Hi there, looking for a little help getting my 'net connection working in Linux - I've been trying by myself for a bit and feel I've got neeeearly there, but it seems something isn't quite right with something.
I'm not really familiar with this router, a Linksys BEF something-or-other, so it could be something set wrong there (it works with my WindowsXP kit).
I'm using Mandrake Community 10.1, and it seems pretty sweet, probably the best linux I've tried so far and if I can just get over this hurdle I can put it as my main OS!
OK, so I've used ndiswrapper to install NETDLWL.INF, and it appears to check out good, with the output saying "hardware present". The activity light on the back flashes too.
At this point, I'm getting a little confused. The GUI for the network settings shows wlan0 as being "nVidia MCP ethernet" which is of course my NForce2's onboard LAN. Not sure why this is, if it's just cosmetic I can live with it - but it might be a problem?
I thought I'd make sure things went right (yeah, right ) by using Konsole to make sure things went as they should. However, things don't seem to change as I think they should. For instance, I tried typing "iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed", yet "iwconfig wlan0" returns "Ad-Hoc".
I've also had it change from listing my essid from the correct one to "off/any" - it then informs me that "network is up on interface wlan0" - yet I can ping no address but localhost...not even the router/ap!
I feel that something is b0rked that shouldn't be, if someone knowledgable could help me out with this I don't mind learning stuff (that's the reason I'm installing) and I'm just about good enough to know what you're talking about if you need more info (hopefully)!
Cheers for any help you can give me on this
Sheepeh
<edit> Just realised after a little googling that the netdlwl driver is the source of the constant pauses in Linux, so followed advice to use the RealTek ones. I already had those working in WindowsXP (the official D-Link ones blue screen every few minutes, so have the RealTek ones "hacked" already). They install fine, but don't give a "hardware present" message and wlan0 has disapeared from the interface list. Is that normal for the RealTek drivers? The Control Panel GUI shows the card as what it really is (D-Link DWL-510) so could this have a bearing on it? I'm getting a nasty feeling I'm changing things so much it's gonna be hell getting it working again
This is the first thing I've tried to set up, so if it looks like it is broken beyond repair it's not too much to just kill it and clean install. Here's hoping! </edit>