Wireless Ndiswrapper question(s)

Okay, I'm trying to use WPA2 on my router so I need new drivers..

Sorry if I explain too much, but I'm a total newbie at Linux stuff so I want to try to give full details so people know what I've done (and not done)

First I downloaded and installed ndiswrapper-utils and ndisgtk

then running lspci I find my wireless card is Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)

Taking this a step forwards, I know that it's this id 8086:4222 (rev 02)

I then use the ndiswrapper -i w39n51.inf
to install the driver, confirm that it appears to be there, and it does (and even better says the device is found!)

However, in the notes it says I need to increase my stack from 8k to 16k? I found this page

http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/wlan/downloads-patches.php

which seems to have the patch, but I can't figure how to install it, the dldrconfig command just says "command not found" or equivalent.

 

what distro are you useing you shound,nt need ndiswrapper for that intel card most linux distro have drivers for it


you might need the wpa_supplicated package for you distrobution

 

I'm using 7.04, the card seems to work fine but I can't find any way to enable WPA, which is where all the documentation seemed to suggest that I needed to go down the Ndiswrapper route (maybe wrongly)

 

If you're using kubuntu or ubuntu, it's as easy as installing either network-manager or knetworkmanager. But you definitely don't need to use ndiswrapper. You just need to use the wpasupplicant and you should be off and running.

 

You should have WPA support via the network manager in Ubuntu 7.04.

 

Okay, so what do I need to do to get to a WPA access box then?

I guess right now where I go is into System > Administration > Network

Then inside that I choose the wireless adapter and then click properties, but then, I just have the choice of WEP Key Hex, or WEP Key Ascii without anything about WPA? Or is this a terminal only thing?

 

WPA and WPA2 work out of the box with Feisty. Just go to the network-manager icon in the notification area, and select the network you want to connect to. If your AP's ID is hidden, click 'connect to other network' and connect through that.

 

Define "work" right out of the box, I've tried a number of things inside Notebook-Manager and can find no options for WPA or WPA2, I tried making the connection WPA2 to see if that would force the option, but it didn't.

Any other ideas, my next stop is probably reinstall 7.04 from scratch, that way I know that 6.10 or 6.04 isn't somehow over-riding it.

 

Did you install "networkmanager"? Not notebook-manager, networkmanager. If so, there should be a little icon in your taskbar that shows network connections. You configure it in there.

 

Um, I'll see, maybe I just didn't have network manager, I was just using the standard network manager thing that came with Ubuntu (pre-installed) but maybe that's not network-manager but some other kind of network manager.

Confused I am... I'll have a look tonight if I get time.

 

For WPA/WPA2, you should NOT use the thingie in the control panel. You need to use the network manager applet in the system tray. It's not as clear as it could be, and networkmanager should ideally be more integrated with the system. The problem is that it requires a secondary enabling program called "wpasupplicant", so that makes it more than the basic network configuration dialog can handle.

 

Alright, now I'm REALLY confused...

At the top right of my screen I have little double monitor icon that when I click gives me the options of Manual Network Configuration, or wired network (which is greyed out since I'm not actually connected to one)

Clicking manual config opens the same as System > Administraton > Network which has a bunch of options, but still only WEP (ASCII or HEX) which um... is not WPA?

Seriously what the HELL am I missing?

 

Well that'll teach me to try to use upgrade path instead of new install... installed fresh again (formating the drive before installing) and it works like a charm, comes up withj what I can assume is Network-Manager, shows connection, gives the "other" options that I'd been told I should see...

Not sure how I screwed it up, but maybe just upgrading is not a good idea.

 

Unless you have mission critical stuff that you can't delete/back up, you should generally do a fresh install.

 

I agree. Upgrading isn't too hard if you're already a Linux dork like I am, and know how to fix the problems you run into, but it can be problematic for most people. Just like Windows.

My old boss' Windows directory is still named "WINNT35", and he's now running Windows XP if that tells you anything about my experiences of upgrading systems