setting up WLAN under suse 11

[paprika27]

I’m running on openSUSE 11.0 x64 (Kernel 2.6.25.5-1.1) and I am trying to get a Linksys WUSB54GSC (vendor: 13B1, product: 0026) to connect me to the www.
After about 5 hours of fooling with it, I got ndiswrapper (v. 1.52) to show that the x64 driver is installed correctly and the device is present (the problem was that the sys file has to be moved manually into the ndiswrapper folder (/etc/ndiswrapper/wusb54gsc-x64), it does not work when it is just next to the inf). I kept following the tutorial (Howto's), did ndiswrapper –ma; modprobe ndiswrapper; iwconfig (and even got an output under wlan0) and finally, after a couple of tries, I was able to set it up correctly under Yast>Network Devices>Network Settings.
I reboot.
Console>iwconfig… no wlan0.
Did modprobe ndiswrapper, rebooted, iwconfig, ifconfig, uninstalled, reinstalled the drivers, tried different drivers, started all over again… nothing brought wlan0 back under iwconfig.
Now I don’t have any more ideas what to try to get it to work.
Help would be much appreciated!!!

PS:
After typing ndiswrapper –l (small L), I get “device (13b1:0026) present (alternate driver: rndis_wlan)”
Through google I found that “The rndis_wlan driver was added to the stock kernel as of 2.6.25. It is also available through the compat-wireless-2.6 package for pre-2.6.25 kernels.” (rndis_wlan - Linux Wireless) And works with the Linksys WUSB54GSC with all features that I need (WEP).
What is that thing? Can it do the same job as ndiswrapper? Can I use it? How can I set it up?
Under download I find that it requires kernel headers to be installed. What’s that? How do I set it up? Can I get it from the DVD (since I don’t have internet)?

PS2:
On the ndiswrapper-page (NDISwrapper) I found the following:

Card: Linksys WUSB54GSC, 802.11b/g, USB 2.0
Chipset: Broadcom
USBID: Vendor=13b1 ProdID=0026 (13b1:0026)
Driver: Downloaded driver Linksys.com Downloads/Drivers here and install. Copied the win files (usb8023.sys and rndismp.sys) from the F5D7051.exe F5D7051 Drivers download to the /etc/ndiswrapper/wusb54gsc/ folder. Lastly, use the script detailed HOWTO: WUSB54GS v1 (only?) on (X)(K?)Ubuntu - Ubuntu Forums here , modidifed with the correct USB ProdID (0026), to get the power working. It’s in the section ‘Getting WUSB54GS to Work in Edgy and Feisty’ Also check out the thread Is WUSB54GS (SpeedBooster) linux-friendly? - Page 3 - LinuxQuestions.org here for why the script is needed and works.
Other: With 2.6.16 and later kernels, RNDIS devices are not initialized (when device is plugged in, nothing happens). To get it going, you need to set the variable bConfigurationValue in sysfs. An easy way to do this is to add this: BUS==”usb”, SYSFS{idProduct}==”0026”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”13b1”, PROGRAM=”/bin/sh -c ‘echo 1 > /sys/%p/device/bConfigurationValue’” to /etc/udev/rules.d/<ruleFilename> file and restart udev. For FC6 <ruleFilename> is 50-udev.rules.

The first part i understand, the tutorial tells me to do what I already did and doesn’t help in my case. The second part sounds Chinese to me…

Thanks for reading, another one for answering
hf
:P

[gogalthorp]

Well I can answer one question (I don't do wireless)

The Kernel headers come when you add the kernel-source. Should be on the DVD and installable through Yast.

Good luck

[waterhead]

You decide whether the native driver is worth using. According to the info that you linked to, it does not work with WPA encryption, or does it? It actually says that it works with WPA, then it says it doesn't.

If you use NDISwrapper, you should remove the rndis_wlan module, and blacklist it.

[paprika27]

Ok, so i can figure out how to install the kernel headers now, thanks.
Why should the native driver not be worth using? Is there a risk that it might not work as well as ndiswrapper?
Since I now am able to install the windows drivers with ndiswrapper, and if this solution works good enough, I'd like to stick with it. My problem is though, that, at first, i was able to get wlan0 to show under iwconfig, after a reboot and countless attempts to get it back, i still can't make it work like it should.

[waterhead]

Try removing both the ndiswrapper and rndis_wlan modules, then re-add the ndiswrapper module (as root):

modprobe -r ndiswrapper
modprobe -r rndis_wlan
modprobe ndiswrapper

Now try to set up the network wireless card again.

[paprika27]

because of some more trouble with the 64 bit version I threw it off my mashine and installed the 32 bit version of suse 11 under kde 3.?.
I installed the xp ini with ndiswrapper, copied the usb8023k.sys (or something like that) into the ndiswrapper folder, did ndiswrapper -ma, modprobe ndiswrapper and iwconfig. wlan0 showed up correctly. under Yast i went to network devices, network settings, added a new device as wirless id 0, dhcp, essid *, open, WEP *... worked. I even was able to use the interface with kwifimanager, found networks (but was always out of range even though i adjusted the channel) and restarted a couple of times.
that was yesterday. when i went to sleep it still was at that point.
today i fooled some with sax2 and xrandr to get my graphics going right (that's another problem I'll put in here), pluggeed in an irda interface, bluetooth interface and did what you wrote the last statement.
it's gone...
I don't understand it. There is completely NO reason for it not to work flawlessly. Others have gotten it to work, i read about the stick and linux before i bought it.
could it be that suse 11 is being the hidden pain?

thanks for the answers btw
hf, gl
:P

[waterhead]

I most certainly be a bug in SuSE 11. This type of thing often happens in new releases, but they are usually corrected with patches and bug fixes. Have you done an update after installation?

I have to admit, I don't remember the exact command to do a system update with Yast. I was last using SuSE 10.2, and was waiting for SuSE 11 to come out before I switched (I'm currently using Fedora 8). Try a help command for more info:

yast --help

Or the manual:

man yast

I do get the Fedora YUM and SuSE YaST commands mixed up, but it may be something like yast update or yast upgrade. Actually, I found the online YaST man page here. Looks like this command would work:

yast --update

[paprika27]

well, the online update doesn't work so well without internet...
Do you know of a place where i could download it as a file so that i can move it with my external hard drive to the suse patient?

[waterhead]

Your computer doesn't have a wired LAN port on it? You don't say what type of computer it is, but I would install a network card before going any further. It is near impossible to get a troublesome wireless working without an alternate internet connection.

[paprika27]

It does have an ethernet port but no connection to the router. Why would I wanna use WLAN if it did?
The actual router is two stories up from here and right now I am using a friend's laptop with M$ and Wlan to be in this forum. I download what i need and pull it over to the other one with an external device.

Btw I just kicked all that Suse 11 off my machine and put a fresh Suse 10.3 32 bit with kde 3.? on it. With it I am following this howto:

Rt73 HowTo - LinuxClub

I'll let y'all know how i make progress.

hf, gl
:P