list of wireless device supported

[Karl Larsen]

Jacques B. wrote:
> Trying to find the list of wireless cards supported out of the box for
> Fedora 7.  Couldn't find any clear answer on the Fedora wiki.   I have
> the D-Link DWL-G132 USB wireless device.  Currently running Fedora 5
> (dual boot with XP) and I haven't bothered trying to get it to run
> there.  I was running wired up until recently so it was a non-issue.
> But I've moved stuff around and am now wireless.  If Fedora 7 can
> support it out of the box I'll go with that.  Otherwise I'll delay
> until I can have my computer connected via my NIC as well to trouble
> shoot it (so won't venture there yet - other weekend projects are
> taking priority).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jacques B.
>
>   
Here is what I did and you can quickly find if there is a driver for 
your device at the web site.


        How to get WiFi working on your lap-top

    It has been hard to get the wifi that works so well on your Windows 
XP to work when you select Linux at boot time.This paper will show a 
step by step process that will get the modern laptop working.

I:    First, in this example, I must learn the name of my WiFi hardware. 
This can be done by opening a Terminal, becoming root, and entering 
'lspci'.

00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 
802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
00:0f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c4)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

Notice there are two items called Ethernet controller. But notice the 
Atheros says it handles 802.11abg which is what WiFi is, So now we know 
this laptop has hardware made by Atheros Communications, Inc.

II:    The second step is to find out what Linux software is written for 
our hardware. I used a great web page at:

http://linux-wless.passys.nl/

I went to this web page and at the first choice selected Sony. I then 
hit Show and in the green band was Atheros and it says I need the 
MadWiFi package and directs me to their web page. There you look at the 
HowTo page and learn the actual kernel module is called "ath_pci" and 
that call will get it working and it will call all the other needed 
modules. The next step is to find a kernel with this software in it that 
will make my laptop work.

III:    Either find a kernel that has the drivers in module form, or 
find a kernel modification that has the MadWiFi package. When done test 
the kernel. This can be done by opening a Terminal, becoming root, and 
entering 'modprobe ath_pci'.

    I used "service network reboot" and it came back up with two 
Internet sources, eth0 and ath0 listed. It showed no eth0 and ath0 was 
not turned on. I told it to turn on ath0 and it did and the WiFi 
Internet started working.

IV:

    Listed next is four laptop hardware systems I know about.

  Hardware              Software        modprobe    

  Atheros Comm           madwifi        ath_pci
   
  Intel old              IEEE80211      ipw2200   

  IntelPro 3945          IEEE80211      ipw3945   

  Broadcom BCM 4318      MAC80211       bcm43xx


V:    There is a network system available in at least Fedora Core 6 and 
Fedora 7 called NetworkManager. You will want to set that up at least on 
your laptop. I have it on both computers. Caution! Turn off network if 
your using NetworkManager. Be aware that not everyone likes this 
software and some say that it will not work well with some WiFi systems. 
I can only say it works just fine for me.

    Open a Terminal, become root, and enter cd /etc/rc.d/init.d/ and you 
will see a lot of applications listed. Now do:
chkconfig network off
chkconfig NetworkManager on
chkconfig NetworkManagerDispatcher on.

    Look at the two tiny computers near your name on the top edge near 
your name and click on them. It will tell you what it is doing. There is 
a good way to check overall performance with 'nm-tool'. This can be done 
by opening a Terminal, becoming root, and entering 'nm-tool'.

VI:    Follow the same steps I did with my laptop and replace mine with 
yours. I hope your laptop is using one of the about 50 hardware packages 
in the the web page above. And you wind up quickly with a working Linux 
laptop. If your laptop is quite old it is possible this method will not 
work.

Karl Larsen
Chris Mohler



-- 

	Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
	Linux User
	#450462   http://counter.li.org.