I have been working on this and I think it's close.
How to get WiFi working on your lap-top
It has been hard to get the wifi that works so well on your Windows
XP to work when you select Linux at boot time. Windows XP has nothing
that helps you to get Linux working. In this paper you will see that
there is a step by step process that is essential to getting your system
working.
I: First you MUST learn what the name of your WiFi hardware. This can
usually be done from a root Terminal and you call # lspci. This will
print a list of all the pci things in your laptop. Here is part of mine.
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212
802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
00:0f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c4)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
This is what my SONY laptop printed out from lspci. Notice there are two
items called Ethernet controller. But notice the Atheros says it handles
802.11abg which is what WiFi is, So now we know this laptop has hardware
made by Atheros Communications, Inc.
II: The second step is easy. You need to find out what Linux software
is written for your hardware. The easiest is a great web page at:
http://linux-wless.passys.nl/
You should find your WiFi driver. If not there try Google with good
search calls. One is "fedora 7,Atheros" and like that. You learn the
software I need is called "madwifi" but your not done yet. Keep looking
for the module name that is used by modprobe to put it into the kernel.
In this case it is "ath_pci". Listed below are four hardware systems I
know about.
Hardware Software modprobe
Atheros Comm madwifi ath_pci
Intel old IEEE80211 ipw2200
IntelPro 3945 IEEE80211 ipw3945
Broadcom BCM 4318 MAC80211 bcm43xx
If a reader knows about other Linux software please write. If you have a
laptop that is working and you forgot what you did, do this:
# lsmod and find the ones that sound like wifi stuff. Or look at
/etc/modprobe.conf and you should see them there.
III: Now find a kernel that has your drivers in module form. Start
with your current kernel and as root type modprobe ath_pci in my case.
If nothing happens your lucky, your kernel has the driver you need.
Check with # lsmod and see what modules were installed. A more general
case modprobe says "no such file". Then you need to find a kernel with
your modules. Try older and newer kernels.
IV: There is a new network system available in at least Fedora Core 6
and Fedora 7 called NetworkManager. You will want to set that up at
least on your laptop. I have it on both computers. Caution! Turn off
network if your using NetworkManager.
Do this, cd /etc/rc.d/init.d/ and you will see a lot of applications
listed. Now as root do # chkconfig network off and then
# chkconfig NetworkManager on and # chkconfig NetworkManagerDispatcher
on. Reboot and the new system will be working.
V: If you have the right kernel you can now use # modprobe ath_pci
and that will work. Look at the two tiny computers near your name on the
top edge and click on them. It will tell you about what it is doing.
Also use the # nm-tool which will show you what Internet it is working
on and what is turned off. Often your laptop will suddenly have wifi
Internet. This is a good moment.
Karl Larsen
