ndiswrapper help

[VLofVT]

I spent an entire afternoon fussing around with my new wireless card and here's where I am now:
I can connect to the internet (posting from machine now) but after booting up, i need to run ndiswrapper/iwconfig all over again before wlan0 is seen by vasm or kwlan.
could I get some help automating this?

also, I can't figure out how to install ndiswrapper to work as a command line tool from any directory. right now it's sitting in the same place as the drivers for the card.

sorry for being so clueless

running VL SOHO 5.8
Netgear WG311v3

[rbistolfi]

Hi!, you can add all the command you use to get the card going at the end of your /etc/rc.d/rc.local file. Just open it as root with your favourite text editor and add the commands to the end of the file. This file is executed at each boot.
Hope this help and enjoy VL!

[VLofVT]

thank you, that definitely helps
since my post, I discovered only root has access to ndiswrapper as a command line tool
is it safe for me to automate an su command, or is it already super user/root if it's running from /etc/rc.d/rc.local?

[rbistolfi]

hmmm, my rc.local execute root commands, so I think you should be fine just adding ndiswrapper to it. If still doesnt work, back here and post any error message if there is one, I am sure a more experienced user will help you...

[JimC]

That adapter will work with ndiswrapper in Vector 5.8 (at least the SOHO edition).

I've had one for a while now.  But, it's been sitting on a shelf for the most part (signal strength stinks compared to my Belkin Wireless G USB adapter).

Anyway, after running into issues trying to get a driver working for a Belkin based adapter using the rt2570 chipset,  I installed my Netgear WG311v3 adapter it in my PC again last night to see if it would work in Vector 5.8 SOHO under ndiswrapper (and it will).

Here's what I'd do...  Login as root and copy the files from the Windows 2000 folder on the CD (not the XP folder) that came with the card to your desktop.  You'll then have multiple files there (WG311v3.INF, WG311v3.CAT, WG311v3.SYS, WG311XP.SYS).

Then, open a console and do this (and note that it is case sensitive for everything and the .inf file is using mixed case):

cd Desktop
ndiswrapper -i WG311v3.INF
ndiswrapper -m
modprobe ndiswrapper

At that point, the driver is installed. 

Important Note:

Using this driver via ndiswrapper requires you do enter the actual ESSID (or that's been my experience with it, using it under ndiswrapper with a number of distros).     Defaults (any, blank, etc.) will *not* work with it.  It needs the actual ESSID of your router.

The easiest way would probably be to use VASM to configure anything else.  I'm not very familiar with Vector or VASM.  But, it looks like it's got wireless config screens to set up that kind of thing.

If you just want to check to make sure it works, make sure you see the card when you do this (and it will need to show that the hardware is present).

ndiswrapper -l

You can see if the adapter is showing up by looking for wlan0 when doing this:

iwconfig

This should show a wireless interface named wlan0

If you don't see the driver installed with hardware present when you type "ndiswrapper -l" without the quotes, you did something wrong (you were not in the same folder as the drivers when you added it to ndiswrapper, used the wrong case for the driver name, or something else).    In that case, you'll need to remove it and start over by doing this (and removing it will not need the .inf extension or mixed case).

ndiswrapper -e wg311v3

Once you get it to where ndiswrapper -l shows the driver and hardware present, if you want to see if it works using command line utilities, do this (using your router's ESSID versus myessid).  I'm assuming that encryption is turned off in your router (and it's probably a good idea to leave it off until you get it working, then add it back and try to get that part setup).

iwconfig wlan0 ESSID myessid

Then, do this:

dhcpcd wlan0

You should now be connected (provided your router is setup for dhcp and you're not using encryption).  I had a wg311v3 working last night via ndiswrapper in Vector 5.8 SOHO with no problems that way.

Right now, I don't have a working Vector install though (crashes during the bootup).   Otherwise, I'd try to get you some screen prints of the steps needed.   But, that's another story (and it's my fault).  lol

[VLofVT]

thanks for the help, everybody

wireless card is working fine now, just have to tweak it a little every time I reboot
does anybody know what VL does when it tries to start wlan automatically upon startup?

[OU812]

1. Add the following line to /etc/rc.d/rc.modules (I usually put it near the bottom)

/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper

2. If you use wifi-radar, make sure you have this line in /etc/wifi-radar.conf

interface = wlan0

3. Also, you may need to edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf

Code:

## Example config information for wlan0.  Uncomment the lines you need and fill
## in your info.  (You may not need all of these for your wireless network)
#IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
#IPADDR[4]=""
#NETMASK[4]=""
#USE_DHCP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_HOSTNAME[4]="icculus-wireless"
#DHCP_KEEPRESOLV[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPNTP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPGW[4]="yes"
#DHCP_IPADDR[4]=""
#WLAN_ESSID[4]=BARRIER05
#WLAN_MODE[4]=Managed
##WLAN_RATE[4]="54M auto"
##WLAN_CHANNEL[4]="auto"
##WLAN_KEY[4]="D5AD1F04ACF048EC2D0B1C80C7"
##WLAN_IWPRIV[4]="AuthMode=WPAPSK EncrypType=TKIP WPAPSK=7B1ABEEB5D197741923ED26727569C365E31212096A0EAFAD563B268BAD01CAF TxRate=0"
#WLAN_WPA[4]="wpa_supplicant"
#WLAN_WPADRIVER[4]="ndiswrapper"

By uncommenting the following lines

Code:

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
IPADDR[4]=""
NETMASK[4]=""
USE_DHCP[4]="yes"

This should work.

john