Linux Newbie... desperately need help :(

[maxxym]

Hello,

I am a fresh linux user. Never used it before. I was always using microsoft. Decided to switch to Linux when my job asked me if I would like to learn it. So I said why not.

So I got SuSE 10.2 running on my IBM T43 laptop. Everything is working perfect. I love it. I am considering switching my home desktop to SuSE as well. There is just sooo many cool things. Not to mention my laptop runs awesome with Suse on it. I have one problem though, which I been trying to resolve for past 2 days...My Wifi is not working.

Here is what's happening.

I have:

Netgear router setup with WAP-PSK
My IBM ThinkPad T43 with IntelPro Wireless 2200GB
Suse 10.2

Now keep in mind that I only used Linux for 3 days... so I am not sure how to do certain things yet.

When I look in my YaST under Network Connections, I see two of them.

One for my wired connection
One for Intel WIFI network connection

I have a little light on my laptop, that blinks when the network card is working. It is not blinking now and it never was with Suse

I installed ipw-firmware from suse's ftp server.
I also tried to setup my router and wifi connection on my laptop with shared keys making sure that keys are the same on the router and the laptop. Coudn't connect

Now, I am not sure if my driver is actually installed or not. If it shows up in Yest under network connections, does it mean that it is installed?

When I look in KInfoCenter under Network Interfaces I see:

eth0 192.168.0.2 255.255.255.0 Broadcast Up <---this is my wired connection
lo 127.0.0.2 255.0.0.0 Loopback Up

Also, from looking at Hardware Information in Yest, and going to Network Card section, I see my Pro/Wireless 2200GB card listed in there.It is also listed under Wireless LAN section. I would assume that my card is installed? Or at least the drivers.

Now, as for ipw-firmare. I downloaded gz file and when I extracted I couldnt' find the INSTALL file to tell me how to actually install it. I went to openSUSE.org and it told me to download ipw-firmware file, extract it and place it in /lib/firmware dir. I did that. Still can't connect.

I found rpm file for iwp-firmware. I installed it and didn't receive any errors so I assume that it went good. However, I still can't connect.

I am not sure what else to do. I would love to make this work since having wifi access is very important for me as this is how I connect. I really don't want to go back to windows just because of this but if I can't get it connected, I might have to do that.

So what else am I missing here?

Help?

[tpl]

welcome to the forum

I did a quick google and found this:

Intel&#174; PRO/Wireless 2200BG Driver for Linux
an open source 802.11a/bg driver for the ipw2200 and
ipw2915
ipw2200.sourceforge.net

looks like a good place to start
probably you'll also need the source code for your
version of the kernel "uname -r" to find what it is

as a thinkpadder, unless you have already, you should check out
http://www.thinkpads.com/
we live over there (this machine is a t22)

[maxxym]

Thanks for your reply tpl.

I found that site also but it's so confusing to someone who doesn't know much about Linux. All those commands... I really don't know how to execute them..

I been trying to figure this thing out all weekend.

I installed ipw-firmare, but I am stuck on ieee install. I downloaded the gz file and went to console and did the command that they say to do in the INSTALL file. So it started to do something.. its going through directories?? I see something like 16080 -C /usr/ something scrolling in the konsole.... but then it gets super slow when it reaches 17000 mark. I am not really sure what its doing.

I tried to install the drivers but it told me that I have to install ieee first. SO I guess this is the step that I am stuck on.

I wish this process was easier for people like me I would really like to stick with Linux but if I can't get that wifi thing figured out, I might have to drunp it

This really sucks...I am not sure what else to try.

[rong]

Have you tried these steps first?
1. Can you connect OK with a cable to the router instead of wireless? If yes,

2. Can you connect via wireless with WAP-PSK turned off?

These are basic steps to take before installing drivers.

[maxxym]

Yes I did.

I can connect via wire. Yes I tried all possible Wifi Configurations that I could. I did all the basic steps.

When I do ifconfig, my wlan card is not showing. All I see is eth0 and lo. But when I use YaST, I see two connections, one for wired and one for wifi.

I found intructions somewhere from guy named Andrew on how to fix this issue. I followed them to the every line....basically, it walked through on installing ndiswrapper, and drivers for my card. Well.. as soon as I specified ndiswrapper as my module to be used for the wifi card, my Suse tanked and I culdn't do anything.

I spend 5 days total working on trying to figure it out. That includes 2 all nighters. I was really hoping to have this fixed today before I get to work, but I couldn't. I am now back on windows and everything is working and I am back in business. I just couldn't afford more downtime. Also, I could never get BlackBerry Desktop Software working on SuSe 10.2 I tried to install it by using wine but it kept crashing.

Too bad. Looks like a cool OS, but I guess its not for me. I just really wish that those INSTALL files would be written in more "newbie" friendly language. I really tried to get this working, but as soon as I started to read the instructions, my brain almost blew up.

maybe I need to read some more linux books to become familiar with file structure and all those other things that I know inside out in windows.

There is just too much software that I depend on right now that doesn't work in Linux. That really sucks

Ah well. .thanks for all your help.

I will resort to installing Suse on VMware machine as a guest instead of having it as my primary OS. Maybe when Linux more friendly with current software, I will be happy to check it out again.