New to Linux, Knoppix won't detect my Wifi card

[javyn]

Hey all, I'm new to Linux. I just got Knoppix today, and while it detected my onboard ethernet (as eth0), it won't detect my wifi card. I tried typing wlcardconfig in the console, but it says No Wireless Network Card Detected.

I have an Acer TM291Lmi laptop. It's a Centrino with integrated 802.11b/g. Can anyone tell me what I need to do?

Ah, my wireless network is a Netgear access point, 128 bit WEP and MAC filtering enabled.


Thanks for any help!

EDIT: I just checked, it's an Intel 2200BG WiFi

[javyn]

Oh well, looks like evil MS Windows will have to be my OS of choice. Might be slow, buggy, and unsecure but hey at least it works without 24 hours a day of tinkering and having elitist unix jerks insult you when you ask for help.

[j.drake]

but hey at least it works without 24 hours a day of tinkering and having elitist unix jerks insult you when you ask for help.

1. Who insulted you here? You posted twice in a row, and have two posts total. Where were you insulted?

2. Who's the jerk? No one insulted you, yet you go around calling unix users jerks.

3. When's the last time you got Windows help, and where, that it's so much better? I only get help if I'm in warranty with Windows. Then I'm put on hold for two or more hours, disconnected, often insulted, and generally, no matter what the problem is, the advice I get consists of the following, each step being one phone call with a minimum two hour hold:

Step 1: Reboot the computer - Did the problem go away? Is your power light on? Is your computer plugged it? (and other equally idiotic questions which insult my intelligence)

Step 2: (If hardware) Disconnect, reconnect and reboot - Did the problem go away? (If software) Uninstall, reinstall and reboot - Did the problem go away?

Step 3: Run the setup disk and reset all your software to factory defaults, then spend another day or two patching all the windows holes, upgrading the software and drivers, and reloading whatever data you managed to backup. Did the problem go away?

Step 4: Oh that didn't work? Well then, RMA the computer, and we'll put it back to factory defaults, erase all your data, ship it back to you sometime within the thirty days, and when you finally get it back, you can do all the step 3 stuff all over again. Did the problem go away?

Oh, and after that dance -- "At (fill in name of hardware or software company), we're committed to giving outstanding customer service - have you been absolutely satisfied with your service today?"

Of course it you're out of warranty, you don't even get that.

And that's why most of the people here switched to Linux, and rely on each other to listen to their problems and offer whatever help they can. So, all you folks here who dropped Windows for Linux -- Did the problem go away??? :wink:

jd

[javyn]

I felt your brainwave vibrations and felt them quite insulting sir! I believe you owe me an apology.

[j.drake]

I felt your brainwave vibrations and felt them quite insulting sir! I believe you owe me an apology.

Not unless you work for a company that provides tech support for their products to users with Windows based machines. I'll freely admit to insulting those people with those comments. If you are one of those people, I did not mean to insult you personally, only globally, and I do apologize if you took it as a personal insult.

Otherwise, if you felt any negativity in my brain waves, I assure you that it's only because of my charming personality. :wink:

jd

[javyn]

sorry for the previous post btw, i wasn't implying anyone here are jerks. i've been trying to figure out linux for a while and it seems no matter where i go, usenet, irc, whatever, people would rather put you down than help you out some. i dont get it. everyone was a newbie once. oh well.

[j.drake]

Hell, I'm still a newbie, and I've learned a lot from others who still call themselves newbies.

Anyway, don't take it to heart if you don't get an answer. By my estimation, there seem to be a bunch of wi-fi autodetection issues floating around. If you poke around, you'll see that I have one of my own that has gone unanswered for about a month now. :cry: I don't think it's because of jerks that it's gone unanswered - I think it's an issue of people help if they can, but sometimes they don't know. I have found one issue with the 2.6.6 kernel autodetection, which I have posted before, and which I have also placed in the bug list as item #4. It appears that, at least with my driver, autodetection is looking for the driver with the 2.6.6 files, and it's really in with the 2.4 drivers. I don't know how to remaster, and I'm not yet ready to try dual booting again, so I'm hoping that the bug gets addressed with the next release, and using ethernet in the meantime. Hopefully, now that LinuxTAG is over, some of the folks who work on the releases will have time to review the buglist and issue a release.

I'd help more if I could. I think you'll find that most people here are pretty nice and try to help.

jd

[DuckDodgers]

I found some information on this at the Intel support site.


Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
A Linux* driver is currently under development. A pre-production version of the device driver is available as detailed below.

Driver Source code and binaries for firmware are provided for download. These drivers are meant to provide the Linux developer community a chance to improve and provide feedback for the driver. Intel has assigned a public maintainer who will work with the Linux community to incorporate their feedback (as deemed appropriate) into the driver. Support for this driver will be provided through the open source project, specifically via mailing lists and forums. These drivers are meant for technical Linux developers and not the general Linux population. They contain basic functionality and as such are not feature complete. Support for this driver is only available from the open source web site; please do not contact the Intel Customer Support Centers with questions about this driver. The development site is available at http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net.

[javyn]

Thanks Duck. I wouldn't know how to install a driver anyway if there was one lol.

[mzilikazi]

Oh well, looks like evil MS Windows will have to be my OS of choice. Might be slow, buggy, and unsecure but hey at least it works without 24 hours a day of tinkering and having elitist unix jerks insult you when you ask for help.

That's your definition of working?

:roll:

You really should make the effort to get Linux functioning the way you like it and you'll see what 'working' is. Keep in mind that your laptop was built around an OS (and I use the term loosely) from Redmond not a Linux kernel. ;)

Also keep in mind that attitudes just like yours are at least part of the reason viruses, worms & spyware are so easily spread and jam the network.

MY network! :twisted:

We don't hose up your network with Linux so please try to return the favor.

[javyn]

I didn't come here for a Linux vs Windows flame war. And yes, my copy of Windows definately "works", and is secure as possible. But I work to keep it that way.

That is the reason Linux peaked my interest recently. The fact that I wouldn't have to bother about AV scanners, spyware junk, etc in the first place. (Things I all keep up to date with Windows, along with the typical file cleaning, registry cleaning type stuff that you need else the OS will get too big and unruly)

I just came here to see if someone could direct me to where I could solve my wifi issue and once get it working fully on my computer, try to start learning the OS through the command line. Come to find out, my Intel WiFi card isn't even supported as of now, but even still, I would like to know what do you do about "drivers" in Linux....how do you get your hardware to interact with the OS?

[mzilikazi]

I just came here to see if someone could direct me to where I could solve my wifi issue and once get it working fully on my computer, try to start learning the OS through the command line. Come to find out, my Intel WiFi card isn't even supported as of now, but even still, I would like to know what do you do about "drivers" in Linux....how do you get your hardware to interact with the OS?

Not sure what you mean. You install drivers or you may need to build them first then install them. I think your card does work under Linux although it may not be capable of WEP.

http://www.linuxant.com/pipermail/driverloader/2004q2/000980.html

Go here http://www.linuxant.com/company/ and get the latest verision of the driver loader. Its actually a wrapper for the windows driver. It's a .tar.gz file. You extract it like so:

tar xzvf file.tar.gz
cd file
mc

Have a look at the README and/or INSTALL

I can help little more from here. I know nothing about your hardware. Post back of course if you still need help and give details. Exact error messages etc. Join the linuxant mailing list too.

Why not have a look in each of the forums here. Most of them have some sticky topics that would be of benefit to you.

[RMSe17]

but hey at least it works without 24 hours a day of tinkering and having elitist unix jerks insult you when you ask for help.

3. When's the last time you got Windows help, and where, that it's so much better?

Hehehe, you dont need help with windows, because everything works, and if it doesn't, it's easy enough to fix without needing help from others. Since I got WinXP (as soon as it went on sale) , the only times the system crashed was when I tested for max overclock on my 2.4GHz P4 (It sometimes would crash at 3.6 and higher). The only time a hardware device did not work was never. The only time I had to restart for other reasons than software/hardware installs was never. The only time I got a virus or spyware was never...

[mzilikazi]

[

Hehehe, you dont need help with windows, because everything works, and if it doesn't, it's easy enough to fix without needing help from others. Since I got WinXP (as soon as it went on sale) , the only times the system crashed was when I tested for max overclock on my 2.4GHz P4 (It sometimes would crash at 3.6 and higher). The only time a hardware device did not work was never. The only time I had to restart for other reasons than software/hardware installs was never. The only time I got a virus or spyware was never...

You're speaking from the limited view of a home pc user. Keep in mind that all of those boxes that DO have viruses and spyware are running nothing but windows. ;) It's not just an isolated incident, and it's certainly not imagination. It's a rampant problem that costs literally billions of dollars per year and makes companies like Norton and McAffee rich.

I happen to work for a company that has a huge call center dedicated to assisting nothing but windows users (for a price of course).

I too can make the claim that I've had no hardware/OS problems because I buy only hardware that works w/ Linux.

This is from a 400 MHz Linux desktop w/ 128M RAM and it's used by children all 6 years of age and younger.


uptime
21:41:30 up 33 days, 10:24, 5 users, load average: 0.57, 0.42, 0.44

You should perhaps find out what it is you're talking about before making an ignorant statement that you cannot support. Don't you think that your hardware had better work w/ the OS it was designed for?

[RMSe17]

You should perhaps find out what it is you're talking about before making an ignorant statement that you cannot support. Don't you think that your hardware had better work w/ the OS it was designed for?

I made no ignorant statements. In terms of hardware compatibility, Windows has no rival, for everything else, I made an example, speaking for myself and my WinXP.
In general, I have found it very rare that a certain hardware component would not work in windows, only 1 I have found on my PC. In Linux, so far, I have seen a handful. While I do not disagree with you on the point of volnurabilities and their cost to both the networks and the pocketbooks, I wonder how much of it is a user issue, a smart user can keep his WinXP without it getting infected.

As to the hardware, Centrino laptops are the best performing laptops on the market, after Apple.

[aay]

javyn,

Your laptop should at least be able to see the card. On my laptop if the wifi card is not connected within a minute or so of being inserted it drops out of view. In other words if you were trying to see my wireless card on my laptop and you had it inserted when you booted it would drop out of view by the time Knoppix fully boots. If I simply remove the card and reinsert it, then I can view it and get it set up. After wlcardconfig writes the necessary info to /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts I usually need to remove and reinsert the card again. All of this only needs to be done when initially getting the card setup. After that I can boot with the card inserted or insert it any time after that and it works fine.

This bit of advice will probably not totally get your card up and running, but it may offer a good first step to configuring it the rest of the way. You may also want to check out Kanotix. It has ndiswrapper on it which may or may not be of assistance to you.

[Tankerkevo]

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11998

I have a different yet similiar issue with my Linksys WUSB11 v2.5 Adapter. I'm downloading Kanotix now and it should be here at about 6pm EST, at which point I will report what happens.

javyn,
It's dissapointing to see you so frustrated at the lack of your device's compatibility with this distro, but I do want you to know that many of us feel your pain! I promise you that when you do get your machine running right on Linux you will love it.

You seem to have a lot of experience running MS based computers and I assume you were experienced in the DOS days. Right now I think that Linux is in the Windows 95 stage of its own development process, in that I mean that while it has a nice graphical interface you still must be comfortable with the command line as you will have to use it for an assortment of things. But, I see Linux Distro's making a giant leap in the next two years, and as that happens more devices will be available and you will see more enterprise distro's in work places. The Unix operating system is simply more configurable than its MS counterpart, giving companies the ability to focus its software. If you don't believe me, look at RedHat's sales over the past year and a half, it's a sign post of things to come as companies no longer want to deal with the hassles of MS. Even Walmart is now selling systems running the Lindows distro and Sony is developing it's own for implementation on their Vaio line. The change is coming, and if you get on it now you will be ahead of the pack.

As far as stability is concerned, there's a reason why 90% of the web servers you see out there run some sort of Unix.

[wwfly]

Hello All,

I am a newbie to Linux. I have Linux 3.2 boot cd. On my laptop, I have Win XP operating system. When I boot the laptop from CD rom with Linux boot CD in it, Linux desktop appears but it doesn't detect my wireless 802.11g pc card. I heard about NDIS wrappers which I downloaded on my win XP but don't know how to install when I boot with Linux. I am not sure where to look (for the ndiswrapper file) when I am on Linux. Can I see my hard drive from Linux boot cd? I am really, totally confused. Please Explain. Thanks Ahead.