hello im having problems installing madwifi, Main problem is i dont know how to start at all. I some one could take the time to help me step by step it would be most appriciated.

Start following this

Newbie HowTo

and tell us when you get stuck.

Since you're posting on this forum, I'm assuming you want the rpms for openSUSE 10.3. Here's a link for those:

http://madwifi.org/suse/10.3/

You need the madwifi rpm plus the kernel. Probably choose the default kernel for you if you've updated to the latest one.

Then you can use YaST to set it up.

i add the rpms and kernals to my YaST and i still cant get my wireless card to work. I may have installed madwifi wrong or something im still very new to linux. I have a athros wireless card. anymore help would be much appropriate.

Did you reboot after installing the new kernel?

What do the output of "iwconfig" and "ifconfig -a" show?

those commands are not working. also when i check my hardware it says that its not connected but that makes no since because it is. Also it knows what kind of hardware it is it just doesnt work and i cant get my madwifi working

What is the output of "lspci", "lshw", and optionally "lsusb"?

If the madwifi drivers are not working, I recommend using ndiswrapper.

ispci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8039 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 14)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
08:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
08:03.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
08:03.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)

isusb:
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:c521 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Also ill take help installing ndiswrapper or a website that explains it

Well, you have an Atheros wireless interface on your PCI bus. It is a b/g adapter, so it may be new, and therefore not supported by native drivers.

Here are the instructions for ndiswrapper. If you can get a package, you can skip the parts about downloading, compiling, and installing.

If you do have to build it from source, be aware that your kernel may have been compiled with a 4K stack. Mine was, and I had to re-build my kernel to get the latest version of ndiswrapper working.

You shouldn't need to use ndiswrapper if your wireless card has an atheros chipset. That's what the madwifi drivers are for.

To make sure you have the madwifi rpms installed correctly, please enter these commands in the terminal as root:

rpm -qa | grep madwifi

You should see two entries, one for the driver, and one for the kernel.

Also check to see if you have NetworkManager installed:

rpm -qa | grep NetworkManager

Look for NetworkManager and NetworkManager-kde. If these aren't installed you can install them from your disc with YaST.

Have you configured your wireless card with YaST?

Start YaST. On the left go to Network Devices then on the right choose network card. If your card is listed, highlight it and choose configure at the bottom. You can accept the defaults and choose whatever security and password you want. Click accept/finish.

Then you can use knetworkmanager to manage you wireless network.

Just a thought: Have you checked to see if the model of the NIC you have is supported by madwifi? What is the model number and manufacturer?

Wireless Network Card (not connected)
BusID : 0000:06:00.0
Unable to configure network card because kernel device is not present

Is what yast says but it is.

Here is what it says to what i entered in the terminal
dhcppc3:~ # rpm -qa | grep madwifi
madwifi-kmp-default-0.9.3.3_2.6.22.9_0.4-0.1
madwifi-0.9.3.99-36
madwifi-kmp-bigsmp-0.9.3.3_2.6.22.9_0.4-0.1
madwifi-devel-0.9.3.3-0.1
dhcppc3:~ # rpm -qa | grep NetworkManager
NetworkManager-kde-0.2r674918-55
NetworkManager-0.6.5-37.4
dhcppc3:~ #

Any ideas?

I don't think it's a good idea to have two kernels installed. Please delete madwifi-kmp-bigsmp-0.9.3.3_2.6.22.9_0.4-0.1.

Also, please post the results of this command: uname -a

And could you tell me the name and model number of your wifi card?

dhcppc3:~ # uname -a
Linux dhcppc3 2.6.22.13-0.3-bigsmp #1 SMP 2007/11/19 15:02:58 UTC i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

And the card i have is a AR5006EG 802.11 b/g wireless pci express adapter and Yast finds it on my hardware list

I also found this

¶
Chipset: AR5006EG = (AR2423)
Chip: AR2423 (802.11a+b+g)
URL: http://www.atheros.com/pt/bulletins/...EGBulletin.pdf
Supports: IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g
Device Information: TBD
Notes: works with madwifi-r2153-20070224
Notes: Works on Toshiba Satellite A135
Notes: Had to change order of module insertion. Works when order is:modprobe wlan_scan_sta,modprobe wlan_wep,modprobe ath_pci
Notes: Works on Everex XT500T, OpenSuse? 10.3, madwifi 0.9.3.3; for some reason had to ifconfig wifi0 up to get it to work, peachy now though

Anyone Know what it means? and if so how do i do it?

Ok. Forget what I said about deleting the bigsmp kernel. You can delete madwifi-kmp-default-0.9.3.3_2.6.22.9_0.4-0.1.

Then see if you still get the "Unable to configure network card because kernel device is not present" when you use YaST to configure.

Do you know who the manufacturer of your card is?

lol, it would probably be working by now if he was using ndiswrapper