getting pci wifi dwl650+ to work

[corosus]

hi

i was thinking about installing mandrake 10.1 on my portable now running win2000, (ibm thinkpad 600e) problem is i have a d-link dlw650+ pci wifi card ( http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=23 ) and i am unsure wether i will get it to work as there are no linux drivers supplied by the manufacture. i've googled the problem but that only left me more confused, so i come here
also is pcmcia hotswapable under linux???


please take into account that even thou i have some experience running windows i am quite new at linux (not to say a total newbie)

[Tyr_7BE]

I'm running Ubuntu Linux (http://www.ubuntulinux.com/ ), Hoary Hedgehog edition using a DWL-650G PCMCIA card and it works like a dream. To configure it, I simply go to System->Administration->Networking and I'm good to go!

There are other programs you can install as well that provide preferred networks and such. ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=25398 is the one I use, there are others). We'll deal with those bridges when we come to them. But for now, my very-similar card works flawlessly under linux. I didn't need to do a thing to get it to work.

Edit: I'm a little confused. When you say PCI, do you mean PCMCIA (ie, Cardbus, ie little card you put in the side of your portable)? PCI is usually associated with Desktop systems.

EDIT2: That was a little strange. let' see if this fixes up the formatting of the post.

[redhead]

Look here: http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/Prism2Card
It is mentioned as "Hackable" what ever that means.. Probably it means roughly 70% get it working.

[trickster]

As Tyr mentioned, it might come up and be configured easily as it does in Ubuntu. If not, there is a driver in alpha stage here. There is a HowTo here.
As a last resort, you can use NdisWrapper.

[Tyr_7BE]

[quote author=redhead link=board=3;threadid=10576;start=0#msg95055 date=1121107227]
Look here: http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/Prism2Card
It is mentioned as "Hackable" what ever that means.. Probably it means roughly 70% get it working.
[/quote]

"Hackable" is listed under the connector. It means you can modify the actual hardware if you'd like. If you click on "Hackable" it takes you to a site where someone's put an antenna on the wireless card, probably boosting the signal quality by a ridiculous amount.

As for getting it working, check out the comments. Around 2001, some people were having to change some settings on older Toshiba laptops to get it working. So basically, if you have a toshiba laptop that was considered old in 2001, you might have to do something to get this working. Otherwise, looks like it's a go!

[corosus]

yhea sorry i meanth pcmcia (chalk that up to a typo in my brain please )

annyway thank you all verry much for replying so soon
i think i will be installing mandrake soon


concidering the fact that this is not the heavyest of machines shoul i consider installing ubuntu rather than mandrake ( i was advised mandrake by a friend on the grounds that there wil be less installing to do afterwards)

[trickster]

Ubuntu is very user friendly, so you should be ok if you go with it. However, if this card has been out since 2001, it is likely any modern Linux distribution would support it.

[Tyr_7BE]

Just throwing in my agreement with Trickster. Most distros should support this card.

As for Ubuntu vs Mandrake, I'd say yes you would be better off with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is seen as a "rising star" in the linux world whereas Mandrake is more of a "setting sun." The company that produced Mandrake linux is going through some changes, and the product is being end-of-lifed. Ubuntu, however, is very new to the scene and is taking it by storm because of its user-friendliness and it's knack for making things "Just Work".

Ubu's definitely my favorite, and I've tried a lot. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Only catch is that you have to change the default theme as the first thing you do. How something that ugly made it in as the default theme for two releases in a row is beyond me.

[trickster]

0-o I like the theme!

[Tyr_7BE]

[quote author=trickster link=board=3;threadid=10576;start=0#msg95062 date=1121128525]
0-o I like the theme!
[/quote]

It's brown