wifi on linux : solved

Finally got wifi up on linux.. Have been trying from 2 days reading tutorials and downloading drivers.. All you guys trying the same on FC distributions(I'm using FC10), on Dell(dual  boot),

follow these steps[...]

Errors welcome:) 

• Download the driver file from DRIVER
• Extract the exe file using unzip.

[root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# unzip dell.exe

• Need to follow ndiswrapper instructions if you see any errors while you using ndiswrapper.

          (NDISwrapper is a free software driver wrapper that enables the use of Windows XP drivers for network devices on Unix-like operating systems.)

            [root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# ndiswrapper -i DRIVER_US/bcmwl5.inf
            [root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# ndiswrapper -l
             bcmwl5 : driver installed
            device (14E4:4315) present

• [root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# ndiswrapper –m

module configuration information is stored in /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf

            ( -m writes  an alias for wlan0 (default wireless device) into module  configuration file so that ndiswrapper kernel module  is  loaded automatically when this interface is used.)

•  [root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# depmod -a
(so that the correct module dependencies will be available immediately after booting the system.)
• [root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# modprobe ndiswrapper

• edit /etc/modprobe.conf

(manually add the alias into /etc/modprobe.conf)

[root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# vim /etc/modprobe.conf

add this line: alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

• Configure network manager System>Administration>Network to get associated with the Access Point or manually configur using following commands.

1. To list the Access Points available.

[root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# iwlist wlan0 scan

2. Configure to get associated with one of the AP:

Assuming you want to use the ESSID named MyEssid:

Ø  No encryption

 # iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyEssid"

Ø  WEP

using an hexadecimal key:

 # iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyEssid" key 1234567890

using an ascii key:

 # iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyEssid" key s:asciikey

Ø  WPA/WPA2

  (might get this error!                       

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) : SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.)

You need to edit the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file as described in WPA_Supplicant. Then, issue this command:

 # wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

This is assuming your device uses the wext driver. If this does not work, you may need to adjust these options. Check WPA_Supplicant for more information and troubleshooting. 

3. Finally, provide an IP address to the network interface.

for DHCP,

# dhcpcd wlan0

Or
for static IP.

# ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.12

# route add default gw 192.168.0.1

4. Regardless of the method used, you can check if you have associated successfully as follows:

[root@localhost trial_wifi_varsha]# iwconfig wlan0

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"MyEssid" 

Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:1B:57:EC:4A:27  

Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm  

RTS thr:2347 B   Fragment thr:2346 B  

Encryption key:”the key!” Security mode:restricted

Power Management:off

Link Quality:70/100  Signal level:-51 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm

Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0