VincentVega

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lol

I just did that exact build at home. You would believe what a nightmare it was. it literally took me days, if not weeks.

there is supposedly a driver (madwifi) that will do this, but I couldn't get it to work for me. So what I wound up doing is taking the (easier?) other way out and using ndiswrapper.

My words of wisdom from experience: don't go ANYWHERE near NetworkManager, and this will work. The following is a little hazy, sorry, but it does let you know it will work

1. you will need the kernel source files that have been set up with a 16k stack, as opposed to the usual 4k (I'm running the very latest kernel (_2139 I think) that has both that and SMP turned on, because my card is in an xSeries 342 server). Get that kernel, and install the source too (you may be able to yum all that, I found an rpm and since I'm at work, I can't find it right now)

2. copy the driver *.inf file and everything else from the windows (yes, windows) driver cd into some folder on the machine

3. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndiswrapper/ build ndiswrapper, and follow the instructions for installing a device using those drivers you copied earlier. I think when you build it, all you do is a ndiswrapper -i driver.inf , where driver = whatever the file name is.

4. Then try modprobe ndiswrapper

take a look at the end of your dmesg to make sure things are happening

5. do an iwconfig wlan0 ap any (or wifi0, or whatever it got named) and that should help in finding your access point (it might be that way by default, I'm hardly an expert)

6. finally, do a dhclient wlan0 (again, or whatever the device got named).

My dhclient sometimes takes a LoOOOOONG time to get an IP. once that's done, you can do all kinds of neat things like reset it to a static ip (useful for port forwarding). I also use iptable to give internet to 3 other servers that are on a hidden sub network behind the wireless server.

to do just that, I think it looks something like this:

ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.30 netmask 255.255.255.0
and then a
route set default gw 192.168.1.1 wlan0

I believe those are the correct commands. of course 192.168.1.1 = your access point's IP, and the *.30 = whatever you want your machine to use instead of having it assigned by DHCP

If I have time tonight, I'll get my bookmarks from home and do you a better tutorial

bottom line: it can be done.

hope that helps :D
 

bmouring

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Need to know the chipset in the card (or at least the revision number so we can find the chipset), aparently it came with either an atheros chipset (madwifi) or a marvell chipset (ndiswrapper).

You can find the chipset by opening a terminal and typing "sudo lspci", (possibly) entering the root password, and finding the entry that deals with 802.11 this and wireless that.
 

VincentVega

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uhhh i am completely linux retarted.. :( if you have an exe that will do everything for me that would be great.. 8)

I understand. I'm a Linux nub, but you learn quicker than anything if you really want to get something done.

Like the guy said above, Atheros chipsets (like mine) are supposed to be supported with madwifi, but I tried everything including selling my soul and I could not get mine to work. ndiswrapper is impossibly more easy to get going, so I'd do that route if I were you

In short, I tried many things, but the process outlined here:

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation

is esentially what I tried to tell you from the office today

What you will find is that FC5 (default kernel (OS) configuration) contains a setting (4k stack) that doesn't work with ndiswrapper and wireless devices. It will freeze up and you'll have to reboot (you should be really familiar with that coming from windows)

so either upgrade your kernel to the newest version that has a .stk16 at the end of the name, or change to the same one that has a .stk16 at the end. do a google search for ndiswrapper and 16k on where to find the kernel, the source, and how to install both

I'd like to give you an exe, but you won't learn nothin. worse still, I just simply can't. You'll be a lot smarter to figure out all this junk and be proud of yourself in the end

good luck, I'll check back to see if I can help with any specific probs

VV
 

bmouring

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Like the guy said above, Atheros chipsets (like mine) are supposed to be supported with madwifi, but I tried everything including selling my soul and I could not get mine to work. ndiswrapper is impossibly more easy to get going, so I'd do that route if I were you

Did you file any bug reports with the madwifi devs? I've used it before with devices and it was pretty damn easy (build, install, load module, restart networking).

I don't doubt you gave it your all but there was some issue through none of your doing that caused the problem, but there are reasons why dev groups have bug reporting areas of their website. Until manufacturers are much more open with specs, much of the final polishing/added features come from bug requests. just a thought.
 

VincentVega

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bmouring, no, admittedly I didn't. I'm not what you'd call a contributing member of the open source community. I'm about as green as you can get in whole Linux thing, too.

What I am, though, is like most people; impatient and desiring instant gratification. I learned a couple of important items using ndiswrapper, and I'd half wager if I went back right now and tried madwifi again, I'd get it to work. But using windows for years has thinned my skin, and when I get something working, I tend to leave it alone. I was just thrilled I got something, anything. And I really didn't know that it was a code bug; the system saw the card just fine, I just couldn't get it to do anything (so like you say, it was probably me in the end - it usually is).

I work a tough job and I don't have the energy or even the time to give back (I know I should, it's useful to everyone). I agree with you 100%

I'm also still checking back if I can offer any ndiswrapper hints, but it's pretty easy to use (and since it works for many windows only devices, very useful to get familiar with!)

have a nice day guys