Knoppix and Wireless Dell 1350 WLAN
<ultrageeky-post>
I got my Dell Latitude D600 wireless adapter to work with Linux this evening! I’m using the Knoppix 3.6 on CD distro, mostly just to play with it and see if I can get it to work. Knoppix pretty much works out of the box (at least on my D600), except for my wireless card. Since I usually sit on the bed and surf wirelessly (how lazy is that?) I just had to get this to work if I was ever going to be happy. (I usually use Windows XP Pro for everyday life, which works swell, IMHO.)
Here’s how I did it.
There is a thing that is designed to use Windows XP drivers under Linux for a network device. It’s called ndiswrapper.
To prepare for using this, I decided the first thing I should do (while still running under Windows) was to get the latest drivers for my card, which is a Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN mini-PCI 802.11b/g (54Mbps) card. I got them from http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R94827.EXE.
I ran the EXE, which unzipped the drivers (by default) into C:\Dell\Drivers\R94827 and then installed them under Windows XP. The installer required a reboot, which I did.
Then, I restarted again and, this time with the Knoppix CD in to boot into Linux. Once it was up and running, I ran the “ndiswrapper configuration” script, which is conveniently located under the Knoppix Menu->Network/Internet.
After clicking Okay in the initial dialog, it prompted me for the INF file for the drivers. I navigated to the /mnt/hda2/DELL/Drivers/R94827 directory. (Actually, there was another step. For some reason, the configuration script would not navigate deeper than /mnt/hda1 unless I had previously navigated below that directory with Konquerer. So, I first navigated to file:/mnt/hda2/DELL/Drivers/R94827 using the desktop icon.) Once I was in that directory, I selected the file bcmlw5a.inf (note the “a” in the name) and clicked Okay.
It cranked for a bit on that, then said that it had installed the drivers correctly and that I should use iwconfig to set up my card. Since I don’t use any WEP encryption at home, I instead ran the “network card configuration” script. Since before I only had one network adapter that Linux knew about, it would immediately ask if I wanted to try DHCP on eth0. This time, it prompted me to select a network card to configure, eth0 or wlan0. I selected the wlan0 card and told it to use DHCP. It came roaring to life and here I sit, surfing wirelessly in Linux!
Wahoo. The last thing I did was click under the Knoppix Menu->Configuration->Save KNOPPIX configuration and put it on my hard drive so I can reload this configuration the next time I boot under Linux.
</ultrageeky-post>
Oh great geeky one,
I looked at my Dell wireless directory and could only find a file named bcmwl5a.inf.
Is it possible that it is the correct file?
not so geeky JT
A helpful ste….
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/
I have a Dell D600 and used the same installation procedure as described above, but it didn’t work. I DO use WEP encryption and have SSID broadcast disabled, and also use macadress filtering. (gotta look out these days ;-). I configured all settings manually via SuSe YaST but my wireless card just stays dead. Then I configured all settings manually with iwconfig … still no go! Anyone ?
Yo Sorry…wrong forum..Forget my post above…I used Linuxant Driverloader….but will now try to get the damn thing broadcasting with ndiswrapper. :-))
tried to config as recommended , error reply : no new device found ,any recommendations ,
cheers
dongle
Are you running on a D600? If so, which wireless card are you using?
wlan 1350, got the right drvers ,bcmwl5a.inf, in the shell i typed ndiswrapper -l ,say driver present hardware present , stiil no use ,it wouldn’t allow me to configure it in the wlan config says no hardware found, P.S i am running knoppix from cd. any advice ?
hello ? any advise? still waiting, i was told that i should install knoppix first on the hdd , but shouldn’t it work out of the box with ndiswrapper, anywho , still waiting for advice. cheers
Hmm. Not sure why it isn’t working for you with (I guess) a near identical setup.
Are you running Windows XP on your current HD? If so, did you update your drivers in XP to the current ones as well (downloaded from Dell above)?
Also, instead of running ndiswrapper from the shell, what happens if you launch ndiswrapper from the Knoppix menu?
I am actually running the LiveCD version 3.9 now it it works just as well. I can even get the wireless WEP working (we use security at the office by using iwconfig.) I even got the LCD screen to run in it’s native 1400×1050 resolution!
Best of luck!
To do this I have to install knoppix into my computer or can I still do it with just the boot.
I am able to do it by booting on the CD only, not installing on the local computer. I still have Windows XP installed on the local PC.
works on my Inspiron 5100 as well.
thank you, this should really help a friend of mine stuck in another country with a severely damaged HD and only a working wireless card on this model Dell laptop !! Keep the posts coming !!
The above tutorial did not work for me although it was very helpful in understanding what is going on. I finally managed to make things work with the tutorial listed here
http://www.seungpyo.com/stacksandpiles/2006/07/02/broadcom-wireless-in-ubuntu-dapper-606/