D-Link and Ndiswrapper

[earth walker]

Hi, Tee Jay.

Which version of Ubuntu are you using? Many of the D-link adapters actually 
work in Ubuntu without the need for ndiswrapper. Ndiswrapper should be a 
last resort only for cards known not to work in linux. Unfortunately much of 
the documentation seems to points users towards it unnecessarily.

If it is one of the Dlink cards based on the Atheros chip (my AirPlus is) it 
should work out of the box in Dapper, while in Edgy you need to install the 
restricted modules for your kernel version.

I would start with the assumption that it works (since it does on mine). So 
the first thing you should do is remove the ndiswrapper stuff completely.

If you're on Edgy, search synaptic for restricted-modules, install the 
package for your architecture (probably 'generic' or 'i386'), reboot, and 
then it should be detected.

If you're on Dapper I suggest you reboot after removing ndiswrapper.

Once you've rebooted, check System>Administration>Networking, and see if the 
wireless card is listed. If there is an entry for wireless networking there, 
then your card has been detected.

If the card is still not being detected, then I would first check that the 
pcmcia card bus and other laptop doodads are working properly - search the 
forums and the internet for linux on your particular computer.

You may want to try booting the kernal with options such as noapic or 
acpi=off, to see if that works, the former was necessary on one of my 
laptops for it to recognise the soundcard, wifi and pcmcia bus on hoary.

Once it's detected:
1. Turn off any security on your wireless network
2. Install network-manager and network-manager-gnome (assuming you're on 
Ubuntu)
3. Restart Gnome. You should see a network icon in the top righthand. Click 
it. Does it give you wireless network options? If so, sign onto your 
network.
4. Once you have it working, then you can enable the security, and network 
manager will disconnect you and ask you for the WEP passphrase/whatever. If 
you are using WPA security, then you have to install some other packages, so 
search for that in the forums.

Hope that helps.

Brendan


>From: "Tee Jay Rosene" <teejayrosene at gmail.com>
>Reply-To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
>To: ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
>Subject: D-Link and Ndiswrapper
>Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:05:25 -0500
>
>I don't have any questions *per se, *I do want to include my experience 
>with
>Ndiswrapper so far, to better facilitate others who would also like to use
>this programme; essentially I want to participate in Ubuntu Canada by
>jotting down some of the problems I'm encountering in my attempt to get 
>WiFi
>working on Ubuntu. Although I don't have a solution, I guess this is my way
>to participate in the open source community, and more particularly, Ubuntu
>Canada.
>
>I'm trying to get a D-Link "Air Plus Extreme G" card to work on an older 
>IBM
>Thinkpad (model 1161). I know this card works with the hardware because it
>worked all right when I had Windows 2000 installed as the operating system.
>There are four different versions of this specific card, and the one I own
>is version B4. Consequently I downloaded the corresponding driver for the
>card and used Ndiswrapper to "wrap" the driver. The card was then detected,
>however I could not get it to work.
>
>Because the driver I downloaded was an updated version, I also tried to use
>the version that was on the installation disk that came with the card.
>Again, the same results. The card was detected as being present, but I was
>unable to activate it—the lights were not blinking, etc.
>
>I know this is not Ubuntu's fault, but rather the card manufacturer's and
>that giant proprietary conglomerate that has made my older Ethernet card
>incompatible with Ubuntu. Luckily Ubuntu and the open source community
>always has ingenious work-arounds for such situations such as mine, and I
>need to find and/or learn how to do this.


>--
>ubuntu-ca mailing list
>ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
>https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-ca

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