NdisWrapper: Can't find the kernel sources

Please can some kind person help me with this problem as it's driving me nuts!

I've been trying to follow the instructions in this thread to install my Linksys WMP54G WLAN card: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/top...ghlight=wmp54g

But I'm getting this error when I try to 'make' the package

Code:

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[root@r2d2 ndiswrapper-1.1]# make
make -C driver
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/ben/downloaded/ndiswrapper-1.1/driver'
Can't find kernel sources in /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/build;
  give the path to kernel sources with KSRC=<path> argument to make
make&#91;1&#93;&#58; *** &#91;prereq_check&#93; Error 1
make&#91;1&#93;&#58; Leaving directory `/home/ben/downloaded/ndiswrapper-1.1/driver'
make&#58; *** &#91;all&#93; Error 2

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I ran su root and then this command:

Code:

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ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.8.1-12mdk /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/build

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The command did not return any errors. I have checked and these paths do exist. I have also followed the instructions in this link: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/p.../Mandrake 10.1 and tried 'make' again but the same thing happens. Where am I going wrong? Is the syntax of my ln statement correct?

My pc is running mandrake 10.1, it's a P3 DELL desktop. Please can someone help me because this is starting to drive me up the wall!!

try this:

Code:

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make KSRC=/lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/build

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Also sometimes, you need to recompile kernel to handle wireless cards. This was a solution for my friend's centrino laptop problems.

That doesn't work ..

Code:

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[root@r2d2 ndiswrapper-1.1]#  make KSRC=/lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/build
make -C driver
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/ben/downloaded/ndiswrapper-1.1/driver'
Can't find kernel sources in /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/build;
  give the path to kernel sources with KSRC=<path> argument to make
make&#91;1&#93;&#58; *** &#91;prereq_check&#93; Error 1
make&#91;1&#93;&#58; Leaving directory `/home/ben/downloaded/ndiswrapper-1.1/driver'
make&#58; *** &#91;all&#93; Error 2

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How do I recompile the kernel to handle wireless cards? Bear in mind I am not very experienced with Linux...

Alternatively is there any distro with native support for WALN?

Most WLAN cards are supported by default, but the problem that you (and I) have is that Linksys hates Linux. Thus, we use ndiswrapper.

The way that I have solved this problem in the past when I used Mandrake was simply to download the kernel sources and compile my own kernel. You may want to do that as well; it's a bit intimidating at first, but you can press <?> on any option to get an explanation.

If you're interested: www.kernel.org

You'll have to add it to your LILO also, which is pretty easy. And then you can boot between the old kernel and the new one, which means that even if you screw up, you can always reconfigure and compile.

Sorry I can't help otherwise.

Well I'm getting nowhere with ndiswrapper and there is no support for it apart from forums like this one, even then there is only a 50/50 chance someone can help/will respond to my specific problem .. the documentation assumes waaaay too much knowledge for a newbie like me to make head or tail of it, that's one of the problems I seem to be facing a lot with Linux, I can build a system and use it for web surfing and word processing but if I want to do anything more than that I have to compile the packages myself using /.configure and make, and all of the packages make the assumption you know what you're doing and you'll know what it means when it says 'link to the kernal sources' or 'recompile the kernal'.

Anyway, rant over ..

Is there a recommended WLAN card I can buy that will work with Mandrake 10.1 (or any other distro) out of the box, or with the minimum fuss? I'm willing to put in legwork to get stuff to work but I just can't get my head round ndiswrapper!!

..

Code:

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urpmi kernel-source

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Flatline

Code:

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urpmi kernel-source

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I've tried that. It says 'already installed' or something similar.

I'm half-way there, I ran urpmi ndiswrapper and it installed automatically! (d'oh .. if only I had known that last week!)

if I do iwconfig I get this:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"cup'otea"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462GHz Access Point: 00:30:F1:DC:35:E9
Bit Rate:54Mb/s Tx-Power:14 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-29 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

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But if I go to Configure your computer, network and internet, manage connections, the wlan connection is in the drop down box but there are no properties for the connection. What do I do next?

Also I have to use 'modprobe ndiswrapper' every time I reboot. Can I made it do this automatically?

Ah, good, you got it working. Congrats.

Now you need to actually start the connection. I do this with the "dhcpcd" command, which requires the wirelesstools package. But I think that iwconfig is part of that package, so you probably have it.

Run:

Code:

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dhcpcd -t 5 wlan0

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This will run the command with a timeout of 5 seconds. Assuming it runs successfully, you will now have everything working happily.

And yes, you will need to run these commands everytime you start the computer. Check for a file called /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 or something of that sort. If it exists (I dunno if Mandrake does it), add "ndiswrapper" to that line. This will autoload it. You will still need to run the "dhcpcd -t 5 wlan0" command manually, though.