Wireless Card not detected

[Emmet]

Hello all. New to Linux and Knoppix, though I've begun to experiment with them both.

I'm running a VPR Matrix 180B5 notebook with a built in Orinoco wireless 802.11b card. Knoppix (3.2, I think, from the number showing up on the background of the desktop) does not see the card.

I tried running something I found in another forum (wlcardconfig, I think it was), but it told me no card was connected. I'm trying to connect to a WAP that has a WPA-PSK enabled.

Any tips on how to get the card detected? Is 3.2 the latest version of Knoppix still (and how do I check the version I'm running, which I downloaded a few months ago)?

Nonetheless, a bit of a fan of this--it allowed me to rescue a whole bunch of files from an otherwise dead computer.

Thanks for any help,
Emmet

[sci_fi]

Hi Emmet,

I am pretty new to Linux and Knoppix as well and am a big fan. Some partial answers to your question. No doubt others can give you more information.

As far as I can tell, 3.6 is the latest worldwide distribution of Knoppix. You can download it from any of many mirror sites. The 3.6 distribution contains ndiswrapper, which is currently needed for most wireless cards. Take a look at the networking forum for instructions on how to do this. Surprisingly easy. The distribution you are using does not contain ndiswrapper and I doubt you can get wireless going using it without a lot of grief, if at all.

3.6 wireless does work., although you have to manually configure each after booting Knoppix from CD. I have not been able to get sticky config files to work in this regard. Still not too onerous and no doubt will be fixed in the future. I use a MS 720 wireless adapter which tells you just how tolerant the linux community is.

There is a german only distribution of Knoppix, called 3.7. Again check the forums if you want to download it. Harder to find, but out there. The cheatcode lang=us at boot time will get you into english. This version has a firewall capability. I am currently playing with it. So far due to my limited knowledge regarding firewalls, I am not able to comment further.

Hope this helps some.

sci_fi

[ghaze]

Get version 3.6
Your card might be automatically recognized.
After you boot,open a root prompt from the Knoppix menu.
lsmod <enter>
Look for orinoco
If you don't see it,you might not depending on the chipset version,
iwconfig <enter>
If one of the interfaces shown has wireless extensions,you're in business.
wlcardconfig <enter>
click through the options
pump -i wlan0 (or eth0,eth1 whatever you saw with iwconfig) for dhcp
ifconfig wlan0(orwhatever) up for static
If you don't see it under iwconfig,you card doesn't have native drivers
(on the knoppix cd anyway)
lspci -v <enter>
Look for your wireless card.
Cut and paste the chipset number into the search bar at www.google.com
add + linux
hit enter and rtfm

"Most" wireless cards don't require ndiswrapper.Alot of the newer ones do,
though.The older orinoco chipsets are well supported under linux.If you find
there's no native support,ndiswrapper is available on knoppix 3.6.Do yourself a favor and rtfm here:
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php
I don't think you'll have much luck connecting to a WPA enabled ap.
My ap doesn't have this feature,so I haven't read up on it.From what I
understand,linux support for wpa is "lacking" with most drivers.
Once again "yourchip + linux + wpa" at google will give you the answers.

Nonetheless, a bit of a fan of this--it allowed me to rescue a whole bunch of files from an otherwise dead computer.

The more you use it,the more fan you'll be.Welcome to the club.

[Georg_M]

We´re using a Samsung NX10 Notebook with an internal Intel 11 Mbit WLan, usually under WINXP and connected to our LAN through an US Robotics USR808054 Wireless turbo access point. The AP was configured fpr WPA encryption as it is more secure than WEP.

Yesterday we tried first time Knoppy Linux distribution 3.7 and while any other device worked immediately we could not use our Microsoft blue tooth mouse as well as the WLAN connection.

After an amount of investigations, we found a lack of WPA support. The connection where estebished immediately when we reconfigured the AP for WEB encryption.

The Question is, whether there wehre plans for WPA support for this pretty nice Knoppix distribution.

The blue tooth mouse is correctly detected if I try to use the blue tooth modem dialog ( useless of course, but helpful for analyzis), but I have not found the palce and tool yet, to decide for the correct mouse driver. From former experiences with Linux ( 10 years ago) I rmember, the Mouse selection where somewhere inside the XWindows configurations. However, its a matter of time, to find and to configure it properly.

yours Georg_M