# The BIG Wireless Question

## macawgumbo

How the hell do I get this thing to work?  And you thought it would be something good...  Oh well.  I have to say that I am still a sorta newbie.  I have already built my server and am now in the process of converting everything over on my main desktop for Windows XP to Gentoo.  The problem is the only access to internet I have is through wireless.  I moved my computer temporarily to get wired access, but that isn't working.  I have tried iwconfig, wpa_supplicant, and both of my adapters to no avail.  Here is the problem.  I have a Linksys WUSB11 Usb adapter with the atmel chipset.  I also have a WUSB54G by Linksys which has the prism54 chipset.  I have no clue what I did with ndiswrapper, because now it doesn't work.  Anyways, this fix determines whether you you have a fully devoted gentoo user or half-ass.  Cheers.

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## freebies_11

Good luck with the WUSB54G. Mine won't work.

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## elvisthedj

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Card: Linksys WUSB54G, 802.11b/g, USB 2.0 -- link here
> 
> Chipset: Prism54
> ...

 

Looks like ndiswrapper should work fine.. 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> I have no clue what I did with ndiswrapper, because now it doesn't work.
> 
> 

 

Did you perhaps delete the windows drivers?  I believe they should be in /etc/ndiswrapper/wusb54G/

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

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## macawgumbo

I am getting desperate.  I am using the nitro-sources kernel and amworried about stability.  I am thinking about rebuilding tomorrow and using gentoo-dev sources with reiser4 patch.  I need somebody to post step by step install instructions to get either adapter working.  Does ndiswrapper conflict with baselayout 1.11 and will wireless work with the stable layout?  For desktop, should I use x86 or ~x86 to get the most compatibility?  Please help out.

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## elvisthedj

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> I need somebody to post step by step install instructions to get either adapter working.
> 
> 

 

It's been done

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> For desktop, should I use x86 or ~x86 to get the most compatibility? Please help out.
> 
> 

 

It's pretty hard to be completely x86.  There are a lot of stable packages with unstable dependencies.  If you truly mean compatibility, you'll use ~x86 quite often.

Good Luck.

Edit:  BTW, if you change your subject to something more relevant, you might get more help.

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## UberLord

 *elvisthedj wrote:*   

> It's pretty hard to be completely x86.  There are a lot of stable packages with unstable dependencies.  If you truly mean compatibility, you'll use ~x86 quite often.

 

It's also foolish to go entirely  ~x86 - which may be what the guy asking meant.

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## macawgumbo

does ndiswrapper conflict with any packages, because after I installed the unstable baselayout and added the readlin, sysvinit, and other recommended packages to package.keywords, it stopped working?

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## elvisthedj

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> because after I installed the unstable baselayout and added the readlin, sysvinit, and other recommended packages to package.keywords, it stopped working?
> 
> 

 

What does dmesg say?  If the module isn't loaded (lsmod), are you able to modprobe ndiswrapper?  "stopped working" doesn't really say much.

See if it's loading and which driver it's using by doing the following:

```

    # dmesg |grep ndis

ndiswrapper version 0.10 loaded (preempt=yes,smp=yes)

ndiswrapper: using irq 177

wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:03:xx:1d:0c:xx using driver wmp11v27.sys

ndiswrapper (set_auth_mode:482): setting auth mode failed (C0010015)

ndiswrapper: driver wmp11v27.sys (Linksys,07/30/2002, 3.08.28.0) added

```

If it's not loading when you boot up, but you're able to load it with modprobe then you might just need to do the following:

```

echo ndiswrapper >> /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

```

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## macawgumbo

rebuilt system today without reiser4 and used gentoo-sources instead of nitro-sources.  am trying ndiswrapper tonight.  will tell how it goes.

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## macawgumbo

I am still having the problem with the device.  I have found that when I do a 

```
modprobe ndiswrapper
```

 the system freezes (well actually it can't find the device and just hangs).  I have found that the system (through dmesg) is registering the device as 

```
usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
```

.

lsusb outputs:

```

Bus 005:  ID 13b1:000d

Bus 001 Device 001:  ID 0000:0000
```

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## macawgumbo

one problem i am solving is that my usb controller is ohci and not uhci like i had originally built into the kernel.  oops.  fixing it now.

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## macawgumbo

now it recongnizes my wusb11, but not the wusb54g in lsusb.  I am going to emerge atmel-firmware to try and use the former instead of the latter.

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## macawgumbo

am using the cvs snapshot of the alternate driver for the atmel chipset, got it to recognize and am now configuring it

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## macawgumbo

i got it to work using the WUSB11 v2.6 with an atmel chipset.  I downloaded the atmel firmware driver from the cvs repository (alternative driver than sourceforge).  I then configured everything and instead of linking net.wlan0 to net.lo, I copied net.eth0 to net.wlan0 in /etc/init.d/ and it works on boot now!  Yay!

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## djmaze

So you compiled the atmel driver from http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net? It doesn't and didn't ever compile for me on kernel 2.6! 

Here is the error message (from "make usb"):

```

  CC [M]  /usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.o

/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.c: In function `update_usb_intf_descr':

/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.c:1260: error: structure has no member named `epmaxpacketout'

/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.c:1261: error: structure has no member named `epmaxpacketout'

/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.c:1263: error: structure has no member named `epmaxpacketin'

/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.c:1264: error: structure has no member named `epmaxpacketin'

make[3]: *** [/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release/reset_device.o] Error 1

make[2]: *** [_module_/usr/src/atmelwlandriver/objs/usbvnetr/release] Error 2

```

How did you get this running?? Thanks for any help..

Greetz,

Martin

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## djmaze

Sorry, didn't read your text thoroughly. So you mean the Berlios driver. Thanks, great, works !  :Wink: 

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## ronpetch

I have a Netgear WG311 card. I have searched for help on installation under Linux, in general. Some seem to manage, others are like me confused by the various bits of advice. The installation always seems to involve some guesswork as to the wrapper, goes through simple operations and then gets esoteric.

Is there any Gentoo expert out there who can do an idiot's guide?

Even some tips in simple terms would be a help, the wireless network works fine with Windows98.

regards Ron Petch

"Nostalgia ain't what it used to be"

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## Alex Ludd

bump

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