problems with linksys wireless

[pygar]

Hi, I am new to Linux, and very excited to learn about Linux....... I spent about a week or so playing with Ubuntu, and after having a couple issues with that system, I decided to try Fedora.

I'm having trouble with my Linksys wireless-g pci card (which oddly enough worked with Ubuntu) and have read the other threads on this forum about this topic. I have tried a couple of the workarounds presented here, but for one reason or another the solutions given seem to not work so great for me. I tried ndiswrapper and it all fell apart at the "modprobe-ndiswrapper" part (modprobe not found or ndiswrapper not found). I tried the madwifi way and that also requires modprobe or ndiswrapper. I went to ralinktech.com and tried to get the chipset driver, had a problem downloading "qt/x11" due to poor instructions, and I even called Linksys directly (because they do have some GPL drivers for some of thier stuff-but not mine) and they told me in broken english to "uninstall the card and then re-install the card and then 'to tell Linux to activate the card for you'"

At any rate, I need help...... once I get the wireless card going I can have fast internet at my house and I'll be ready to rock and roll.

I need somebody to lay out the most effective technique for me- and to keep in mind I don't know anything about Linux yet, so I need things spelled out for me down to the last "t". (nothing in command-line-ese is easy for me, in fact every time I try to do something in command-line-ese I get about halfway through and then it invariably falls apart.)

Thank you
Pygar

[pygar]

P.S.
I have also read about the Linuxtant driver launcher you can buy, but paying for the driverlauncher doesn't seem right considering the free spirit Ideology surrounding Linux, and considering I technicaly already paid for the drivers when I bought the wireless card.

Pygar

[pygar]

Since nobody else is going to respond here after 126 views, I guess I will.

I solved my own problem this weekend by dumping Fedora in favor of Ubuntu. Ubuntu has extensive support for wireless cards........ including a graphical version of Ndiswrapper, that had my wireless card recognized and installed with no headaches- within minutes of completing the Ubuntu install.

I guess maybe you guys haven't heard- but Wireless internet is a big deal in the digital world right now......and for some reason Ubuntu is on the ball here, and you guys aren't.

sorry for coming across so critically here- but maybe I can prompt you guys to do something that will save people (new Fedora users) from the agony I went through trying to have wireless internet on a Fedora system. ( a whole page of command line prompts to get Ndiswrapper going........ not very user-friendly. )

This is one of the last times I'll be on this forum- so feel free to comment on this thread however you please.......... or just read it and move on like 126 other people did last week!

[brunson]

Ubuntu bundles ndiswrapper and binary NT drivers for wireless cards, which possibly violates copyright and term of use for those drivers. Fedora avoids possible lawsuits by not bundling things that may be patent or copyright violations.

So, by supporting linksys by paying for thier product even though they don't provide native linux support, you have actually provided a disincentive for them to ever support linux natively.

Good job you.

[pygar]

So there would have been a difference using Ndiswrapper the way you guys have it? I don't think so. I used the graphical version to get the drivers off the disk that came w/ my Linksys card....... which means I paid for them with my purchase already.

As far as a company like Linksys supporting "free" drivers and software, which they halfheartedly do..... the main problem is that there's no money in it , not that there's not enough people holding thier breath waiting for them to do it.

But thanks for making me out to be the bad guy here....... easier I guess than getting a wireless card to work on your system, huh?

[pygar]

I just had another thought on this subject........ I'm just trying out Linux for my first time because of all the great things I've heard about it. How fair is it to demonize me because I want the hardware I already had running in my PC to work?

Oh, well at least after a week I finally got a reply here.

[brunson]

But thanks for making me out to be the bad guy here....... easier I guess than getting a wireless card to work on your system, huh?
I can make a linksys card work in my system, I used them for years until I found that motorola's broadcom based cards didn't need windows drivers, so I switched to them.

[brunson]

I just had another thought on this subject........ I'm just trying out Linux for my first time because of all the great things I've heard about it. How fair is it to demonize me because I want the hardware I already had running in my PC to work?

Oh, well at least after a week I finally got a reply here.
Well don't come on here and b*tch because a group of unpaid volunteers don't jump on your problems in a timeframe you consider acceptable when you can't seem to figure out how to use Google to make a *semblance* of an attempt to solve your own issues.

I'm afraid I was on vacation last week and unable to field your requests, please forgive me, I'll be sure to check with you before I leave town next time just in case you want to try something else that I volunteer my time to support.

[Mat]

You two should calm down, to give you that opportunity, I closed the thread



Mat