Netgear WG121 USB adapter
 

Hey, I'm having some problems with my wireless usb adapter. It doesn't work on Linux; I think it is a driver issue. Anybody know if anything at http://www.linux-wlan.org/ will help me? Even if it does I'll be slowed down to 11Mbps, but that's good enough for an internet connection.

only other place I could think of would be http://www.prism54.org under supported cards it says unkown.

Their forums: http://prism54.org/forums/viewtopic....&highlight=usb

Shoot. This sucks. Out of all the different brands and speeds, my dad picks this one...

What's worse is that on the box it said that Linux was supported!

Though it says unknown, doesn't the site indicate some successful use? I also bought the Netgear WG121 and am hopeful that I can use it in conjuction with Fedora.

I have the same adapter as you, and http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz shows what chipset it is. I am installing it on my Gentoo linux box, hopefully it will work :). It is the PRISM GT, btw...


I tried to install it, but i am having probs with linux-wlan-ng

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!! it is working! WD121 under a Linux build.

After working through several issues on the SuSE 8.1 system, it became increasingly obvious that the 2.4.19 kernel would not do several of the things that I needed so I spent a little time looking at other builds and kernels. It was decided that Mandrake 10.0 would probably be the best for our purposes. I can write a lot about the difference in the builds, but this message is to say that the Net Gear WG121 is working (if fact that is what is making the connection which is allowing me to post this message) and it was not that difficult after all.

After getting Mandrake loaded and understanding the differences between it and SuSE it was REALLY easy.

I kept a copy of the ifcfg file from SuSE and copied it into /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
with the console. That file contains:

BOOTPROTO='dhcp'
REMOTE_IPADDR=''
LABEL='wg121'
STARTMODE='hotplug'
UNIQUE=''
WIRELESS='yes'
WIRELESS_ESSID='emp48'
WIRELESS_KEY=''
WIRELESS_MODE='Managed'
WIRELESS_NICK=''
WIRELESS_NWID=''
DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF='yes'
DHCLIENT_SET_DEFAULT_ROUTE='yes'

I down loaded the driverloader for Mandrake 2.6.3-7mdr (my kernel) from linuxant and installed it with by double clicking on it. Then in /usr/sbin I executed dldrconfig and to the default responses to the script then open browser to 127.0.0.1:18020/ to load inf files from the Vendor CD-ROM. This all worked fine after I got the license stuff done.

Note, I did not change any of the defaults. so the Driverloader set its configuration as eth1, so when I copied the ifcfg file, I copied it to ifcfg-eth1

Then I read linuxant's FAQs and did a “iwlist span” from the console and there it was. I then took the big step of unplugging the lan cable and I am still talking!!!

It works and I learned much more about Linux wireless networking than I think I ever wanted to know.

Patrick

Ok, this is kinda a repeat thread, but anyways, Linuxant requires you to buy a license. I use linux because it's free. I dont want to pay extra for it to be on linux. Use the free trial to quickly do some updates and stuff. I can't wait till the usb drivers work at 100%!

Architecture Followup
 

I agree that Linux should be free, but I consider this a cost related to the hardware I selected, I could have selected a different, supported) adapter and would not have to go through this pain and cost.

An update on the configuration:
We have installed the wireless network in an 1870's Belgian house with 5 floors. The wireless router is on the first floor and the small network that we want is on the 3rd floor. The arhitecture that I am trying to install is a wireless connection to the router and a small hub with one other machine on the 3rd floor. This means that I need to get the normal Ethernet adapter on the Mandrake machine configured and set-up Internet sharing.

Sounds simple right? Well, I am not sure if it is a problem with Mandrake wanting to automatically control the interfaces or with Linuxant's DriverLoader but every time I try to configure it this way the whole thing falls over.

Here is the architecture that works:
Mandrake 10.0 using Net gear WG121 as eth0 with the Linuxant DriverLoader

Here is what I have attempted:
1.Configure new connection eth1 using Mandrake utilities – this steps on the ifcfg-eth0 file that I had to create manually, because the Mandrake utilities do not full recognizes the DriverLoader
2.Configure the DriverLoader as wlan0 or any other interface (using 3 different methods) but it will only work as eth0.

Getting the correct usbdrivers might solve these problems. I do not consider the Linuxant solution a long term solution, just a way to get the base working (if not well).

Use the ndiswrapper and uninstall that driver. ndiswrapper uses wlan0 instead.

ndiswrapper = free, just not a "friendly" as Linuxant.

P.S. You live in Belgium!? If so, where?

Oh, and so this would be the architecture?

Floor 3__[wifi]---Mandrake---[wired]---HUB---[wired]---[diff. comps]
Floor 2____|______________________________
Floor 1_ [router]---[wired]---(Internet)__________

Yes, Belgium - Antwerp

Your diagram of the architecture is pretty much correct, however, there are two machines on the first floor with the router.

I will attempt the ndiswrapper, but am not real familar with compling and building source in the linux environment. Maybe this is a good place to learn.