[jimlikessweets]

hi i have a WUSB100 (a linksys wireless pen drive card thing...)
here is the link to it's info page: Linksys.com – Products/Wireless/Basic Networking/Adapters/RangePlus/WUSB100
so my problem is well... i'm not sure what the reason is, however network manager does not seem to be able to detect any wireless networks. i am using sabayon 3.4f on a x86 amd gateway. it seems like the card is being recognized. i think this because when i run "net-setup" it says i have the option of using the card. when i try to, ifconfig does now show any sign of it working. do i need to install a driver? if i do, how do i go about doing this?

[waterhead]

Since it is difficult to determine the wireless chipset in a USB wireless, I am going to recommend using NDISwrapper. There may be a native driver loading for the wireless. This would need to be removed before using NDISwrapper. Please post the output of this command. (Or we may be able to configure it and not use NDISwrapper.)

lsmod

Some distros require the path to be in the command.

/sbin/lsmod

I'm not sure how Sabayon does it.

[jimlikessweets]

Originally Posted by waterhead

Since it is difficult to determine the wireless chipset in a USB wireless, I am going to recommend using NDISwrapper. There may be a native driver loading for the wireless. This would need to be removed before using NDISwrapper. Please post the output of this command. (Or we may be able to configure it and not use NDISwrapper.)

lsmod

Some distros require the path to be in the command.

/sbin/lsmod

I'm not sure how Sabayon does it.

Module Size Used by
snd_seq_dummy 3876 0
snd_seq_oss 29600 0
snd_seq_midi_event 7008 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 46448 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 7884 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
vboxdrv 39176 0
rc80211_simple 4320 1
forcedeth 44552 0
ohci_hcd 22212 0
ssb 31012 1 ohci_hcd
pcmcia 36756 1 ssb
pcspkr 3104 0
i2c_nforce2 5888 0
i2c_core 23840 1 i2c_nforce2
serio_raw 6852 0
rt73usb 23168 0
rt2x00usb 10432 1 rt73usb
rt2x00lib 16000 2 rt73usb,rt2x00usb
mac80211 142120 3 rc80211_simple,rt2x00usb,rt2x00lib
crc_itu_t 2240 1 rt2x00lib
snd_hda_intel 238776 0
tg3 100452 0
e1000 111680 0
scsi_wait_scan 1504 0
sl811_hcd 11808 0
uhci_hcd 22896 0
ehci_hcd 31276 0

i just installed the proper drivers from the cd that came with the device with ndiswrapper. it still does not work though.

[waterhead]

These modules are wireless drivers. They were loaded automatically when your wireless was detected:

Originally Posted by jimlikessweets

Module Size Used by

i2c_core 23840 1 i2c_nforce2
serio_raw 6852 0
rt73usb 23168 0
rt2x00usb 10432 1 rt73usb
rt2x00lib 16000 2 rt73usb,rt2x00usb
mac80211 142120 3 rc80211_simple,rt2x00usb,rt2x00lib
crc_itu_t 2240 1 rt2x00lib
snd_hda_intel 238776 0

If you want to use NDISwrapper, these would have to be removed first. (as root)

modprobe -r rt73usb
modprobe -r rt2x00usb
modprobe -r rt2x00lib
modprobe -r mac80211

Now you should be able to load the NDISwrapper module.

modprobe ndiswrapper

If this works out ok, then you will want to permanently keep them from automatically loading, by adding them to the blacklist file. This file is usually found in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist. I am not positive that the mac80211 module needs to be blacklisted, as it may be needed by other processes.

If you would rather use the native Linux driver, it seems that all you may need is to install firmware for the wireless.
rt73usb - Linux Wireless (look at the bottom of the page)
Ralink Technology: Linux (for the firmware]
Main Page - Rt2x00Wiki Driver's web site

The firmware usually goes in the /lib/firmware folder. Sometimes it needs it's own folder (like /lib/firmware/rt71). If you look at the output of this command, it may actually tell you where to put the firmware.

dmesg

I haven't actually used the rt family of drivers, so I don't know if they are better or worse than NDISwrapper.