Can i install drivers using live cd?

[joakinrox]

i downloaded the latest OpenSUSE version and used live cd, but i wanted to try and see if my wireless pc card could be installed.

ok so i download the driver on a tar-gz package... i decompresse it.. but when i get to the "./configure" "make" "make install" phase i get an error as i type it on console

Something like:
Bash: command not aviable

i thought it was the driver at first, so i downloaded ndsiwrapper and some random programs and none can get past the decompressing - switching directory phase..

is this because im running linux from a cd and therefore i cant install drivers?

[reed9]

My guess is the Live CD doesn't come with the packages you need to compile code from source.

If you can find a binary package, you can install it in a live environment, but it won't be persistent between boots.

[scrarfussi]

you cannot install packages while running in live cd mode

[joakinrox]

ok guys, so i gave up and made a dual boot install, everything works ok i can boot both suse and windows... but still i get the same error when i try to install something
... ill paste the console output.. give me a sec

[MikeTbob]

ok guys, so i gave up and made a dual boot install, everything works ok i can boot both suse and windows... but still i get the same error when i try to install something
... ill paste the console output.. give me a sec

Hello and Welcome.
Keep in mind that you must be connected to the Internet to install software from the system repos.

[reed9]

Hello and Welcome.
Keep in mind that you must be connected to the Internet to install software from the system repos.

And if you're trying to compile something from source, you'll still need to install the necessary build tools. Most distros do not come with them by default. But you should pretty much always prefer to use the package manager over installing from source.

What is your wireless card?

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html

[joakinrox]

And if you're trying to compile something from source, you'll still need to install the necessary build tools. Most distros do not come with them by default. But you should pretty much always prefer to use the package manager over installing from source.

What is your wireless card?

intel PRO/Wireless 215abg Network Connection

... whats exactly a system repos? (sorry if thats a dumb question)

yeah i know those "pack managers exist" (dunno how to use them though) but i wanted to learn via console :P. if i cant get it to work ill try the manager.

And what build tools should i get?

[waterhead]

Wireles drivers are usually already compiled into the kernel. This is certainly true of Intel wireless.

We really need to know what is inside of the wireless, not just the name. Please post the output of these commands.

lspci -knn

dmesg | grep firmware

[reed9]

Repositorties or "repos" are online collections of software packages built for a particular distro. Each distro generally maintains their own official repositories, and then there are often 3rd party or unofficial repositories as well.

There are very good reasons to use a package manager whenever possible. To quote from the OpenSuse site,

A package is properly integrated into the distribution it has been built for, with regard to installation paths, dependencies, desktop integration, proper startup scripts for servers, etc. For this reasons, you should always install packages that have been built for the distribution you are using, including the exact version of the distribution (e.g. openSUSE 11.1). As an example, do not install Fedora packages on openSUSE, and not even openSUSE 10.1 packages on openSUSE 10.2 (although the latter might work, occasionally).

You can certainly do package management from the commandline. In OpenSuse, their tool for this is called zypper. Basic usage to install a package is

zypper install <package-name>

If you want to learn more of the inner workings of linux, build packages from source and such, you might want to try something like gentoo, which is a source-based distro. Even though in a source based distro you compile most all of your programs from source, they still utilize a form of package management. What generally happens is you download a list of scripts, which contain instructions on how to download, compile, and install a program properly, so all of the same info is there as with binary (pre-compiled) packages.

Package Management - openSUSE

As mentioned, drivers are generally included in the kernel. Intel wireless cards require firmware, as well as the driver. Many distros include the firmware by default. Not sure if opensuse does or not.