# Unable to connect Linksys or Dell wireless adapters

## lmart

gentoo xfce

If someone has successfully connected either (1) Linksys WUSB11v2.5 802.11b Adapter or (2) Dell TrueMobile 1300 USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter, please let me know how you did it.  Thanks.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

lmart,

Lets start at the beginning.  Connect both devices to your system, then post your /proc/bus/usb/devices so we can see what chipsets they use. Vendor part numbers are almost useless for this as vendors swap chipsets around in the same product.

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## lmart

thank you,

i'll give it a run this evening and get back with you

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## lmart

"Lets start at the beginning. Connect both devices to your system, then post your /proc/bus/usb/devices so we can see what chipsets they use. Vendor part numbers are almost useless for this as vendors swap chipsets around in the same product."

remember, said i was a newb.  did exactly what you said to do.  listed out the devices file, then my troubles began.  unable to mount  floppy or usb to save the file for post for you.  searched through the forum on howto mount; whew, no resolution.  maybe "the beginning" for you is far down the road from me ...

suggestions?  thanks

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## NeddySeagoon

lmart,

Perhaps the 'beginning' I assumed was too far down the road.

```
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy 
```

should mount a DOS/Windows/FAT formatted floppy on the mount point /mnt/floppy

If mount asks for a filesystem type, the command becomes 

```
mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy 
```

Should mount complain that vfat is an unknow filesystem type, the kernel module must be loaded with

```
modprobe vfat 
```

then you can try mount again. It looks complex now but it can all be automated.

USB sticks are similar but their names vary. Plug yours in and do dmesg.  At the bottom you will see something like 

```
[ 1664.560313] usb 2-2.1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6

[ 1664.656425] usb 2-2.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

[ 1664.671594] scsi5 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices

[ 1664.696053] usb-storage: device found at 6

[ 1664.696056] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning

[ 1669.696128] usb-storage: device scan complete

[ 1669.696572] scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SanDisk  Cruzer           7.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS

[ 1669.696978] scsi 5:0:0:1: CD-ROM            SanDisk  Cruzer           7.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0

[ 1669.700389] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] 31306239 512-byte hardware sectors: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)

[ 1669.730756] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Write Protect is off

[ 1669.730761] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08

[ 1669.730764] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Assuming drive cache: write through

[ 1669.733476] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] 31306239 512-byte hardware sectors: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)

[ 1669.733965] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Write Protect is off

[ 1669.733968] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08

[ 1669.733970] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Assuming drive cache: write through

[ 1669.733974]  sdh: sdh1

[ 1669.735031] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdh] Attached SCSI removable disk

[ 1669.735110] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg9 type 0

[ 1669.753345] sr2: scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x tray

[ 1669.753625] sr 5:0:0:1: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr2

[ 1669.753707] sr 5:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg10 type 5
```

 Mine pretends to be a CDROM too. The important line here is 

```
[ 1669.733974]  sdh: sdh1
```

This tells two things you need to know to pass to mount.

The device id /dev/sdh and its partitioned like a hard drive. (not all USB sticks are)

The mount command can now be written as 

```
mount /dev/sdh1 /mnt/floppy
```

It will also be vfat and may need the vfat module loaded, just as in the command for mounting a floppy.

If your USB stick does not have any partitions, mount the entire device (/dev/sdh) above.

Use the information from your dmesg, your USB is probably not /dev/sdh

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## lmart

NeddySeagoon,

Thank you for your help.  Gentoo may be too much of a stretch for me.  I printed out your instructions and can't get past step 1.  To mount, you need root access.  Searched the web and the forum but can't find the password anywhere.  Really hoped to get away from Microsoft ...

lmart

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## szczerb

Well...you set the password during installation. You can't find the password to you root account on the web.

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## lmart

Thanks.

Using the LiveCD.  I wanted to get everything working before wiping Windows off my computer.

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## NeddySeagoon

lmart,

How are you logged into your system now ?

During installation you set a password for the root user and you also create a normal user and assign a password to them.

If you omitted to set the root password, to the following.

At the the grub menu. press e. Read the instructions.

Navigate to the end of the kernel line and add 

```
 init=/bin/bash
```

to the end.

Now continue the boot. (Press b ?)

Your system will come up very quickly with no services running and your root will be read only.

Give the command  

```
/bin/mount -o remount,rw /
```

to make root read write.

If it works, you will get no error message.

Now type

```
 passwd
```

and follow the prompts. This changes your root password.

Lastly, do 

```
/sbin/shutdown -h now
```

to shutdown the system cleanly.

Start the system again and log in as user root with the password you just set.

Now you can provide the information I asked.

Don't let the learning put you off.  Think how much time you spent learning Windows.

Linux is no different.

Making a dual Linux/Windows install is straightforward and allows you to switch to Linux slowly.

Perhaps that would be a better approach for you ?

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## NeddySeagoon

lmart,

On the liveCD do 

```
sudo su -
```

to become root.

The password is scrambled every boot but sudo does not need a password.

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## lmart

NeddySeagoon,

Thanks for your patience and reply.  I know exactly all too well my investment, time and money, in Windows and that is precisely why my move to Linux.

Your dual-boot migration path is reasonable.  However, my circumstances are such that I need get everything working on a usb stick, rather than dual-boot, then KillDisk Windows.  I searched high and low for a howto do just that; no luck.

Will try your suggestions again this evening.

Thanks again.

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## NeddySeagoon

lmart,

A Gentoo install on a USB stick/drive is so similar to a normal install that no separate instructions are needed.

1. you must build your kernel with support for USB and USB storage built in, not as modules.

2. you will need rootdelay=<seconds> on the kernel line in grub,conf

seconds will should be between 7 and 30.

Normally, the kernel starts USB after the root file system is mounted, thats not too good if you need USB to mount root.

Thats what the rootdelay= fixes.

Lastly, Gentoo installs need a *lot* of writes, so you should build on a real hard drive then copy to USB or you will use up a lot of the life of your FLASH. Indeed, there have been reports of Gentoo installes killing some FLASH devices.

Not all FLASH sticks are suitable for Gentoo installs - you need one that looks like a hard drive with partitions. Some FLASH sticks are like large floppies.

To minimise writes, do not use a Journaled filesystem on FLASH, use ext2.  Be sure that ext2 support is enabled in the kernel.

It seems to be off by default in newer kernels.

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