing to remember is that most linux distros have mirror sites that are freely available. Usually rummaging through a Google search brings up a mirror or two.


You can find a freely accessible version of that file here . You should find it about half way down the page. Since it is an RPM file, you should be able to install it as you would any other RPM package.

I found the file. At first I was looking at the wrong one...

Also, keep in mind that I know nothing about linux. I have followed several sets of instructions online, but really not sure WHAT it is that I'm doing. As far as installing a RPM file, there seems to be two ways to install it. One, rpm -i <filename.rpm>, and the second is urpmi <filename.rpm>. Is this correct and is one command preferred over the other?

I found this explanation of the urpm tools, and it looks like for Mandrake, those are the ones to use. The ability to resolve dependencies could be particularly valuable for a new user.

Ok that's the one I used and I got an error saying "some package cannot be installed (due to unsatisfied gcc)". I guess I am going to google and see what (or if) I can find.

When you installed Mandrake, did you install development toos? GCC is the C compiler that comes with pretty much every distro, however you may have the option of not installing it. If you didn't install it, do so and see if that does the trick.

ok let me try that.... I'll be back I'm sure!

Ok I finally got GCC and the kernel source installed without any errors. In the usr/src directory, there is still no linux-xxxxxxxx folder.

Just to check what I did, I copied the kernel source rpm file to a CD and in a terminal window (as root) typed:

urpmi kernel-2.6.8.1.12mdk-1-1mdk.src.rpm

It ran for a second and stopped with no errors. I then checked the /usr/src directory to see if the folder was there and it wasn't. Is there another step that I left out?

This makes no sense to me. Is there anything in the /usr/src directory? By the way, be sure you are using /usr/src, not usr/src (you had both in the last post). They are NOT the same thing at all.

The only thing in the /usr/src directory is the /RPM directory that I listed previously. There is no /build directory in /usr/src. How would I search for a directory in linux (either in GUI or terminal)? Also the source file that I listed should be the correct one, right?

One other thing I need to do is check dmesg after installing the source code and see if it lists anything out of the ordinary.

Well I got it. I will post back in a little while exactly what I did - hopefully the next person will not have as much trouble as me.

I still can not connect to the internet through my browser, but I am very close now...

Thanks for all the help.

I am now connected!!!

I am writing this from my linux box. I ended up using the GUI setup tool to get it finalized but I was real close before that. All that matters is that I made it this far. Now the real fun can begin!!!

(I am still planning to post the newbie version of the steps I took to get this working...)

Congratulations! How much time all together...?

Too Much!!!

Here's the deal. GCC needed to be installed during the original install of Linux. This is done by checking 'Development' package during install. It is on CD-2.

Then I tried installing the src package that I downloaded. It ran with no errors but didn't display anything on the screen. Then I tried typing 'urpmi kernel-source-2.6'. I was then instructed to insert CD-3 of the 10.1 distro. After doing that the src installed successfully. Then I followed the ndiswrapper instructions with no problem up to bringing the adapter online. I then ran drakconf.real (under system>configuration>configure your computer). I went through the GUI wizard and it was working perfectly after that.

Hopefully anyone having trouble gets ahold of this before they waste a couple of weeks like I did.

Congrats on sticking it out. You know, you might want to add your experiences to the discussion about this card that is going on in HCL listing here.

done. Thanks for the advice.

New question that is related to this post....

Any time I restart my computer, the wireless lan will not connect from KDE. I also have tried ifup wlan0 from a terminal window as root and it still doesn't bring the lan up. The only way I can get it back up is to modprobe ndiswrapper, then do an ifup wlan0 and the lan comes up fine. Is this normal?

It does happen a lot. What I would do would be to use a start-up script that runs at the end of the boot sequence and loads ndiswrapper and runs ifup. Basically the script just needs those two commands in it and most (all?) linux distros have a script that is intended for users to add things like this. In Slackware it is called rc.local, but I'm not entirely sure how Mandrake handles this.