Vector Lite installed - no wireless

[Boomerian]

Celeron 400 MHz processor 256MB RAM 6.4GB HDD, on which I seek the ideal Linux distro. Alas, the dreaded WMP54G v3 Linksys adapter w/Broadcom 4306 chip. Is wifi-radar included or available? Wicd has not helped, and though lspci shows the hardware, and Wicd shows the essid from my router - no connection.
Ndiswrapper not included in Lite install, and without a wired connection I cannot apt-get anything.
Web search indicates that it should work with b43 driver, but again no luck. I have downloaded ndiswrapper to thumbdrive, and will try to load that - I have the original CD with windows driver.
Any other suggestions? I'd really like to give this distro a good look - it seems like the light OS I need.
Cheers, and thanks in advance...

[bigpaws]

Wicd shows the essid from my router - no connection.

That indicates your card is working, but not associated with your
access point.

Use wicd to set that up, or use this command in a terminal logged in as root:

iwconfig wlan0 essid "Your ESSID"

NOTE: no quotes are used for essid.  Also if you
decide to use ndiswrapper you need to unload the
b43 modules in the kernel or there will be a conflict.

HTH

Bigpaws

[w2ibc]

ndiswrapper should be included in VL light.

as stated above if you do use ndiswrapper unload the b43 modules in kernel.

in the how-2 section i did a ndiswrapper how to, its for the WG311v3 netgear card, but steps should be about the same for any card.

[stretchedthin]

Just curious, did you install from the vllight install cd, or from the live cd.  I've installed both.  If I install from the installer cd, everything works flawlessly.  If I install from the live cd, then I have to run the full hwconf from vasm in tui mode, and reboot to get wicd working correctly.
 

[Boomerian]

Great stuff - thanks, all!
I did install from the live CD, so that may well be the problem. Ndiswrapper does not appear to be part of what I installed (another indication that I need to re-install). I will try again.
From what I have read about the cursed Broadcom chip, more recent kernels (including those in VL Light) have accommodated it via b43 or b43legacy drivers.
My main beef with so many install instructions is that they assume you have a wired connection to the internet (download this, use apt-get or synaptic to get that...) when that is exactly what I lack - why I need to get the wireless link!  You guys rock - thanks again for the prompt responses.
I will reply when I get linked up with wireless. Cheers,