How to install RealTek Wireless Drivers on Fedora 14

[ptireland]

Here, is how I added the RealTek 8188CE (or other RealTek drivers) to my newly installed Fedora 14 on a Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4056 laptop. This is assuming you have performed a regular install of Fedora 14 and have done nothing else.



1. Download the drivers at the RealTek download page here:

http://www.realtek.com/downloads

Search for your model in the "Download Search" box and selecting the Linux version of the software. In my case I typed in 8188CE and selected RTL8188CE (Software).



2. Extract the downloaded file into the desired location, open a terminal window, and navigate to the folder where you extracted the drivers.



3. Enable Sudo using the following command:


su -

echo "username ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers


Where "username" is your account username.




4. While still logged on as root, type in the following to install gcc and the kernel headers:


yum install gcc kernel-devel kernel-headers patch make

exit




(From this point you really only have to follow the readme.txt instructions in the drivers folder, but I'll add them here)



5. Change to Super User


sudo su





6. Compile driver from the source code


make





7. Install the driver to the kernel


make install

reboot




After your reboot, the driver will be working fine.



In case you want to make an uninstall file, perform the following:


8. uninstall driver


make uninstall

[bob]

(moved to Guides & Solutions)

[madwoollything]

I'm trying to install the driver and have followed the instructions.

I get the following output:
Any ideas as to what is wrong?

[root@Toshiba-Fedora ian]# yum install gcc kernel-devel kernel-headers patch make
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
Setting up Install Process
Package gcc-4.5.1-4.fc14.i686 already installed and latest version
Package kernel-devel-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.i686 already installed and latest version
Package kernel-headers-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.i686 already installed and latest version
Package patch-2.6.1-8.fc14.i686 already installed and latest version
Package 1:make-3.82-3.fc14.i686 already installed and latest version
Nothing to do
[root@Toshiba-Fedora ian]# exit
exit
[ian@Toshiba-Fedora ~]$ sudo su
[sudo] password for ian:
[root@Toshiba-Fedora ian]# make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.
[root@Toshiba-Fedora ian]# cd ./Downloads/rtl8192ce_linux_2.6.0005.1116.2010
[root@Toshiba-Fedora rtl8192ce_linux_2.6.0005.1116.2010]# make
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [all] Error 2
[root@Toshiba-Fedora rtl8192ce_linux_2.6.0005.1116.2010]# make
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [all] Error 2

[stoat]

Try rebooting into the latest kernel and go at it again.

[kurtdriver]

make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

You must first compile it. Run

./compile

from within that directory. Then do make, and do make install with root privileges.

A few thoughts about sudo as used in the guide, one is that it is not necessary to use sudo su, you can use su on it's own to become superuser. The manual is found by typing

man su

It's considered a poor practice to enable sudo for ALL programs. This makes the ordinary user effectively root, it is much better to use su -c, or to setup sudo properly by assigning the programs the non-privileged user can run with root privileges. Compiling and making need not to be done by root, it's far better to do them as an ordinary user and then run su -c to install (as only root should be permitted to install software).

su -c "make install"

[madwoollything]

Thanks .... all is now working just fine.

The mistake I'd made was not to have a fully updated system before following the tutorial.

[sushanthshetty]

hi
i am using toshiba satellite c850-i0013 laptop with realtek 8723 network controller.. when i do lspci, it just says network controller is realtek 8723.. when i install fedora 18 , network driver is not getting installed by default.. pls help me with the ways to install network driver..

[maninthemoon]

ptireland's instructions seem great except for one problem.
"yum install gcc kernel-devel kernel-headers patch make " requires internet access. The whole reason for needing to install the drivers is that the wi-fi card doesn't work and I can't access the Internet.