Wireless Networking in Ubuntu

From TheLinuxVault

Non-working wireless internet is a common problem which can be easily resolved. All you need is:

1. Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn installed
2. Internet access - can be on another computer if not the one on which you have Ubuntu.

Contents 1 Using Ndiswrapper to enable wireless in Ubuntu 1.1 First download the following packages 1.2 Now transfer these files to the system with Ubuntu installed 1.3 Place them in the same folder and run the following commands in the terminal 1.4 ( have the folder containing the files opened in the terminal ) 1.5 Once installed, you have to blacklist the open source bcm43xx that comes with Ubuntu 1.6 Now do a lspci in the terminal and find the name of your wireless card there 1.7 Now what you need is the driver for the wireless card 1.8 in the network settings, set it to "Roaming mode enabled" 1.9 Make it start at startup 2 Alternative network managers 3 Stop gnome-keyring-manager asking you for your password everytime you startup

[edit] Using Ndiswrapper to enable wireless in Ubuntu

[edit] First download the following packages

ndiswrapper-common

ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

ndisgtk

[edit] Now transfer these files to the system with Ubuntu installed

Use a USB Flash Drive if you have to. Just get the files there.

[edit] Place them in the same folder and run the following commands in the terminal

[edit] ( have the folder containing the files opened in the terminal )

. Change the * to the right text (the version numbers to match the files) and run in the same order given below.

sudo dpkg -i ndiswrapper-common_*.deb

sudo dpkg -i ndiswrapper-utils-1.9_*.deb

sudo dpkg -i --force-depends ndisgtk_*.deb

When installing ndiswrapper-utils-1.9, it will ask for the Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Install CD ( if you haven't played with the repositories ) If it doesn't ask for it, most probably you have been playing with the repositories and it will use the internet instead of the CD.

[edit] Once installed, you have to blacklist the open source bcm43xx that comes with Ubuntu

The file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist contains the blacklisting information. Just open it in gedit with root rights:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

And add to it...

blacklist bcm43xx

[edit] Now do a lspci in the terminal and find the name of your wireless card there

If you are using a USB wireless card, do a lsusb instead. Note it down because you will need it later. It may say:

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card (rev 01)

[edit] Now what you need is the driver for the wireless card

Go to this page and find your card in the list(s) and get the required driver.??? Now you might need cabextract or unshield to get the real files from the setup. So install both of them:

cabextract

unshield

Once you have the driver installed, open the folder where you have the setup in terminal and use the above given tools to extract it. In my case the command was...

cabextract -d drivers sp34152.exe

The "-d drivers" tells it to extract files into a new folder and call it drivers

And also do a ls *.inf in the folder where the files are extracted. It will list all files that end with a ".inf". Most probably there will be only one - note its name down. If there are more than one, go to this list again and see if it helps.

Go to System >> Administration >> Windows Wireless Drivers and press the Install New Driver button. Now browse to the folder where the files from the setup were extracted and point it to the inf file in it and you are done.

Now you just have to confirm if it installed correctly, start it and make it start at startup each time.

To confirm do a ...

ndiswrapper -l

If done right, it should say that the drivers are installed and stuff. Now run it by...

sudo depmod -a

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

[edit] in the network settings, set it to "Roaming mode enabled"

[edit] Make it start at startup

Add "ndiswrapper" to the /etc/modules file:

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

And add "ndiswrapper" to its bottom ( without quotes ), save it and restart. Enjoy wireless internet!:

[edit] Alternative network managers

Ubuntu comes with nm-applet, the gnome default, however you may find the KDE version a little more useful when initially setting up connnections to wireless networks. To get KNetworkManager, type

sudo apt-get install knetworkmanger

In a terminal. You may need to install the KDE base libraries if you do not have them (some users may prefer not to do this as they are fairly large).

[edit] Stop gnome-keyring-manager asking you for your password everytime you startup

Note: this will become irrelevant on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Follow these instructions