Thanks.

Fedora Core 1 with kernel 2.4.21 caused probs with Ndiswrapper. But moved to Fedora Core 2 (2.6.5) and Ndiswrapper 0.8 and things are much better.

The problems I described are still present but they are manageable, i.e. lock up for 1 second not 10. Perhaps I just need a faster machine.....

Matt

finally got it working,
got the whole idea from post # 80
kernel: 2.4.20-8, redhat 9.0 stock kernel
driver: suse at http://www.geocities.com/tricky886@sbcglobal.net/

have to uncomment "timer_r" in r8180_types.h to get it to compile.
40-bit encryption working right now.
card: Gigafast WF721-AEX with rtl8180 chipset

after compile successd,
do following by hand.
when i do all this command in a script. it just wouldn't work out!!!
Strange!!

insmod rtl8180.o
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para ssid=yournetwork
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para ssid2scan=yournetwork
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para networktype=infra
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para authtype=sharedkey
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepmode=wep40
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepdkey=0 # gaves some error on mine, saying "Transfer wepdkey failed!". don't bother, keep going
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepkey40_1=aaaaaaaaaa
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepkey40_2=aaaaaaaaaa
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepkey40_3=aaaaaaaaaa
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepkey40_4=aaaaaaaaaa
iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para hiddenAP=true

you might want to just wait a minute or two before going on to next step. i been having issue with this. however, if i wait around 2minutes. it will work with no problem!!

iwpriv wlan0 enable # dmesg should spit out something like "yournetwork recognized on channel number"
ifconfig wlan0 addr netmask masknumber
route add default gw gatewaynumber

be sure to replace aaaaaaaaaa, gatewaynumber, masknumber, addr , yournetwork with correctly parameter.

also, be sure you have a file "ifcfg-wlan0" in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/

it should lookes like

<!-- start -->
DEVICE=wlan0
NETMASK=masknumber
GATEWAY=gatewaynumber
BOOTPROTO=none
PEERDNS=yes
HWADDR=your card's mac addr
ONBOOT=no
BROADCAST=172.16.255.255
<!-- end -->

your card's mac address should be find in /proc/rtl8180/status if it's recognized correctly

if you receive "RTL8180: Neither joining a BSS or starting an IBSS", STOP and reboot your computer. because every time i get that, nothing is going to work out.
if it keeps coming, restart your router and try again!


<font color:red>NOTE: Have to turn "ESSID Broadcast" on in order for this to work!</font>
also, everyone out there who has a wireless card with rtl8180 chipset. please send a e-mail to me to get me know what's your card's model number and brand. or fcc number would be great.
my e-mail is tricky886@sbcglobal.net

what i am trying to do is to host a list of wireless cards which has rtl8180 chipset.

hope it helps.

Thanks all - I got it working now too!

it's good to hear that.
but could you gave more information on the timing since i am having trouble with script loading?

please spread the news and let finegan know.
also, what kind card do you have?
please let me know.
i appreciate that

finegan is the man, linux master.

anybody know the name of the author of the driver?
e-mail address?

I have to say this has been one of the most frustrating, trivial tasks I have ever witnessed.

After getting the 'kernel source' error, I installed the 2.6.3 Kernel source and am still getting the error.

Something about needing to link one directory to another.

Anybody know how to do that?

Thanks for all your help.

well, the problem is the driver was originally written for 2.4.x kernel
so it's a kind of common sense to know that it probably wouldn't work well in the latest kernel(no offense)

It points to the correct Kernel version. The links are just broken.

I am abandoning this method and have used linuxant successfully. The $20 is better than two days farting around with this way.

shamusfu: Save your money and download ndiswrapper. In less than ten minutes you can have your card all set up. It looks like you've been using the old realtek drivers. If you had read a couple of pages back you would have found that they do not work for kernels 2.4.22 and above. Ndiswrapper and driverloader both are your only options, but ndiswrapper is not only cheaper but will teach you simple networking commands, ones you'll need down the line and which you won't learn by paying linuxant. See my signature. It's a little old, but it's what got my up and running, and if you need more help, goggle is truly a man's best friend.

Just an update:
I had been using wired internet access for a while now instead of wireless (having direct access to the new router). After obtaining an old laptop, I decided to turn it into a small fileserver/webserver. With me not having a NIC close by and deciding not to buy one, I took my old rtl8180 card and popped it in. Installing Slack10, the only post install procedures relating to getting internet set up and running wirelessly was to install ndiswrapper. After burning version 0.8 (as version 0.9 seems to have some problems) and the newest drivers from windows xp, I copied them to my home directory and proceeded with the installation.

After a quick 'ndiswrapper -i <driver>.INF' and 'modprobe ndiswrapper', I then proceeded to setup networking options.

iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan0 key <KEY>
iwconfig wlan0 essid YOUR_ESSID

/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.10 up

After pinging the router to test if it all worked til then I did one last command:

dhcpcd wlan0

After a quick 'ping google.com' to test if it all worked, I then ran apache and proftp by restarting inetd and doing a 'httpd'. (All this was done within a 10 minute period as it was a last minute decision before a plane flight where I needed to leave in 15!)

This was all in Slack 10 and kernel 2.4.26. It should work for kernel 2.6.7. Do not try to deal with the realtek linux drivers unless you want less hair on your head and security within your system (must be used kernel 2.4.21 and below). REPEAT! Use ndiswrapper. Driverloader is not needed.

After dealing with both prism cards (mostly work without extra configuration) and realtek cards, it has gotten to a point where it is not too much of a hassle. If you have the money, support the open source movement and buy a prism card. If you end up with a realtek card, or are truly short on cash, ndiswrapper is your friend.

hi everyone,
i also have a rtl8180 chip on my pci-card and it still doesnt work.
i've read this thread and your instructions, coindood, and i also
googled almost the whole day.
here some more details:
distribution: gentoo
kernel: 2.6.5-gentoo-r1
ndiswrapper-version: 0.8
[EDIT] tried with ndiswrapper-version 0.10 too, same problem [/EDIT]

i compiled ndiswrapper, installed the xp-driver and modprobed it.
worked well so far:
allright, now the difference to you all. I'm trying to use the card in my
old p3 which should work like an accesspoint. its connected to the internet
and should route packages to some laptops round here
this already worked with driverloader but that crappy trial-license ran almost
off and im not willing to pay, of course.
so i iwconfig the card like this:
you will notice the difference, its ad-hoc this time, because ndiswrapper
and the chip dont support Master mode. I think here is also the problem,
because it doesnt work.

oh, to complete the thing, here is the ifconfig-output
so it doesnt work to ping the interface from my laptop (yes,
i am sure i got the right essid etc.) and i cant ping the laptop
from the desktop...

i figured out that its not a routing-problem or sth like that.
i also scanned with a windows-pc for the net, it was there
but i could not connect to it... same problem as with the
laptop (which is running gentoo 2.6.5 too)

so maybe anyone got another idea?

thanks


mac


ps: sorry for the bad english, but im kinda tired from trying
to handle this mess here for the whole day. its half past 2 am
over here, going to bed now... hope anyone can help


[EDIT] tried with ndiswrapper-version 0.10 too, same problem [/EDIT]

Hello, I'm new here!

I'm trying to make my Realtek 8180 card to work. I have RH9 with the original kernel.
I've installed ndiswrapper-0.10 and it works fine with the latest XP driver. But I have a major problem: it works only with channels 1-11 (FCC). I need my card to work with channel 13 (in ETSI mode). How can I do that? I think the Windows driver works in default mode with FCC. Can I change that?

Please help!

Hello,

I have tried following the ndiswrapper instructions presented by coindood but ran into some trouble.
The answer seems like it will be really easy so I hope someone can help

Im running slackware 10, ndiswrapper 8 with realtek8180 XP drivers.

I had no trouble getting slack to find wlan0 device and I am able to get it to ping the router just fine, however I cant ping any websites.
I also read I might need a ifcfg-wlan0 file, however there is no /etc/sysconfig directory to put it in.

SSID: linksys
Channel: 6
Router IP: 192.168.0.1
Starting IP Range for DHCP on router: 192.168.0.100

Now here is what I did once I got the wlan0 interface running.
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan0 essid "linksys"
iwconfig wlan0 channel 6
ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.100 up
route add default gw 192.168.0.1 wlan0
Ping router SUCCESS
Ping google FAILED

Anyone have any ideas?

that's because you haven't set ur DNS or Domain Name Server yet
in redhat you can use "neat", don't know about mandrake.
but i hope you get what u need