On Wed, 2002-05-22 at 15:12, Jason Guidry wrote: > I'm running 8.2 kernel secure and I'm looking for a quick and dirty how > to on installing (getting MDK to see) my linksys PCI wireless nic. if > someone could point me to one, i'd be grateful > > much thanks > > -- > Jason Guidry > http://www.gmaestro.org
No such thing. I've been trying to get a U.S. Robotics wireless card to work on a Sony VAIO PCG-SR7. I finally gave up trying LM8.2 and switched to Debian; I'm a lot closer, but still unsuccessful. The task breaks down into four parts: Networking (ifconfig, etc) PCMCIA card services PCMCIA network card support PCMCIA wireless card support The LM8.2 has PCMCIA card services built-in (as have previous kernels). But, if you did not have PCMCIA hardware (the slots or bays) installed during OS installation, it will not be turned on. This is controlled by /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia. It takes more than switching "no" to "yes" in this file to get PCMCIA card services working, and there is no pretty Mandrake tool to help you. The Grand Puba of PCMCIA is David Hines, and his web site is mandatory reading. A superb example of open-source software. http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ There, read especially "Linux PCMCIA HOWTO," section 2.3, "Startup options." I wasted hours trying to get things working with only PCMCIA=yes and the other lines left to their default XXX=(blank). You really do need PCIC=i82365, and you must edit this file by hand as root. You don't need to install the software or build anything, you just need to activate it. To test if PCMCIA card services are working, insert your card and examine /var/lib/stab. It should contain info related to you card. This file is updated whenever a card is inserted or removed. The network card support (v.s. hard drives and modems) comes from /etc/pcmcia/network. Most of it is about wired cards (802.3). Wireless cards take this thing to a whole 'nuther level -- over the horizon. You must set many parameters beyond Ethernet and TCP/IP, like the name of your network, what frequencies to use, whether you are a client or a base station, and, most difficult of all, WEP encryption. All this is done with the Wireless Tools for Linux, by another superman kind of a guy, Jean Tourrilhes. http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Tools.html The problem I had, right off the bat, was that I did not install development tools on my little VAIO laptop. I did manage to get them installed, but just barely. Make built the tools without a hitch, but make install failed because the path the the man pages was missing "man8." So, mkdir /usr/local/man/man8 first, then make install. Where I run into grief with this stuff is that according to David Hines and comments in the wireless files in /etc/pcmcia, this stuff is broken in Red Hat and derivative distros, including LM. In LM8.2 I got my card light to come on, /var/lib/stab said it was a wireless card, but iwconfig acted as if the card did not have WEP encryption. It would not display the key, nor could I set it. So I switched to Debian, because that's what Jean Tourrilhes uses. Just last night I got the card on, the interface up, and it took my WEP key. Only, I still could not ping anything except myself. Another good resource is Linux on Laptops, http://www.linux-laptop.net/ More when I know more. Gary Dunn Open Slate Project Honolulu
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