Do I need some sort of card or what?

[lugoteehalt]

Sorry to be so absurdly ignorant but do I have to put some sort of card into the thing to get wireless internet?

============ lspci ============
00:00.0 Memory controller [0580]: nVidia Corporation CK804 Memory Controller [10de:005e] (rev a3)
00:01.0 ISA bridge [0601]: nVidia Corporation CK804 ISA Bridge [10de:0050] (rev f3)
00:01.1 SMBus [0c05]: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus [10de:0052] (rev a2)
        Kernel driver in use: nForce2_smbus
        Kernel modules: i2c-nforce2
00:02.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller [10de:005a] (rev a2)
        Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
        Kernel modules: ohci-hcd
00:02.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller [10de:005b] (rev a3)
        Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
        Kernel modules: ehci-hcd
00:06.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE [10de:0053] (rev f2)
        Kernel driver in use: AMD_IDE
        Kernel modules: ata_generic, amd74xx, ide-pci-generic
00:07.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller [10de:0054] (rev f3)
        Kernel driver in use: sata_nv
        Kernel modules: ata_generic, sata_nv, ide-pci-generic
00:08.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller [10de:0055] (rev f3)
        Kernel driver in use: sata_nv
        Kernel modules: ata_generic, sata_nv, ide-pci-generic
00:09.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCI Bridge [10de:005c] (rev f2)
00:0a.0 Bridge [0680]: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller [10de:0057] (rev f3)
        Kernel driver in use: forcedeth
        Kernel modules: forcedeth
00:0b.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge [10de:005d] (rev f3)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:0c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge [10de:005d] (rev f3)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:0d.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge [10de:005d] (rev f3)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:0e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge [10de:005d] (rev a3)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration [1022:1100]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map [1022:1101]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller [1022:1102]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control [1022:1103]
        Kernel driver in use: k8temp
        Kernel modules: k8temp
01:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306 Fire II IEEE 1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller [1106:3044] (rev c0)
        Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
        Kernel modules: ohci1394
01:06.0 Multimedia controller [0480]: Philips Semiconductors SAA7131/SAA7133/SAA7135 Video Broadcast Decoder [1131:7133] (rev d1)
        Kernel driver in use: saa7134
        Kernel modules: saa7134
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400 GS [10de:0404] (rev a1)
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nvidia

============ lsusb ============
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0d8c:0201 C-Media Electronics, Inc. CM6501
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 062a:0000 Creative Labs Optical mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13fe:1e00 Kingston Technology Company Inc.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, looks like it.

What exact computer model is this ?

[rokytnji]

As dxqcanada said. Don't see any Etherent readouts in lspci or lsusb. Kinda curious what you get with

# ifconfig

[lugoteehalt]

Thanks both. "What exact computer model is this ? " Err....it's a bit bespoke - AMD64 twin core, 4G RAM, 'entry level games machine'. Not that helpful perhaps.

fido:/home/lugo# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1e:7c:1f:93:b1
          inet addr:192.168.1.2  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21e:8cef:fe1f:93c1/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:4855 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4426 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:4783659 (4.5 MiB)  TX bytes:904886 (883.6 KiB)
          Interrupt:21 Base address:0xe000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:55 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:55 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:3144 (3.0 KiB)  TX bytes:3144 (3.0 KiB)

fido:/home/lugo#

I just realized I had no idea how wireless worked, and was not aware of any radio receiver in the computer. ifconfig may have been securitied-up, can't remember. The wireless router is being used but has wireless switched off and is connected to the box via an ethernet cable.

[reed9]

00:0a.0 Bridge [0680]: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller [10de:0057] (rev f3)
Kernel driver in use: forcedeth
Kernel modules: forcedeth

This is the ethernet card, but as said, there isn't any wireless card detected. If you want wireless, internal pci cards are fairly inexpensive. Or you can get a USB wireless adapter. Just do some research before purchasing to make sure they're compatible. Well, most cards will work, given some effort. But some are easier than others.

[coopstah13]

if you don't have a wireless card installed, then you can't use wireless

easy check if this is a desktop machine, if there is no antenna sticking out, you don't have wireless card

[waterhead]

As others have already pointed out, you need to get a wireless card.

Now, I know what your next question is:

"What wireless cards work in Linux?"

That is not a simple question to answer. Linux drivers are based on the wireless chipset inside. (Actually, so are Windows drivers, but I digress.) Almost no wireless card makers list the chipset that the device uses. And to make matters worse they change chipsets on models, but keep the same name. They do usually give it a version number to designate the difference.

One way that I have found to find Linux compatible devices, is to check the user comments. Newegg.com has a method to search the comments using a "keyword". I entered Linux as the keyword and wireless adapters as the section to search. Here is a link to the results:

Newegg Customer Reviews Center

You will need to scan the results, as some are saying that it won't work in Linux. I see two comments, one saying it doesn't work in Linux, the other saying it works out-of-the-box. Go figure.

[lugoteehalt]

Thanks all, that completely answers the question. Did wonder if there should be a great, manly antennae sticking out the back.