How To Get One 802.11g Wireless Card To Work On Linux

The kernel installed with no complaints from the package manager, and I shut down Linux and reloaded on this new kernel. This was to prove that the new operating system can load and run, and it was also a prerequisite for the wireless software installed next using the following commands in a terminal session with root privileges:

rpm -i ndiswrapper-utils-0.7-1.
rhfc1.dag.i386.rpm

rpm -i kernel-module-ndiswrapper-0.7-1_2.4.22_1.2188.nptl.rhfc1.dag.i386.rpm

Finally, it was a minor exercise to install the Microsoft drivers, and the following commands achieved this in a terminal session with root privileges:

ndsiwrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

ndiswrapper -m

I made sure that both bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys were in the same directory as these commands require it. NdisWrapper will copy these files to the location /etc/ndiswrapper eventually.

Creating A Network Device

The software required for the wireless card was now up and running, but I still had to tell the networking software that there was a new device in the system.

I opened the "Network Configuration" utility and selected the "Devices" tab to see something like the image in Figure 1.

To add a new device type, I clicked on the "New" button resulting in the window shown in Figure 2 which offered several choices. Having selected the obvious "wireless connection" device type, the configuration utility asked what type of wireless card I wanted to define in Figure 3. I selected "ndiswrappper (wlan0)" option and clicked "Forward" to be asked to actually configure the card as in Figure 4.

Configuring A Network Device

In Figure 4 for "Mode" I selected "Managed". This means that the card will connect to a common access point such as a wireless router via a broadband modem connection.

The "Network Name" or SSID can be used to give a unique name to a wireless network which every device in that network must then use for security. In this case I left it on "Auto" so that the router can set this value.

In wireless networks where information is broadcast around the neighbourhood, some extra security becomes necessary to stop others listening in or connecting to your network. The "Key" field provides that extra bit of security. I did not set this field during the initial trial as the main aim was to get the card working in Linux.

Configure Network Setting

After accepting the settings in Figure 4 the system asked me to choose between dynamic or statically assigned addresses as you can see in Figure 5. The choice in my friend's case was to use automatic assigned IP addresses using DHCP.

Figure 6 which shows the results of the configuration, and after clicking on "Apply" to continue I ended up back at the window in Figure 7 which finally listed the newly created wireless device.

Nearly There

Linux still needed to be told a bit more about the card before it could find it successfully. This was achieved by double-clicking on the wireless entry in Figure 7 to see the window shown in Figure 9 which shows the wireless device configuration window once more.

In the "General" tab I needed to tick "Activate device when computer starts" so that the card connects to the network as soon as Linux starts.

Selecting the "Hardware Device" tab resulted in Figure 10 where I had to tick the box next to the "Bind to MAC address" field and then to click "Probe". This action bound the wireless software to the wireless hardware. The MAC address is a unique hardware identifier built into every network card and is not to be confused with the so-called unique IP address that such cards also must use.

Figure 1. Network Configuration

Figure 2. Select Device Type.

Figure 3. Select Wireless Device.

Figure 4. Configure Wireless Connection.

Figure 5. ConFigure Network Settings.

As the probe was able to identify the card, the MAC address appeared in the window. If the MAC address did not appear then obviously something would have been malfunctioning. It could be a software or even a hardware problem and may be difficult to track down.

I saved these settings in the network configuration window by selecting "File|Save" options. The system responded with the window shown in Figure 11 which advises that the operating system needs to be reloaded or the network needs to be restarted for these changes to come into effect.

After a general reload of Linux the wireless card was detected and correctly identified at boot time. In my friend's case the card has worked flawlessly since installation and calling the Linux "iwconfig" command showed the following set of statistics for his card (See Figure 8).

Interestingly, the command listed the card as running the 802.11b protocol yet the bit rate and frequency are identified correctly for the 802.11g card. My main regret in all this is that I couldn't play with the wireless technology a bit more. Definitely was fun to see it work.

Conclusion

With the growing popularity of broadband connections, wireless devices can make setting up home networks much more appealing. However, some manufacturers do not provide drivers for their devices under Linux. In the last six months that impediment for Linux users has been partially overcome by at least two developers.

Figure 9. Wireless Device Configuration.

Figure 10. Probe MAC Address.

Figure 11. Restart.

The method of using available Microsoft drivers within Linux may not seem "user friendly" to some or it may even be seen as a bit experimental, but that is part of the "fun" for fiddling penguins in the Linux community. The wireless card now works under Linux, which was after all, the main goal of this exercise.

About the Author
Tibor Majlath whose interests include Linux and Java had been in IT for 24 years, started as a COBOL programmer, and eventually ended up supporting mainframes and networking PCs as a "certified" Netware engineer and can be contacted via e-mail at tmajlath@melbpc.org.au.

Reprinted from the July 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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