How do I slipstream my Linksys WiFi drivers into DSL?

[TechShui]

I've just downloaded DSL (Damn Small) via bittorrent, and would like to add support to the DSL live CD for my Linksys WPC54G pcmcia card.

I can't just download the drivers from within DSL, because the laptop doesn't have Ethernet, just usb and two pcmcia slots. So I have to slipstream or add them to the CD image.

The torrent contained these 2 files:

dsl-3.4.iso
dsl.vmx

I think the .vmx file is for Virtual Machine testing, so ignore that, for now let's look at the ISO file and the folders within that, there are 3.

Boot
∟ ISOLINUX

KNOPPIX
Lost+Found

There's an ISOLINUX folder in the Boot folder, should I just add the Linksys driver INF files to that directory, or is there more to it than that?

I know I'll have to use ndiswrapper later, but that's included in Damn Small Linux, right?

[rokytnji]

ISO Master - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ISO Master DOWNLOADS

That is the only tool I know of for modifying a ISO. As far as putting a exe. file in Damn Small Linux Iso so it will be recognized by ndiswrapper is beyond my knowledge

Edit: I thought in your other post you were already running DSL and had it installed. I guess you are just running Live. Why not install it and use ndiswrapper from the installed dsl to grab it from a usb or cd? or download from the net and save exe. in Desktop folder for ndiswrapper to grab?

[TechShui]

Looks like that's my only option at this point, because I already downloaded and burned Lenny (Debian 5.02) and that didn't want to install, so I'll try DSL on the hard drive now....

I can't seem to find ndiswrapper anyway, when booting Live from the DSL CD. (Apps > Tools > Upgrade GNU utils doesn't work) I'm assuming I have to install to the HDD first? I'm doing that now, but I can't seem to find cfdisk, as you can tell, I'm very new to Linux, but so far I'm liking it a lot better than Win-doze.

Oh, and I use gBurner to edit ISO images, but I wanted to know if I could automate the driver integration, so that I don't have to load the wireless drivers seperately each time I use DSL (Live) on a different computer.

[rokytnji]

What are your computer specs Techshui? Maybe I can steer you to a distro that will work better than DSL?

[TechShui]

I wish I could edit the title of this thread now, because this is becoming a lot more difficult than I expected. Forget adding drivers or Synaptics to the CD image, I just want to get this card running, period.

I decided to try out the WPC54G wireless card on Damn Small Linux, but on a different laptop, mostly because I want to learn more about linux, and was curious to see how DSL would handle web-browsing. So I booted it on a Dell c600 with an Ethernet port (remember, my CPx doesn't have Ethernet) Oh, and Debian/Lenny doesn't work on either laptop, but that's a sepearate, unrelated issue.

I figured I'd copy the necessary packages and drivers to an external HDD later, and then transfer them to the CPx, but for now I just wanted to see how this ndiswrapper even looked like, and how it works. So I did some research, then put it to use.

Here's what I did, in the order that I did it. First, I right-clicked the Desktop and went to Apps > Tools > Upgrade to GNU Utils. This time, it connected and downloaded the package.

Next, I went to the linksys website, searched for the WPC54G ver3 drivers for Windows, in zip format. I downloaded and unzipped them to /home/dsl/

When installed the Linksys Windows drivers, I typed it like this (exactly, since Linux is case sensitive):

sudo ndiswrapper -i /home/dsl/NT/LSBCMNDS.inf

And got this response:

Installing lsbcmnds
Forcing parameter IBSSGModel0 to IBSSGModel2
Forcing parameter IBSSGModel0 to IBSSGModel2
Forcing parameter IBSSGModel0 to IBSSGModel2
Forcing parameter IBSSGModel0 to IBSSGModel2
Forcing parameter IBSSGModel0 to IBSSGModel2

Then I typed "sudo modprobe ndiswrapper", nothing happened, so I typed "sudo ifup wlan0", and that showed the following:

Ignoring unknown interface wlan0=wlan0

"ndiswraper -l" tells me "driver installed, hardware present". However, with "iwconfig", I get the following:

dsl@box:~$ iwconfig
lo	no wireless extensions.

eth0	no wireless extensions.

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 recommend version 18 of Wireless Extension, but 
has been compiled with version 16, therefore some driver features may not be available...

wlan0 

IEEE 802.11g ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate:54Mb/s  Tx-Power=25 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2346 B
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

I'm really frusterated now, it took me like 45 minutes just to type everything you see in the code boxes, I tried a million different ways to copy/paste from the ATerminal, but it just wouldn't let me, so I did it manually. (and no, I don't have 3 mouse buttons).

I don't want to go back to Windows either. And what does that warning even mean?!

[rokytnji]

TechShui, AntiX comes with a 2.6.27 Kernel out of the box that will probably support your WPC54G pcmcia card but without knowing the chipset in it I can't guarantee it.

lspci command in terminal will usually give the chipset of pcmcia wireless card when it is inserted.

Also the terminal in AntiX has the capabilty (rox terminal) of copy and paste via toolbar in terminal or with 2 button mouse.

[TechShui]

AntiX is not detecting my hardware any better than Lenny. (in other words, hangs before GUI).

Lspci command in Damn Small, with the WPC54G card inserted gives me "Unknown device, Broadcom 4318". That's the chipset my card uses.

Again, I'm curious what this warning means? (from iwconfig)

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 recommend version 18 of Wireless Extension, but 
has been compiled with version 16, therefore some driver features may not be available...