adding usb wifi adapter [solved]

[spectral_knight75]

Hi there, I'm a newb, when it comes to adding things like usb wifi adapter to vector.

I recently purchased an Asus WL-160N usb wifi adapter.

Via VASM, I have it plugged in, but it does not detect it.  Granted I know it needs drivers.

I currently own an IBM Thinkpad R51 1829KCF laptop, and I have Vector Linux 5.8 SOHO Final running nicely, however, I wanted to add the N wifi adapter, for when I remote in to my 2 other desktops..for smoothness.

Since I already have a wifi intel in my laptop that is working, how would I go about adding the Asus WL-160N, it says that it is supported by linux, using madwifi driver according to : http://linux-wless.passys.nl/

Or as an alternative, something that I was considering anyhow, would just installing Vector SOHO 5.9.1 with the Asus WL-160N be able to get it recognized?  So in essence 3 interfaces, 1 hardwire, and 2 wireless interfaces.

I haven't tested this yet, since my laptop is functional.  Since I use it for work, I can't have it go down on me.  Vector SOHO 5.8 Final has been rock solid for me since April-May of 2007. 

Any comments/feedback appreciated.

spectral_knight75
IBM Thinkpad R51 1829KCF quad booting Vector Linux Soho 5.8 Final/Windows XP Pro/Linux Mint 6 Felicia/Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

[caitlyn]

Vector Linux 5.8 is no longer supported.  After two years I hate to say it but it's time to upgrade.  Vector Linux 5.9.1 SOHO or Vector Linux 6.0 Standard will probably support your WiFi adapter natively without any special effort by you.

I should also point out that Vector Linux 5.8 is insecure.  New security patches are no longer being issued.  That's another solid reason to upgrade.

Most of the major distros only support their releases for a couple of years or even less (Fedora, Mandriva, non-LTS versions of Ubuntu, etc...) because they lack the resources to do more.  We are smaller distro, probably in the second tier.  We have even fewer resources so we can't do more than the big boys.

I know this isn't the answer you were looking for but it really is the best answer.

Regards,
Cait

[spectral_knight75]

Thanks for the feedback Caitlyn, I think I'll end up doing that installing Vector SOHO 5.9.1.  I took a look at 6.0 Standard, but I kinda like the KDE desktop at least version 3.x, I like having the Super Karamba and a variety of system monitors to choose from.

[wcs]

You might want to install VL6 anyway and then install the kde 3.x packages.
That should give you a fully functional kde desktop, but you'll also have the latest and greatest VL (plus access to the current repositories, which is where packagers are focusing their efforts).

As for your usb card, it should work out of the box in both SOHO 5.9.1 and STD 6, as the drivers are included in either kernel.