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Technical (Development, Security, etc.) => Unix / Linux Discussion => Topic started by: Nate on January 10, 2006, 04:00:31 PM

Title: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 10, 2006, 04:00:31 PM
Ok so what do i need.  Im pretty sure i use the NDISwrapper but do i need drivers?  I have DWL-122 Rev: A1.  Instructions are halpful.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Blaze on January 10, 2006, 06:27:45 PM
If you can't find a linux version of your wireless drivers, NDISWrapper will do nice, otherwise use the linux ones. :)
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 10, 2006, 07:44:46 PM
That card seems to use the Prism2 drivers. 

Try running "modprobe prism54", then "ifconfig -a", see if it shows up there.  If that doesn't work, use Google.  In any case, it uses standard drivers, so NDISWrapper shouldn't be required. 

<edit> a helpful list for you or others:
http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 10, 2006, 08:33:12 PM
iago's way doesnt work.  Any other suggestions, im currently working on something but i dont think its going to work.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 10, 2006, 08:44:57 PM
Well, according to the list it uses Prism drivers.  There were plenty of sources when I Googled the name of your card + Linux. 
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 10, 2006, 09:14:52 PM
so is it the same for all distro's.  Like if some1 is talking about ubuntu then that will work for Slack?  Also i dont think i have linux-wlan-ng drivers.ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/ (http://ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/) That link isnt for any specific reason other than if i need those this seemed like a logical place to save the link.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 10, 2006, 09:34:20 PM
Yes, in general, a module that works on one distro should work on all of them.  Things aren't that different between them. 

If you need the wireless tools (try running iwconfig, if it works, you have what you need), you should be able to find them on the CD. 

Or, download/install this: http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/slackware/slackware-10.2/slackware/n/wireless-tools-27-i486-2.tgz

It can be installed with the installpkg command.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 12, 2006, 03:33:01 PM
ok i have a new question.  y on windows when i try to DL that file does it change the ext from .tgz to .tar
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Sidoh on January 12, 2006, 03:51:37 PM
Quote from: Nate on January 12, 2006, 03:33:01 PM
ok i have a new question.  y on windows when i try to DL that file does it change the ext from .tgz to .tar

Does it change it to .tar.gz?  .tgz = .tar.gz.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 12, 2006, 04:26:26 PM
no just .tar
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 12, 2006, 06:54:38 PM
The file is stored twice.  It is tarred, which combines all the files together, then it is gzipped. 

file -> file.tar -> file.tar.gz. 

tar file -> file.tar
gzip file.tar -> file.tar.gz

gunzip file.tar.gz -> file.tar
untar file.tar -> file

Read the manpage for tar, it tells you how to automatically ungzip it using the -z parameter.  It goes on to explain how this .tar and .gz business works, which is helpful no matter which OS you're on. 

Also, the word is "why", not "y".. I spend a lot of time helping you here, don't be lazy.  It makes me feel like I'm wasting my time. 
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 12, 2006, 07:38:06 PM
but its not unzipping the file when i DL it.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 12, 2006, 07:50:38 PM
"download", not "DL"

Have you tried double-clicking on the .tar file?
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on January 12, 2006, 08:52:26 PM
QuoteWindows has the following information about this file type. This page will help you find software needed to open your file.



File Type: Unknown

Description: Windows does not recognize this file type.

I do not understand why it will not download as .tgz
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 12, 2006, 09:07:28 PM
Well, .tgz is typically a Unix/Linux filetype, Windows doesn't support it by default. 

Try downloading WinRAR (http://www.rarlabs.com), it can open .tar and .gz files. 
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Joe on January 13, 2006, 05:51:12 PM
Quote from: iago on January 12, 2006, 06:54:38 PM
The file is stored twice.  It is tarred, which combines all the files together, then it is gzipped. 

file -> file.tar -> file.tar.gz. 

tar file -> file.tar
gzip file.tar -> file.tar.gz

gunzip file.tar.gz -> file.tar
untar file.tar -> file

Read the manpage for tar, it tells you how to automatically ungzip it using the -z parameter.  It goes on to explain how this .tar and .gz business works, which is helpful no matter which OS you're on. 

Also, the word is "why", not "y".. I spend a lot of time helping you here, don't be lazy.  It makes me feel like I'm wasting my time. 

tar -xvvzf filename.tar.gz
x is for extract
vv is for very verbose
z is un-gzip
f is for who knows what
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on January 13, 2006, 05:57:35 PM
Quote from: Joe[e2] on January 13, 2006, 05:51:12 PM
tar -xvvzf filename.tar.gz
x is for extract
vv is for very verbose
z is un-gzip
f is for who knows what

That's very nice, considering that he's on Windows. 

Also, f stands for "file", by default files are tarred/untarred from stdin. 
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on February 02, 2006, 05:44:57 PM
Ok i have actually made progress on this by leaps and bounds.  It actually recognizes the adapter but only when i boot from a disk.  My problem now is how do i make it see the network?
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on February 02, 2006, 11:49:39 PM
If the network is DHCP-enabled, then run:
dhcpcd -d <device>

and it should pull an ip.  The device will be "eth0" or "eth1" or "wi0" or something. 

If you have an encryption key on your network, you'll need to do other stuff.  Here is the script I wrote to set up my network:
http://www.javaop.com/~iago/home-wireless.sh
it uses a static ip, but it should be easy enough to modify it to your needs. 
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: Nate on February 04, 2006, 07:21:24 PM
Online thx.  I ended up using Ubuntu, Slackware had alot of problems on my comp and i dont know why.

The only thing now is that i have to reconfigure the wlan everytime i reboot and i only seem to be able to configure it on root.
Title: Re: Wireless Adapter
Post by: iago on February 05, 2006, 01:05:36 PM
That's how I do it.  I know that Slackware has a rc.wireless startup script, but I don't use it.  The first thing I do when I log in at home is 'sudo ./home-wireless'.  When I'm not at home, I run the appropriate script.  It saves me a lot of trouble of re-modifying configuration files whenever I change networks.