Linuxant DriverLoader now supports Linksys Wireless G Cards

Someone else posted about this yeserday.

http://talknotebooks.com/showthread....&threadid=9038


What's everyone's experience with this so far? I opted to not get a wireless card in my new Sager so that I could just buy one that I know Linux drivers are available for. Now, it looks like the possibilities are a lot more open.

The good:

Catches on to signals fairly quickly ; I have my wireless config in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1, and I'll get on my home network at bootup. The speed is just as good as Windows ( which is, of course, appropriate considering how they work ) ; if there's any fault, it's simply in that I don't have an easy way at the moment of changing from network to network. ( eg, a point and click way )

I imagine, I should probably write the damn thing myself if I think it's so important. *g*

The only "huge" thing I see is the 30 day trial license ; I wouldn't mind paying for these things if they made that option available ( like they do for their softmodem drivers ), but for the moment, the only option is 30 day trial.

Great to hear, thanks for the update. The fact that it's not *really* available yet is a little troublesome.

As someone who has experience with wireless networking and Linux - should I hold off purchasing a card or just buy one that has existing native drivers? I'm a total newbie to the laptop world and am ready to jump in to using wireless under Linux as there are tons of free access points around the Austin area. All of the documentation I see online seems a little bit out-of-date ( a few months may be too out-of-date for the current crop of cards down at the local Fry's for example).

Ripped from: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS


Wireless network adapters:

[airo_cs driver] [x86]
Aironet PC4500, PC4800
Cisco 340, 350
Xircom Wireless Ethernet Adapter

[netwave_cs driver] [x86]
Breezenet SA-PX
Xircom CreditCard Netwave

[ray_cs driver] [x86,axp]
BUSlink Wireless LAN Adapter
Raytheon Raylink
WebGear Aviator 2.4, Aviator Pro

[wavelan_cs driver] [x86,smp]
AT&T / NCR / Lucent WaveLAN version 2.0
DEC RoamAbout/DS

[orinoco_cs driver] [x86,axp,ppc,smp]
[ this driver supports multiple chipsets and some features may
not be supported for all cards ]
3Com AirConnect
1stWave 1ST-PC-DSS11IS, DSS11IG, DSS11ES, DSS11EG
Addtron AWP-100
Ambicom WL1100 PC
ARtem Onair ComCard STD & EMB versions, 128- & 64-bit
Avaya World Card
Belkin F5D6020
Buffallo WLI-PCM-S11
Cabletron/Enterasys RoamAbout 802.11 DS
Compaq WL100, HNW-100
Corega PCCA-11
Dell TrueMobile 1150 Series
D-Link DRC-650, DCF-650W, DWL-660, DCF-660W
D-Link DWL-650 [older version, NOT new CardBus ones or 650+]
EagleTec ET-WL300NE-CC
Efficient SpeedStream SS1021 [old 16-bit, NOT new CardBus ones]
ELSA AirLancer MC-11
Ericsson WLAN Card C11
Farallon SkyLINE
HP F2136B
HyperLink Wireless
IBM High Rate Wireless LAN
Intel PRO/Wireless 2011
LA4111 Spectrum24 Wireless LAN
Linksys WPC11 Instant Wireless
Linksys WCF12 Wireless CompactFlash
Lucent Orinoco WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11(b)
Melco WLI-PCM-L11, WLI-PCM-L11G
NCR WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11
Netgear MA401RA
Nortel Networks eMobility
PLANEX GeoWave GW-CF110, RoadLannerWave GW-NS11H
Proxim Harmony 802.11b
Safeway Wireless
Samsung 11Mbps WLAN
Sandisk Connect SDWCFB-000
Seg Communications XI325H
SMC2632W
Tekram AIR.mate PCF 200
ZCOMAX AirRunner/XI=300


Factor in the cards supported by linux-wlan, listed heyah:

http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html

(note: not all of those cards in the table are supported ; make sure the entry specifically says linux-wlan )

...and the Broadcom cards, as supported by that latest windows driver trickery that I'm too lazy to link to. ( Broadcom cards== newer Linksys cards, including the WPC54G as I mentioned earlier )


.ns.

( eg, a point and click way )

NS, get scripting. bash is made for that:

#!/bin/bash
/sbin/ifconfig ethX(wlan0) xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx up ; # or dhclient ethX(wlan0) if using dhcp
/sbin/route add default gw YOURGATEWAYIP ;
echo -e "Command line is far more flexible, powerful and logical than point and click " ;

Make one for each network. Tip, use ifconfig ethX down at the start of the script to avoid an error when switching nets with no reboots.

MessageBox("But I like GUI.");

HAHAHAHAH!!! Regardless of the argument, that knocked me out of my chair! Funny stuff.

Good one!

Bratag, I'm confused; I've been using NDISWrapper with my Linksys WPC54G since I started using Gentoo. Is this news because the DriverLoader didnt have support for the Broadcom cards before? I think the thread title is misleading...

Mikhail

Ok; I changed the thread title to make more sense (the first time I saw it I thought that Linksys finally did it )

Mikhail

The only problem with the prism 54 drivers is that they require a far higher degree of skill to create the necessary kernel patches, while linuxant is self explanatory.
Adding modules to kernels is not for the faint of heart....
Also, just in case there are other newbies besides me lurking here, remember that booting on the newly compiled kernel often involvces re-installing the other modules, such as ATI, so keep list of what driver modules you have to install, after configuring and recompiling.
Then, knowing what stuff you have, and having a sane config, the recompile is a matter of minutes each time you doe it, and you do not find yourself asking what all the options in the ATI x86 file mean, or which wireless thing you need from the kernel(obviously none) or what other cards you need(obviously, for 5680 you only need to compile in realtek 8169 support) etc.
In the end, the drivers for the 5680 are really painless, and thanks to folks like markin and bratag we all can find stuff without a two week google, so I for one would like to thank the crew here.
To those who may be reading, as I was, this forum, to decide which laptop to buy, and whether it will work with linux, the 5680 works as well, at least for non gamers, with debian, as with windows, and in some ways, things like the wireless card(yes, I wussed out and paid my twenty dollars.....) much better.
If one has the patience to install the alsa drivers, and in debian, that is like trying to park the space shuttle at a yankees game, the sound is, for some strange reason, about twice as good.
So, for what the newbie's opinion is worth, the linuxant drivers are the best save your time for fun money spent in installing linux.
(Of course, the real geeks make fun of me, but I never have problems changing networks at the airport, &c.)
One important thing to note, that the linuxant wrapper loves wireless extension 16....
Also, it is not for the command line shy, as easy switching between networks is much faster with ifdown ifup.
One final caution, it is better to keep the /etc/network/interfaces as clean as possible and use cli to attach parameters like key, to avoid clutter. The few seconds you save by loading too many interface parameters every time you boot will be minutes wasted going from home to starbucks to the airport to the hotel.
Now, if someone would come up with an intelligent solution to the cranky winmodem for those days when I am punished to dial-up hell, I would fast the rest of lent.

Best,
M

Thanks, yazdzik.

You made some very good points, especially regarding keeping track of your modules when recompiling a new kernel. Also, I must admit that even though I got NDISWrapper to work, it took me quite a while. But then again, it was all about a learning experience. For the new Linux users, using it is pretty much the only way to learn, while installing something like Gentoo is even better. Back in mid-December when I started my Gentoo installation, I honestly barely knew anything.

Mikhail