Hello aweiss
Ndiswrapper used to be fairly simple, but a problem in recent times is that the precompiled versions from the rpm fusion repositories somtimes installs against the wrong kernel.
The first thing to do then is determine which kernel you are running:
in a terminal window will give you all you need to know.
Then install the rpmfusion repositories. There are lots of programs there that don't match Fedora's strict licencing requirements and so are not included in the full distribution.
That's a space and a minus sign after the su. It gives full root rights over the machine, not just over your own environment which is what you get with plain su.
Code:
rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
Install ndiswrapper:
Code:
yum install kmod-ndiswrapper
or:
Code:
yum install kmod-ndiswrapper-PAE
depending on which kernel you discovered.
This should bring in the three relevant packages. Check that yum is offering to bring in three packages, if it doesn't, cancel the operation and we'll think again.
Then set up and configure ndiswrapper with:
Code:
ndiswrapper -i <path to your windows driver file>.inf
should install the driver,
if it is going to work should return "driver present" and "hardware present"
Code:
modprobe ndiswrapper
should load the driver into the kernel, but probably only until you reboot.
If you are lucky now and NetworkManager is running then after a short while it 'may' begin reporting wireless networks. NetworkManager is the preferred method of connecting to wireless networks with Fedora and should be located in the notification area of either KDE or Gnome just to the left of the clock.
Code:
service NetworkManager restart
may also be used to hurry NetworkManager along.
If it works, or indeed if it doesn't you will also need to run:
to ensure the ndiswrapper module loads each time of booting.
Please remember that ndiswrapper is only happy with Windows XP/98 drivers and doesn't get on with Windows Vista drivers. Of those, it doesn't happily so-exist with all XP/98 drivers either. Be prepared to experiment if your original doesn't work.
Give that a go and see how far you get. Feel free to come back with any questions or problems.
Linear Mode
