# wlan D-Link DWL-650 question

## dafearless

Does someone know witch module this wlan card use?

i cant find it 

or is there someone who has this card running?

----------

## delta407

The D-Link DWL-650 uses the "prism2_cs" driver, available at http://www.linux-wlan.org/. Note that it is probably not available on the Gentoo ISO, so you'll have to use a land line for the install.

----------

## dafearless

I have now installed the prism2_cs modules.

but when i  load them my dwl-650 card wil not stop blinking????

these are the modules i have loaden

```

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted

prism2_cs              54320   1

p80211                  9528   1  [prism2_cs]

ds                      6752   4  [prism2_cs]

i82365                 22448   2

pcmcia_core            38336   0  [prism2_cs ds i82365]

maestro3               24712   0

```

any ideas?

----------

## delta407

Does it work?

----------

## dafearless

no  :Sad: 

----------

## dafearless

someone please help  :Smile: 

----------

## ElCondor

 *delta407 wrote:*   

> The D-Link DWL-650 uses the "prism2_cs" driver, available at http://www.linux-wlan.org/. Note that it is probably not available on the Gentoo ISO, so you'll have to use a land line for the install.

 I downloaded the wlan-drivers, but for compiling they need the pcmcia-sources. when extracting the gentoo-tarball that's not enough due to the patches (-r3) applied by some portage-scripts. how can I get the needed version of pcmcia-cs sources to compile the prism2_cs driver?

* ElCondor pasa *

----------

## Banjo Gentooie

OK prism2_cs may be the best driver for the card but it's possible to get up and running using orinoco_cs which comes with Gentoo 1.2.

flashing is the pre-configured state.  If you are using orinoco_cs then you need to use the wireless-tools to configure:

iwconfig ethX key <your WEP key>

iwconfig ethX essid <your network's name>

ifconfig ethX <ip> netmask <nm>

route add default gw <gateway>

At the point of doing the ifconfig your light should stop flashing and remain on.  If it is still flashing then you may need to change other settings (eg if using Adhoc).  You must do iwconfig commands when the interface is down:

ifconfig ethX down

the commands only get updated when you bring the interface up again.

----------

## ElCondor

I tried the orinoco driver, but the network performance was pretty bad (and this is the polite version how to say it). a ping to the dhcp server behind the access point brought 40-70% packet loss, some DUPS .. no way of working. and I was sitting about 5 meters to the access-point, no wall in between. so i'd like to try the prism driver.

* ElCondor pasa *

----------

## AnimalMachine

I've been using the hermes device driver, and it has been working okay. I believe when I tried to use the wvlan or the orinoco (can't remember which), I had horrible performance ... If i tried to force 11M it'd freeze up in a minute or two of operation. I could only get it to run at 2M semi-reliably ... it'd atleast take a few hours for it to freeze.

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned it elsewhere, but you may also want to install the wireless-tools package. There'll be a configuration file called /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts that you can configure.

Sorry I can't be more specific, it's been a bit since I put Gentoo on my laptop. [OT] I've since removed it in favor for Win2k for a bit (I have this wierd problem with my laptop going into standby and then the lcd blinking repeatedly that seemed to occur almost never in Win2k, but a lot in linux). But I could only stand Win2k for so long ... I ended up putting Debian unstable on it this last weekend.  :Wink:  (it's a P233-mmx, so compiling a Gentoo system on it is a royal pain)

----------

## Banjo Gentooie

Prism2_cs is a clear performance winner.  Orinoco also has poor performance on my card (zoom air), however it's still (just) faster than a modem.

wlan-ng which contains prism2_cs does not come with gentoo at this time so you have to go with what's there and then switch as soon as possible.

You're going to have to get as far as emerge system, installing your own kernel and pcmcia-cs before you can install wlan-ng so if you don't have a wired alternative this is your only hope.

Once you've compiled wlan-ng your wireless net should speed up considerably.

----------

