Re: [SLE] Wireless - looking at netgear
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Hi Jon, It sounds like I am following the same path as yourself. Same version of SuSE linux, Same WiFi adapter cards, I even have an Athlon ! More on the hardware later. I have been using Windows + Unix for years, and recently installed Wi-Fi at home. I'm happy with the way it works so far, apart from a few dead spots in the garden. The brick chimney blocks are the worst issue :-( I'm now looking into switching over to Linux at home to get the benfits of fewer virus scares, more stability than Win98 and so on. But Linux is a new area for me. So its prooving a challenge :-) My priority is the MA311 - PCI The lap top with MA401 - PCMCIA is my wife's and will be one of the last to migrate. But I'm interested to hear more about the driver you found. ! My investigations so far have taken me to The linux-wlan(tm) Project http://www.linux-wlan.org/ They have a Hardware compatibility whic looks promising. 'A comprehensive listing of all currently-available WLAN adapters with their chipset and linux-wlan-ng software ' It lists both the Netgear cards, and implies the linux-wlan-ng software caters to the Prism chip that both the cards are built around. When I looked at the README file and the FAQ about software dependencies and obtaining code or binaries, I get a little confused. I'm not clear about a few points :- 1) Can SuSE make use of RPM's intended for any Linux distribuition, like Debian or Redhat ? These seem to be available. 2) Is we are running kernel version 2.4.20, and the linux-wlan-ng software has been tested on earlier versions of kernel, does that mean it won't run on SuSE V8.2 with kernel 2.4.20 ? The most recent intel Test system they document is with Kernel 2.4.19 Redhat 7.2 . 3) There are extensive instructions on how to build and compile your drivers, but this section begins with the alluring sentence :-"You may not need to build at all. " and refers you to the FAQ's for a source. It's been 4 years since I last tried downloading code and compiling it to run on my systems, so I'm a bit hazzy about all this. Let me know how you are getting on. Any alternative drivers out there ? Best regards, Bill. Now, if your interested in list's if hardware kit.... Netgear FM114P gateway router and print server, SpeedTouch 530 (Single Port) ADSL modem Laptop with MA401 - PCMCIA 2X PC's with MA311 - PCI 2X hardwired PC's Essential gear for the teenage kids....... Athlon 800Mhz 128 Mb ATI Radeon / TV tuner Soundblaster PS2 Game console, 2 X Dance mats USB Webcam / DigiCamera --------------------------------- Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo!Messenger
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On Wednesday 15 October 2003 6:56 pm, William Wolfe wrote:
My priority is the MA311 - PCI The lap top with MA401 - PCMCIA is my wife's and will be one of the last to migrate. But I'm interested to hear more about the driver you found. ! My investigations so far have taken me to The linux-wlan(tm) Project http://www.linux-wlan.org/
They have a Hardware compatibility whic looks promising. 'A comprehensive listing of all currently-available WLAN adapters with their chipset and linux-wlan-ng software ' It lists both the Netgear cards, and implies the linux-wlan-ng software caters to the Prism chip that both the cards are built around. When I looked at the README file and the FAQ about software dependencies and obtaining code or binaries, I get a little confused.
It is still confusing, but things are improving fast, and the first part is they work well, next will be configure is easy last will be the instructions. Or maybe I have had a bad day..... At any rate SUSE 8.2 has built in all the drivers you need for MA401 (and I guess MA311 but have not tried) so it is almost plug it in and it works. In my case YAST could not cope with the config but YMMV David
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William Wolfe wrote:
My investigations so far have taken me to The linux-wlan(tm) Project http://www.linux-wlan.org/
I *think* you'll find that's all redundant these days. I have a MA701 (CF type) with the Prism chipset and it works without having to compile any external drivers. Back when 802.11b was new, I did use the drivers from linux-wlan but you'll probably not have to go there ;-) sjb
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Hi Guys,
This is all very encouraging. Thanks for the supporting comments.
I will have to have a go with the install disk and see what the hardware recognition routines make of it all.
More later.....
Cheers Bill.
sjb
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Hi Guys,
This is all very encouraging. Thanks for the supporting comments.
I will have to have a go with the install disk and see what the hardware recognition routines make of it all.
More later.....
Cheers Bill.
sjb
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Good Morning,
I can confirm that the driver for Netgear Prism 2.5
wlan/wifi devices works successfully with the Netgear
MA311 PCI card.
The installation is pretty smooth.
I forgot I still had another ethernet NIC (Realtek
RTL-8029(AS) installed and the YaST hardware detection
routine found both, and configured the Realtek as
eth0 and left the Netgear wifi adapter un-configured.
But I clicked on Change, and manually deleted the
configuration for the Realtek, and started on the
Netgear MA311.
Pretty straight forward. I went into the Detailed
Settings out of curiosity, and changed the Host Name
from the default value of 'linux' and one other
setting for Default Gateway. There are 3 sections to
the Detailed Settings: HostName, Routing Details,
Hardware Details.
Then we were on to the Test. It ran OK. It might be
usefull to have an indicator of the signal strength at
this point. If you have your system in a poor
reception zone you would doubtless run into some
problems here. Today I was lucky. This PC is sitting
1 X floor and a couple of brick walls from its base
station, and gets anything between 60% and 0% signal
strength. It's a bit like an old TV. So long as you
stand in the right place you get an excellent
reception. Then the next day its completely different.
This is fantastic. No need to trawl about to collect
source code and compile. It runs straight out of the
box. Well done SuSE !
OK. Time to try out the first re-boot after install.
Wish me luck !
Cheers Bill.
--- William Wolfe
This is all very encouraging. Thanks for the supporting comments.
I will have to have a go with the install disk and see what the hardware recognition routines make of it all.
More later.....
Cheers Bill.
sjb
wrote: I have a MA701 (CF type) with the Prism chipset and it works without having to compile any external drivers.
Back when 802.11b was new, I did use the drivers from linux-wlan but you'll probably not have to go there ;-)
sjb
david stevenson
wrote: It is still confusing, but things are improving fast, and the first part is they work well, At any rate SUSE 8.2 has built in all the drivers you need for MA401 (and I guess MA311 but have not tried) so it is almost plug it in and it works. In my case YAST could not cope with the config but YMMV David
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participants (3)
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david stevenson
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sjb
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William Wolfe