Netgear WN111 v2 doesn't work, but kernel should support it

[Forester]

Hi Charlie Foxtrot and welcome to the Knoppix forums.

How would I test if I'm using ndiswrapper?
Charlie

I don't know but I think the answer is «don't care». See first few lines of the first web page you reference.

Any idea why it's working with some linux distributions, and not others?
Charlie

You already have the answer to that one: the second web page you reference states the driver is in the mainline kernel since 2.6.30 but that it requires firmware. It is unlikely a distribution would leave out the driver but it is up to those who produce the distribution as to which firmware they do or do not include.

Here's a simple check you can do from a Knoppix terminal;

find /lib/modules -name 'ar9170*'
find /lib/firmware -name 'ar9170*'

I don't know about yours, but my Knoppix has the driver but not the firmware.

Another way of check is to use ctrl+alt+F12 to get to the syslog console and then plug-in your wifi receiver. You should see Linux recognises that something has been plugged in; it recognises your wifi receiver for what it is; it loads the correct driver and the driver complains that it cannot find the firmware. It should even tell you which firmware files are missing.

You need to download the firmware files and copy them to a convenience USB stick.

If you are using a USB install with persistent store you need to do is boot Knoppix, mount the USB stick, copy the firmware files to the right directory and then plug-in your wifi receiver. If that works, next time all you have to do is plug-in the receiver.

If you are using a CD/DVD for evaluation purposes you will need to go through the procedure every time your boot Knoppix. A bit of pain but then you do want to make sure it works before you do a USB install don't you ?