Just received a USB wireless adapter with driver CD. New to Linux, how do I install the driver? Thanks Al

Hi and welcome to LQ.

1) Which distribution and version are you using ?

2) What are the brand or manufacturer and model of this device ?

3) Plug it in and make sure it is switched on. Then wait 30 seconds, open a terminal and type:Send back the whole output.

4) While it is still plugged in type as root:Send back the results.

With all the answers hopefully we will be able to help you.

I am using Ubuntu 9.04 Beta

There is no brand name on the adapter, It is a wireless lan 802.11g USB adapter. I have the Driver CD that came with it.

I hope that this is what you asked for.

dmesg|tail
[ 86.403038] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[ 86.409453] ISOFS: changing to secondary root
[ 888.752223] ppdev0: registered pardevice
[ 888.800095] ppdev0: unregistered pardevice
[ 892.143713] ppdev0: registered pardevice
[ 892.192735] ppdev0: unregistered pardevice
[ 1805.220714] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 1806.616194] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 2406.176180] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 3006.177315] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
al@al-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8189 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187B Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
al@al-laptop:~$


Thanks for your help, Al

It's strange that we see nothing in dmesg's output about your adapter.

May be it was already plugged in when you started the computer? This could explain that.

To make sure: unplug it, then plug it again, wait 30 seconds, issue dmesg|tail again and send the results.

Anyway it shows in lsusb's output, which is good news, see this line:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8189 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187B Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Adapter

And even better you should have the relevant driver already installed as a kernel's module: it's name is rtl8187

To check that it is loaded, once the adapter is plugged in issue following command:
lsmod|rtl8187

It should output at least one line with rtl8187 in it.

If the output is empty, to make sure issue
lsmod
and check yourself that you have a line with rtl8187 in the output.

Anyway give us the results.

Unplugged, plugged back in with the following results

dmesg|tail
[ 382.542606] udev: renamed network interface wlan0 to wlan1
[ 403.289566] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[ 407.285111] wlan1: authenticate with AP 00:11:50:31:ed:d7
[ 407.286734] wlan1: authenticated
[ 407.286742] wlan1: associate with AP 00:11:50:31:ed:d7
[ 407.289086] wlan1: RX AssocResp from 00:11:50:31:ed:d7 (capab=0x401 status=0 aid=5)
[ 407.289092] wlan1: associated
[ 407.289624] wlan1: disassociating by local choice (reason=3)
[ 431.000334] e100: eth0: e100_watchdog: link down
[ 441.000251] e100: eth0: e100_watchdog: link up, 10Mbps, half-duplex
al@al-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8189 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187B Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

lsmod|rt8187
bash: rt8187: command not found

Thanks Al

Per dmesg's output the wireless interface is set up with name eth1 so all should be fine.

You just need to configure your wireless connection. I have no clue about how to do that with Ubuntu though.

About "command not found" that's my fault, I mistyped the command. Type instead:
dmesg|grep rtl8187
And there are three letters before the first 8, do not forget the l as in letter).

I do have a rtl6167 listed

Fine!

Then just set up your wireless connection. I guess there is some GUI for that in Ubuntu, as for choosing the network and inputting the WEP or (a lot safer) WPA key.

Thanks for your help, now maybe someone knows how to set it up. I've tried and am on line with hard wired but no luck wireless yet. Someone will know I bet. Have a good day. Al

applications-add/remove-select all available apps- search "windows wireless drivers" this program should allow you to use your windows driver to set up your connection. Now I have yet to use Jaunty 9.04, So don't count me as an expert here