WiFI Problem

[carmelovazzana]

Hi this is my first post here, I'll do my best to be in-line with the OpenFree philosophy.
I'm a new Linux user and frankly i'm a little worried on my linux-working capacities, because of the installation on my laptop.
This is my laptop.

HP Omnibook 4100 - 64 MB ram etc etc..

I've tried this distros:

Ubuntu alternate - Desktop
Knopil
Slax
Mandriva
Suse
Slackware
DSL (daemon small linux) - damnsmalllinux.org

but only the last one is arrived to the KDE desktop.

The problem like audio card and video configuration can wait but i've to solve the wifi drama...i'm fighting with a Peak 283717 CardBus Wireless Card, that linux read as 88w8310 Marvell Semiconductor (i think this is the chipset!?) and wconfig, etc. tell me that there aren't wifi card!
What i've to do? Please Help me i'm working on my degree thesis and i need the wireless link to my WiFi "router" Alice Gate2 Plus Wi-Fi

[countach44]

From what I've seen, it looks like you may need to use ndiswrapper to get that card to work. If you can get a hold of the windows wireless drivers and install ndiswrapper (http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/joomla/), you may be able to get it to work. 64MB is not a lot to work with, especially when trying to get wireless working.

[carmelovazzana]

I've tried ndiswrapper but it support only wep and i've wpa key. So linux support WPA? how does it work!?

[Compunuts]

64 MB of memory is plenty well enough for ndiswapper specifically but it's too much to ask for any DE such as KDE and Gnome. It will be hell of slow to do it. You are better off installing lightweight DE such as blackbox or iceWM.

Countach44 is correct. You need to use ndiswrapper and use windows driver for your specific card. We used to have ndiswrapper guide back when on LJR site but it somehow got lost when transfered to OFO and I don't want to write it again. Read the installation manual from ndiswrapper site and follow through it.

WPA is supported on Linux via wpa-supplicant. Here is an excellent wiki to get wpa configured. Search in google for wpa supplicant setup and it should provide you with plenty to read and try.

[carmelovazzana]

Thanks a lot, excellent tips.
Ill'write back soon

[carmelovazzana]

i've installed last xubuntu release, this distro don't find network cards, so i've tried to follow your tips but its so difficult to find sys files for configure all tools (iceWM, ndiswrapper, wpa-supplicant)

[Compunuts]

It would be impossible to get all your problems solved in one thread. Since you are pretty new to Linux stuff, I'd go with easier distros than trying to get the most effective distro for your low-end hardware. ( Personally, I'd run minimalist Debian with either IceWM or Blackbox since I do have one P233 with 256 MB and it runs quiet nice with this setup ).

I'd highly recommend either to install latest Fedora or Ubuntu. Why? That way, you will have much more chance of getting help on this kind of boards. If on UK or DE based boards, I'd say SuSE. Anyway ...

You will likely to have a little slow loading machine but it will be much easier to figure out what you need to do. I also have a Marvell based PCMCIA card ( Netgear 511v2 ), I'd say your installation will not find any network card by default. That's why you need to use ndiswrapper as a workaround. It may not included in your installation disk but you can download it from ndiswrapper site or download all complete set of installation CDs from Ubuntu. YOu need to get ndiswrapper working and load your Windows drivers and tested it with your AP either via raw or WEP method. Then and only then, you can work with wpa-supplicant.

Hope This Helps ...

[Compunuts]

its so difficult to find sys files for configure all tools (iceWM, ndiswrapper, wpa-supplicant)

Well, none of the stuff I mentioned are system tools. They are all applications.