From c_malmsten at yahoo.com  Mon Apr 27 12:35:34 2009
From: c_malmsten at yahoo.com (CLMalmsten)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:35:34 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <526100.89833.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


Hello,

I'm trying to get OpenSUSE 11.1 (KDE) to recognize my laptop's external wireless card. I've been working with directions from this page: http://en.opensuse.org/Ndiswrapper.

My card: BCM4306 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN Controller.

I installed this software on OpenSUSE:
ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper-kmp-default
ndiswrapper-kmp-pae
ndiswrapper-kmp-xen (Not sure I need these last two...)

I located my .sys and oem12.inf driver files on my Windows drive and saved them to my Linux drive. Then I installed them so that when I type "ndiswrapper -l" in the console I get:

oem12: driver installed
device (14E4:4320) present (alternate driver: ssb)

I tried to blacklist the ssb driver as described by the webpage above but I'm not sure I've done it right, or if I even need to.

I'm wondering if I misconfigured my card - I may need some extra assistance here. When I click "Network Devices" from the YaST Control Center, and then click "Network Settings" I'm asked "do you want to modprobe ndiswrapper" - even though I was asked the same thing last night and said "yes." After clicking "yes" again, the network connection is initialized and my card shows up but says "Not Connected."

Next I'm going to try exploring this page: http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Network_Adapters_(Wireless)/Broadcom_BCM43xx. (Although now that I take a closer look at this page, it says "ensure you are online" - which I can't do unless my wireless card works. Also - if I begin to follow the steps described at this website, do I need to reverse any of the steps I took above?)

If you can provide me with any other suggestions or links, I'd appreciate it. (Keep in mind that I'm very much a newbie, to both Linux and using the console.)

Thanks,
Christy


      


From c_malmsten at yahoo.com  Mon Apr 27 13:22:34 2009
From: c_malmsten at yahoo.com (CLMalmsten)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:22:34 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <76053.9132.qm@web56403.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


So, so sorry about the long lines in my message.
I'm sending this from my Yahoo email, and
haven't found where to limit line length for
plain text messages. Am willing to switch to
Gmail if it will help. Any advice?

Christy


      


From gib at juno.com  Mon Apr 27 15:38:46 2009
From: gib at juno.com (gib at juno.com)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:38:46 GMT
Subject: [mdlug-newbie]  Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <20090427.153846.22212.1@webmail03.vgs.untd.com>

 
Yes, continue to use long lines.  Let the email client do the formatting. This should be the standard way of handling this issue. So, when I resize my reader it will format for me.

---------- Original Message ----------
From: CLMalmsten <c_malmsten at yahoo.com>
To: mdlug-newbie at mdlug.org
Subject: Re: [mdlug-newbie] Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:22:34 -0700 (PDT)



So, so sorry about the long lines in my message.
I'm sending this from my Yahoo email, and
haven't found where to limit line length for
plain text messages. Am willing to switch to
Gmail if it will help. Any advice?

Christy


     
_______________________________________________
mdlug-newbie mailing list
mdlug-newbie at mdlug.org
http://mdlug.org/mailman/listinfo/mdlug-newbie

____________________________________________________________
Get a life insurance quote online. Click to compare rates and save.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/BLSrjnsO5FxDTrIKBxMdOYtiwZz2U7yXke5YlWOPdDhABVFTx6yiuaauPuw/
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From c_malmsten at yahoo.com  Mon Apr 27 20:06:19 2009
From: c_malmsten at yahoo.com (CLMalmsten)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:06:19 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Update: Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <595954.41750.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


This is an update to my post from earlier today (subject line: "Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1").

After reading some more online, I see that using the b43 driver might be a better choice than the ndiswrapper. I'm working from this page: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43, as well as some online forums.

It seems that I need to make sure b43-fwcutter is installed - which it is. Then I need to download the firmware for my card. This is the part I'm hung up on - how to do this without an internet connection?

I can get the files I think I need from here: http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2. I can save them to a flash drive and transfer them over to my Linux drive - but where to put them? And what to do next?

I think my next steps will involve some/all of these steps (taken from the website listed above).

export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta_mimo.o

...But before I go further I'll await the advice of the experts.

Christy


      


From Raymond.Ingles at compuware.com  Tue Apr 28 14:27:39 2009
From: Raymond.Ingles at compuware.com (Ingles, Raymond)
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:27:39 -0400
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Update: Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
In-Reply-To: <595954.41750.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
References: <595954.41750.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <319C03F7A120754B9128CF308BF5E0370120B38C@nasa-dtw-ex004.nasa.cpwr.corp>

> From: CLMalmsten

> After reading some more online, I see that using the b43 driver might
be a
> better choice than the ndiswrapper. I'm working from this page:
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43, as well as some online
> forums.

 I got a Dell laptop working with the b43 driver under Ubuntu last
month. I don't have the laptop handy anymore, I'm afraid, but I would
investigate that before going the ndiswrapper route.

 Does the laptop have a wired network connection? You can use that
temporarily to download the firmware, then switch to the wireless once
it's working.

> I think my next steps will involve some/all of these steps (taken from
the
> website listed above).
> 
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
> sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta_mimo.o
> 
> ...But before I go further I'll await the advice of the experts.

 Yeah, that sounds right. Just to give you some context, I'll explain
*why* this rigamarole is necessary. Wifi uses radio, obviously, and the
FCC has limits to how much power the wifi chips are allowed to
broadcast. So far so good... except the wifi chips don't use *hardware*
to limit the power, they use *software* (it's cheaper).

 The concern is that people could hack their wifi drivers to put out
illegally-strong signals. So, the wifi chipset makers usually don't give
out the specs needed to fully program the hardware. Instead, they have a
'firmware' that must be loaded, and then the driver talks to that
firmware to actually do networking.

 It's annoying, but we're kind of stuck with it for now. So, what you're
doing is getting that firmware (which, for *other* annoying legal
reasons, can't usually be distributed with Linux directly), and then the
b43 driver will load it onto the wifi chipset when needed.

 The good news is, once it's set up, it should work pretty well.

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                                     (313)
227-2317

  "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the
Constitution,
 They don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the
Bible."
                              - Jamie Raskin
The contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the named addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us immediately and then destroy it.


From c_malmsten at yahoo.com  Mon Apr 27 12:35:34 2009
From: c_malmsten at yahoo.com (CLMalmsten)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:35:34 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <526100.89833.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


Hello,

I'm trying to get OpenSUSE 11.1 (KDE) to recognize my laptop's external wireless card. I've been working with directions from this page: http://en.opensuse.org/Ndiswrapper.

My card: BCM4306 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN Controller.

I installed this software on OpenSUSE:
ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper-kmp-default
ndiswrapper-kmp-pae
ndiswrapper-kmp-xen (Not sure I need these last two...)

I located my .sys and oem12.inf driver files on my Windows drive and saved them to my Linux drive. Then I installed them so that when I type "ndiswrapper -l" in the console I get:

oem12: driver installed
device (14E4:4320) present (alternate driver: ssb)

I tried to blacklist the ssb driver as described by the webpage above but I'm not sure I've done it right, or if I even need to.

I'm wondering if I misconfigured my card - I may need some extra assistance here. When I click "Network Devices" from the YaST Control Center, and then click "Network Settings" I'm asked "do you want to modprobe ndiswrapper" - even though I was asked the same thing last night and said "yes." After clicking "yes" again, the network connection is initialized and my card shows up but says "Not Connected."

Next I'm going to try exploring this page: http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Network_Adapters_(Wireless)/Broadcom_BCM43xx. (Although now that I take a closer look at this page, it says "ensure you are online" - which I can't do unless my wireless card works. Also - if I begin to follow the steps described at this website, do I need to reverse any of the steps I took above?)

If you can provide me with any other suggestions or links, I'd appreciate it. (Keep in mind that I'm very much a newbie, to both Linux and using the console.)

Thanks,
Christy


      


From c_malmsten at yahoo.com  Mon Apr 27 13:22:34 2009
From: c_malmsten at yahoo.com (CLMalmsten)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:22:34 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <76053.9132.qm@web56403.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


So, so sorry about the long lines in my message.
I'm sending this from my Yahoo email, and
haven't found where to limit line length for
plain text messages. Am willing to switch to
Gmail if it will help. Any advice?

Christy


      


From gib at juno.com  Mon Apr 27 15:38:46 2009
From: gib at juno.com (gib at juno.com)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:38:46 GMT
Subject: [mdlug-newbie]  Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <20090427.153846.22212.1@webmail03.vgs.untd.com>

 
Yes, continue to use long lines.  Let the email client do the formatting. This should be the standard way of handling this issue. So, when I resize my reader it will format for me.

---------- Original Message ----------
From: CLMalmsten <c_malmsten at yahoo.com>
To: mdlug-newbie at mdlug.org
Subject: Re: [mdlug-newbie] Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:22:34 -0700 (PDT)



So, so sorry about the long lines in my message.
I'm sending this from my Yahoo email, and
haven't found where to limit line length for
plain text messages. Am willing to switch to
Gmail if it will help. Any advice?

Christy


     
_______________________________________________
mdlug-newbie mailing list
mdlug-newbie at mdlug.org
http://mdlug.org/mailman/listinfo/mdlug-newbie

____________________________________________________________
Get a life insurance quote online. Click to compare rates and save.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/BLSrjnsO5FxDTrIKBxMdOYtiwZz2U7yXke5YlWOPdDhABVFTx6yiuaauPuw/
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From c_malmsten at yahoo.com  Mon Apr 27 20:06:19 2009
From: c_malmsten at yahoo.com (CLMalmsten)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:06:19 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Update: Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
Message-ID: <595954.41750.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


This is an update to my post from earlier today (subject line: "Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1").

After reading some more online, I see that using the b43 driver might be a better choice than the ndiswrapper. I'm working from this page: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43, as well as some online forums.

It seems that I need to make sure b43-fwcutter is installed - which it is. Then I need to download the firmware for my card. This is the part I'm hung up on - how to do this without an internet connection?

I can get the files I think I need from here: http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2. I can save them to a flash drive and transfer them over to my Linux drive - but where to put them? And what to do next?

I think my next steps will involve some/all of these steps (taken from the website listed above).

export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta_mimo.o

...But before I go further I'll await the advice of the experts.

Christy


      


From Raymond.Ingles at compuware.com  Tue Apr 28 14:27:39 2009
From: Raymond.Ingles at compuware.com (Ingles, Raymond)
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:27:39 -0400
Subject: [mdlug-newbie] Update: Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1
In-Reply-To: <595954.41750.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
References: <595954.41750.qm@web56405.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <319C03F7A120754B9128CF308BF5E0370120B38C@nasa-dtw-ex004.nasa.cpwr.corp>

> From: CLMalmsten

> After reading some more online, I see that using the b43 driver might
be a
> better choice than the ndiswrapper. I'm working from this page:
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43, as well as some online
> forums.

 I got a Dell laptop working with the b43 driver under Ubuntu last
month. I don't have the laptop handy anymore, I'm afraid, but I would
investigate that before going the ndiswrapper route.

 Does the laptop have a wired network connection? You can use that
temporarily to download the firmware, then switch to the wireless once
it's working.

> I think my next steps will involve some/all of these steps (taken from
the
> website listed above).
> 
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
> sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta_mimo.o
> 
> ...But before I go further I'll await the advice of the experts.

 Yeah, that sounds right. Just to give you some context, I'll explain
*why* this rigamarole is necessary. Wifi uses radio, obviously, and the
FCC has limits to how much power the wifi chips are allowed to
broadcast. So far so good... except the wifi chips don't use *hardware*
to limit the power, they use *software* (it's cheaper).

 The concern is that people could hack their wifi drivers to put out
illegally-strong signals. So, the wifi chipset makers usually don't give
out the specs needed to fully program the hardware. Instead, they have a
'firmware' that must be loaded, and then the driver talks to that
firmware to actually do networking.

 It's annoying, but we're kind of stuck with it for now. So, what you're
doing is getting that firmware (which, for *other* annoying legal
reasons, can't usually be distributed with Linux directly), and then the
b43 driver will load it onto the wifi chipset when needed.

 The good news is, once it's set up, it should work pretty well.

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                                     (313)
227-2317

  "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the
Constitution,
 They don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the
Bible."
                              - Jamie Raskin
The contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the named addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us immediately and then destroy it.


