Wireless, Help!!!!!!

Hi, I finally got Ubuntu dapper on my laptop, wow that took a lot of time. I decided to use the Ubuntu partitioner and every thing seems to be working great except for the wireless.

Can anyone tell me were to start I.e. how to get Ubuntu to recognize my pcmcia wireless card? I currently have Ubuntu installed on my Dell inspiron 1150, which has an Intel 852GMV Chipset. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Your PCMCIA drivers were installed, correct? Whats the brand and model number of the wireless card?

 

The wireless card is an Xterasys 802.11g Wireless LAN Card Bus PC Card. I think the PCMCIA drivers were installed, isn't it part of the regular system installation?

 

This Tutorial may work.

 

Hmm, my wireless card was not on their list, does that mean that i can't connect to the internet through my linux partition? that doesn't seem right.

 

You can use either Ndiswrapper (like TwilightVampire said above), or there could be native drivers for your wireless card. Unfortunately, many wireless chip manufacturers won't release the specs for their hardware, so people can't write drivers for Linux for their hardware, and you get problems like WinModems, printers and wireless cards not working. Buy quality hardware and check it for open-source drivers first, and it gets easier.

Check the Ubuntu forums for help on setting up both of those.

 

Man I am a little disappointed, I can't seem to find anything that works. Is this the point were I try another distro?

 

Ubuntu/Kubuntu would probably be your safest bet. I'd say try various Ndiswrapper configs and see what happens and also to try the Ubuntu forums. Ask this there, they're extremely knowledgeable about their distro of choice

 

The Ubuntu forums seem to be relatively dead, I have gotten twice as many responses in the NBR forums than I have in the linux forums. I guess I will keep trying though.

I found a website that said that the Wireless card I have is virtually impossible to get working in linux so I might just buy a different card. Asus seems to make the best linux capable Wireless cards.

 

Atheros cards are all designed for compatibility with Linux unless I'm mistaken.

 

Ok thanks, I will check them out to.

 

I don't know if you've found this website yet, but you could try its ndiswrapper tutorial.

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy#How_to_install_Windows_Wireless_Drivers_.28Ndiswrapper.29

also, if you do decide to purchase a new WiFi adapter, check with this supported hardware list.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported

 

That's really weird considering that ndiswrapper just lets Linux use the Windows drivers. If there are Windows drivers, ndiswrapper should work. Having said that, I do not recall seeing a nice GUI for setting up a wireless network connection in Ubuntu 6.06 (not sure about 6.10), and doing it from the command line is complicated, so it might not be something which you would want to do if you're new to Linux (irregardless of whether it is doable or not).

 

yea this is my first distro so I am very new to linux. So are you recommending that I just get a more compatible wireless card? Are there any distros that are known for being easy to set up the wireless in?

 

yipeeeeeeeeeeeeee I finally got ubuntu to recognize the wireless card, man that was a trip. Now I just have to get the WEP address, the only problem is that my network admin has no idea what a WEP address is. does anyone have any suggestions were I can get the WEP address or is this something I am going to have to call Adelphia for?

 

uh... WEP is the security algorithm that your wireless router uses. basically the WEP key is a password. it's actually pretty weak encryption, so if you can use NetworkManager to enable WPA encryption (provided it's enabled on the router,) that would be much better.

 

Do you know how I can get the algorithm? I know it is weak but that is what my network admin is using(if it works he is happy)

 

oh, well, all you need is the password... WEP is automatically built in, you don't need to download anything.

 

Hmm so I should just be able to connect with out typing in the WEP In Ubuntu?

 

No. You need to input the WEP key at least once. After that Ubuntu should save it and you shouldnt have to worry about inputing it. It works exactly the same way in windows.

 

can you tell me were I can find the WEP key?

 

Your system administrator or network suporvisor is supposed to know it.

 

Well he does not (Ahhhhhhhh The joys of living in a non tech savvy house) I was hoping it might be on the router or something. I guess I will have to call Adelphia in the morning.

 

The WEP key is created by the network admin....

 

Rats that even worse (besides not being tech savvy he has bad memory)

 

He should be able to log into the router by typing 192.168.1.1 into the address bar of a web browser. From there he should be able to navigate to some type of wireless security page and the WEP key should be listed somewhere on it.

 

It is entirely possible that

#1 there is no wep security in place on your router. In that case leave the WEP key blank, if your network admin doesn't know what a wep key is, or where to get it he should be fired.

#2 The router came with a factory preset WEP key, in that case it would be printed on the side of the router itself, usually next to the serial number

 

Well I would love to fire him but he is my brother, LOL. Thanks for the suggestion though, I will look into it. There must be some sort of security because it wont connect without some sort of key

 

There is the HFC MAC ID, is that what you are talking about?

 

That might be it. But the most probable thing is a WEP key. Try looking under an encryption section in your router.

 

the MAC id is a unique number that is given to each network device. it's not the encryption key you need.

probably the easiest thing to do would be to reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure it. generally you need to create your own WEP key, AFAIK it wouldn't be on the device or anything

 

Have you gotten online wirelessly before now with a different computer?

 

Yea I am actualy able to get online with the same computer in the Win partition.

 

When you connected for the first time with that laptop, did you have to put in the WEP key?

 

yea, well I had to put some kind of key in. it was a password or a WEP key, not sure which. But the linux network wants a WEP key, so I guess that is what I need to get.

 

If you put in the WEP key the first time, how were you able to get it?

Did you try logging into your router to get it?

 

The router has a password to get into it which my brother had at one time but has forgotten. I think he must have logged into the router to get it the first time.

 

Just try a blank username with password admin.

 

What do you mean by password admin?

 

Also try username 'admin' with password 'password'.

 

Hey I got in!!! But I do not see anything called a WEP anything. Is there any other name a WEP key goes by?

 

Is there a wireless link or something to get to it?
It would be either WEP or WPA and you said you're being prompted for WEP right?

 

Your router probably has a reset button. Typically you hold one of those down for 10 seconds or so, and it will reset the thing to factory settings. That includes resetting the password. The default login for a number of linksys routers (when you go to 192.168.1.1 to access its settings) is a blank username and a password of "admin"

If you're poking around different linuxy programs, it's seemed to me that WEP passwords tend to be referred to as a "key", and WPA passwords tend to be referred to as a "passphrase" -- while WEP works on just about everything, it is kind of like locking your door with a cheap lock -- anyone with motivation can get through it. WPA is more like ... umm... the metaphor breaks down a bit. If you use a good passphrase, it's pretty well imposible to break in any practical timeframe.

In your router pages, look for something like "Wireless Security"

 

He's already in at this point. Right now it's just finding the key.
But yeah, it should be under something like "Wireless" and "Wireless Security."

 

There is nothing called a WEP, There is a password but it is encrypted I.e. looks like this ************. is that what you are talking about?

EDIT oh wait, I think I found it, I will go into the linux partition and see if it works. Wish me luck!!!!!

 

It worked, I am typing this from my linux Ubuntu partition!!!!! yipeeeee

 

Sweet! Great to hear and glad you found it. Now you can start having some fun downloading all that good open source software.

 

Preach it brother, LOL. I think I am going to check out compiz first. Also I do not really like ubuntu so I think I am going to switch to Kubuntu.

 

After all that?? lol

I tried Kubuntu first but I like the Gnome interface better and I've gotten used to it.

 

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Put that into the terminal and Kubuntu will install. After that go to sessions on the login screen and click KDE. If you want it as default just click yes on the dialog box.

This option wont delete anything, you wont have to go through an install, and if you ever wanted to you can swich back to gnome any time you'd like.