Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[agrohimgfu]

• <a href="https://www.port... by agrohimgfu
  [Today at 01:50:21 AM]
• Professional Advice: Reco... by Davidfak
  [Yesterday at 11:59:18 AM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [Yesterday at 03:21:43 AM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Antonioair
  [May 09, 2024, 04:28:57 PM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [May 07, 2024, 07:52:26 PM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [May 07, 2024, 01:37:16 PM]

Members

• Total Members: 4952
• Latest: WllkeiJocky

Stats

• Total Posts: 129628
• Total Topics: 7187
• Online Today: 158
• Online Ever: 1013
• (January 12, 2023, 01:18:11 AM)

[Demosthenes]

Linkage

Linux Still Needs Drivers

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols - eWEEK

I think of myself as a Linux expert. I was a Unix administrator before Linux existed, and these days I run Linux on four servers and four desktops in my home office.

I also know my way around hardware, and I'm something of a network maven. And despite all that, I can't get Wi-Fi networking working on my Centrino-enabled Toshiba laptop.

Argh!

...

It's not a distribution problem. I also run SuSE 9.1, Red Hat 9 and the latest version of Red Hat Fedora, and none of them does well by Wi-Fi. When it comes to Wi-Fi, Linux is lacking.

...

Now, thanks to the hard work of the people at the SourceForge MADWIFI (Multiband Atheros Driver for Wi-Fi) project, I can get the 802.11b side to work. To do that, though, I had to get the source code and make the driver myself.

This is annoying but perfectly doable … for me. For Joe User, it's impossible.

Gah... this is EXACTLY the kind of problem I've been having with my own Toshiba Satellite laptop computer.

Granted, I'm not using Centrino / Atheros for wireless -- I'm using a D-Link DWL-G650 wireless PCMCIA card, which is actually even a little bit worse -- but I know exactly what this guy's talking about.

Getting wireless to work in any distro of Linux, in pretty much any kernel is an exercise in full-blown engineering.

I wouldn't consider myself a "Linux expert".  But I'm sure as hell not a newbie.  I've been using various flavors of Unix for 11 years, and Linux for 6, three years of which on the desktop.

I can wrangle hardware, scripting, drivers, goofy application installations, and cross-platform apps with the best of them.

Hell, I was even able to get my Lexmark Z23 inkjet printer (listed by LinuxPrinting.org as a "Paperweight", the category they place printers in that simply don't work under Linux) to work just fine under three different distros of Linux, because my Linux-fu is that impressive.

And I have made ZERO progress over the course of a MONTH in the realm of wireless networking.

Nada.  Zip.  Bupkis.  The apex of a gun.

It sees the card, it makes the green lights on it go blinkyblinky, but it has no idea what else to do with it.  No wireless networky for me.  

Hell, I even upgraded my kernel to the 2.6.5 kernel, and recompiled it nine or ten times in one day, trying different configurations to see if I could get it to work with slightly different kernel support.

No dice.  I give up.

Until somebody (most likely the hardware vendors) creates an all-encompassing API reference for their junk, I won't be using my wireless card in Linux on my laptop, which really disappoints me.

Maybe there's a way to get my D-Link DWL-G650 wifi card to work under Linux... but it takes a much greater h4xx0r than I to do it.

[segFault]

I agree this can be frustrating to get your devices working especially for the recent Windows exiles who aren't incredibly "fu" with Linux. Its a learning process which is very rewarding. Trial and error is part of the deal .

As for your card, not to worry. Here are links to the drivers:

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=357&question=General%20Wireless

I see there is compatibility for kernel 2.4.18, 2.4.20, etc - so compile it and give it a try.

Remember, recompiling your kernel isn't necessary in most cases. You can simply plug in the module(s) and your device is up.

Hope this helps.

[Demosthenes]

I agree this can be frustrating to get your devices working especially for the recent Windows exiles who aren't incredibly "fu" with Linux. Its a learning process which is very rewarding. Trial and error is part of the deal .

Oh I know trial and error.  I've spent over a month doing nothing BUT.

And I'm no stranger to getting devices to work under any distro of Linux I've used.  See my printer comment above.

As for your card, not to worry. Here are links to the drivers:

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=357&question=General%20Wireless

First place I looked.  Note that the "A" variety of the D-Link DWL-G650 card (which is what I have) is just a link to the Prism54 site.

Prism54 doesn't work with my kernel (I'm on Slackware 9.1, which uses the 2.4.22 kernel by default).

I spent six hours screwing with it before I gave up on trying to MAKE it work.

Everything I read in any howto documentation for the Prism54 nightmare referred to newer kernels than mine, so I figured I'd upgrade to the newest.

I downloaded the 2.6.5 Linux kernel and got that up and running.

STILL could not get Prism54 to work.  It simply does not function correctly with my card.

There are no working Linux drivers of any sort for the wireless card I have.

I see there is compatibility for kernel 2.4.18, 2.4.20, etc - so compile it and give it a try.

Remember, recompiling your kernel isn't necessary in most cases. You can simply plug in the module(s) and your device is up.

I know that... I was recompiling my kernel because Prism54 was written for a newer kernel than mine, so I upgraded to a newer one and recompiled it.  No dice.  Card no worky.  Prism54 still no worky.  Back to drawing board.  Network cable only, for me.  

Well, unless I want to buy a totally new wifi card.  Which I don't... because there's apparently still no guarantees that it will work.  From what I've read, the BEST one can hope for where wireless networking is concerned under Linux is "it sorta works, with some cards, and even then, only if you're a fricken guru".

Not good enough for me to waste more money on hardware that in all probability won't work on my platform of choice.

It's very frustrating.  I've been able to get everything working under Linux that I've ever tried... But this is totally over my head, and frankly not worth the enormous amount of time that I've already spent -- fruitlessly, mind you -- on it, not to mention the enormous amount of time it will take in addition to that, only for "maybe" results.

What it comes down to is the simple fact that there is almost no support for wireless networking hardware under ANY distro of Linux, and what little support there is is far more difficult to implement for 90% of the Linux users out there... and considering the technical expertise among average Linux users, that's really saying something.

Until that changes, I have only one thing to say about it:  Feh.

[segFault]

I agree this can be frustrating to get your devices working especially for the recent Windows exiles who aren't incredibly "fu" with Linux. Its a learning process which is very rewarding. Trial and error is part of the deal .

Oh I know trial and error.  I've spent over a month doing nothing BUT.

And I'm no stranger to getting devices to work under any distro of Linux I've used.  See my printer comment above.

As for your card, not to worry. Here are links to the drivers:

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=357&question=General%20Wireless

First place I looked.  Note that the "A" variety of the D-Link DWL-G650 card (which is what I have) is just a link to the Prism54 site.

Prism54 doesn't work with my kernel (I'm on Slackware 9.1, which uses the 2.4.22 kernel by default).

I spent six hours screwing with it before I gave up on trying to MAKE it work.

Everything I read in any howto documentation for the Prism54 nightmare referred to newer kernels than mine, so I figured I'd upgrade to the newest.

I downloaded the 2.6.5 Linux kernel and got that up and running.

STILL could not get Prism54 to work.  It simply does not function correctly with my card.

There are no working Linux drivers of any sort for the wireless card I have.

I see there is compatibility for kernel 2.4.18, 2.4.20, etc - so compile it and give it a try.

Remember, recompiling your kernel isn't necessary in most cases. You can simply plug in the module(s) and your device is up.

I know that... I was recompiling my kernel because Prism54 was written for a newer kernel than mine, so I upgraded to a newer one and recompiled it.  No dice.  Card no worky.  Prism54 still no worky.  Back to drawing board.  Network cable only, for me.  

Well, unless I want to buy a totally new wifi card.  Which I don't... because there's apparently still no guarantees that it will work.  From what I've read, the BEST one can hope for where wireless networking is concerned under Linux is "it sorta works, with some cards, and even then, only if you're a fricken guru".

Not good enough for me to waste more money on hardware that in all probability won't work on my platform of choice.

It's very frustrating.  I've been able to get everything working under Linux that I've ever tried... But this is totally over my head, and frankly not worth the enormous amount of time that I've already spent -- fruitlessly, mind you -- on it, not to mention the enormous amount of time it will take in addition to that, only for "maybe" results.

What it comes down to is the simple fact that there is almost no support for wireless networking hardware under ANY distro of Linux, and what little support there is is far more difficult to implement for 90% of the Linux users out there... and considering the technical expertise among average Linux users, that's really saying something.

Until that changes, I have only one thing to say about it:  Feh.

Going to need more info on this... I checked out the A series and got a link to this:
ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/

I then located the prism54 website and noticed they say, "The same driver source works for 2.4 AND 2.6".

What exactly happened when you attempted to compile this?

Consider thus editied:

To elaborate more...I understand it can be frustrating to put so much time into it and get nowhere. I've had similar problems with particular hardware before. That first link I posted contains drivers which appear to support that card... give it a try and post your experience.

[Fade^C]

wzerozerot did someone say linucks?

Demo my liege - Ive heard of this hardware working...try the links submitted by the fatal exception up there.

oi! good to see your packets reaching my machine again!