Connecting to a Wireless LAN with Linux, Part 1 - page 5

The Hardware Hokey-Pokey

Copy the Windows .inf driver to your Linux system, then run this command to load the driver in the NdisWrapper, using your real file name of course:

# ndiswrapper -i /wirelessthings/windriver.inf

Verify the installation:

# ndiswrapper -l

Installed ndis drivers:

windriver.inf        driver present

If you're not sure if you have wireless support built into your kernel, there are a couple of ways to check. First look in your kernel config file:

$ grep CONFIG_NET_RADIO /boot/config-`uname -r`

CONFIG_NET_RADIO=y

Also check your /lib/modules/[kernel version]/kernel/drivers/net/wireless to see if any kernel modules are installed, such as hermes.o, prism54.o, orinoco_cs.o, and so forth.

Come back next week to learn how to configure your wireless adapter on Red Hat--and Debian-type systems, discover what kind of adapters are installed, and tips for building wireless support into a Linux kernel.

Resources

Wireless LAN Resources for Linux
Senao
EnGenius
Cisco Aironet Drivers and Utilities for Linux
Ralink Linux drivers and documentation
Madwifi
NdisWrapper