trying to set up wireless network with BT Voyager 1040 PCI
 

OK, here's my first question! Not just new to list, but new to Linux, so TIA for your patience.

Desktop PC running Ubuntu 9.04, installed off a LiveCD packaged in a "... for Dummies" book.

Got BT Voyager 1040 PCI wireless card, had it for some time, and it works fine with my home wireless hub under W98.

On advice elsewhere on this site, identified it as PCI ID 14e4:4320; got hold of and installed ndiswrapper, which as far as I can tell I've done OK, and got hold of driver files for the card, and extracted TWO .inf files and one .sys file -- and found a helpful page (specific to this card) that told me that both .inf files needed to be in the same directory, but that I should ask ndiswrapper to install just the bcmwl5a.inf and ignore the bcmwl5.inf. This is just to explain the presence of both of those in the terminal dump below. What I find harder to explain is the presence of "(alternate driver: ssb)" -- since, on advice, I edited the blacklist.conf file to include the line "blacklist ssb". I wonder if that's causing the mischief?

Anyway, as far as I can tell, the drivers seem to be installed, and the OS has recognized their association with the card, but once I *load* the drivers, the machine still doesn't know the card's there! All that's reported as present, afaik, is a loopback, and pan0, which I understand is a Bluetooth thing. (Afaik, I don't need that bit, so should I be disabling it? If so, how?)

I'd be grateful to anyone that can get me further forward! Here's my session...

root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# ls
AUTHORS bcmwl5.sys INSTALL ndiswrapper SessionLog bcmwl5a.inf ChangeLog loadndisdriver ndiswrapper.spec utils bcmwl5.inf driver Makefile README

root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5a : driver installed
device (14E4:4320) present (alternate driver: ssb)

root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# depmod -a
root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# modprobe ndiswrapper

root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# tail /var/log/messages
Sep 16 21:37:35 piers-desktop kernel: [ 30.309168] type=1505 audit(1316205453.411:6): operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" name2="default" pid=1868
Sep 16 21:37:35 piers-desktop kernel: [ 30.669790] type=1505 audit(1316205453.775:7): operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" name2="default" pid=1873
Sep 16 21:37:35 piers-desktop kernel: [ 30.670864] type=1505 audit(1316205453.775:8): operation="profile_load" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" name2="default" pid=1873
Sep 16 21:37:35 piers-desktop kernel: [ 30.753413] type=1505 audit(1316205453.855:9): operation="profile_load" name="/usr/sbin/tcpdump" name2="default" pid=1877
Sep 16 21:37:36 piers-desktop kernel: [ 33.847150] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
Sep 16 21:37:36 piers-desktop kernel: [ 33.847164] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
Sep 16 21:37:37 piers-desktop kernel: [ 33.895718] Bridge firewalling registered
Sep 16 21:57:34 piers-desktop -- MARK --
Sep 16 22:17:34 piers-desktop -- MARK --
Sep 16 22:37:35 piers-desktop -- MARK --

root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: pan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN
link/ether c2:ee:55:0f:7b:a2 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

root@piers-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.56# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

Don't know if this will help you but did you try downloading & installing: Wicd Network Manager?

ndiswrapper can be inconsistent.

I had it work under Slackware 10 and fail to work under Slackware 12, with the same wireless PCMCIA device on the same computer.

Try running the lspci ("list pci") command in a terminal, then inspect the output for the lines that identify the wireless chipset (that's what counts, not the brand of the device), then post them here.

That way, we can determine whether or not it will work with native Linux drivers.

Thanks for suggestions... no, I haven't tried the Wicd Network Manager, but I think that's what I need on the *next* stage, isn't it? If I haven't got a network, I can't manage it!

Is the wireless chipset the Broadcom BCM4306 bit?

00:0a.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)

Or the PCI ID bit?

00:0a.0 Class 0280: 14e4:4230 (rev 03)

I didn't mention these in my original post just because they make an exact match with the info at http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...T_Voyager_1040 -- so I thought that probably wasn't the problem...