[solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

alchemator · 2012-02-22 12:44:30

edit: not exactly solved - see last post

setting up internet for the first time on a wireless-only arch install

so i found out what wireless drivers i need to install, but i need wine to extract the drivers, and ndiswrapper to install them

i'm pretty sure i didn't install either of those with arch and i dont think they were even in the core distro

i have an xp laptop with internet (which i am posting with right now) and with it i downloaded wine (from http://www.archlinux.org/packages/commu … download/), but when i tried installing it with pacman using "pacman -S wine-1.4rc4-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz" i got a bunch of dependency errors, so i tracked down each missing dependency listed, and downloaded them, only to get more dependency errors in each

do i have to follow all the branches of the dependency tree or is there a simpler way that i'm missing (is -S even the right operation i have a feeling that it's not)

or is it worth transporting the whole desktop to the living room to plug into the router for how much of a pain this is going to be

thanks in advance

Last edited by alchemator (2012-02-23 22:14:33)

Svenstaro · 2012-02-22 14:05:22

Are you absolutely sure you need to use ndiswrapper for your drivers? This has become incredibly rare with recent kernels. Post your wireless chip info here. Also, you do not require wine. Use cabextract instead. However, try to not go that route either. There is a good chance your driver is in the kernel and you merely need to modprobe it.

alchemator · 2012-02-22 14:33:58

wireless adapter info:
netgear WNDA3100(v2) usb
broadcom BCM4323

according to this http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 it needs ndiswrapper

i'm glad i dont have to install wine this way, but i still need to figure out how to install pre-downloaded packages

currently reading this page https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_Tips

karol · 2012-02-22 14:38:04

pacman -Sp wine

should give you a bunch of urls you can use to download the necessary packages (e.g. via wget).

alchemator · 2012-02-22 14:51:43

karol wrote:

pacman -Sp wine
should give you a bunch of urls you can use to download the necessary packages (e.g. via wget).

aha. turns out i had to update the extra and community databases manually but now it prints a nice dependency list

and i guess -S was the wrong operation i should have been using -U

i think i'm getting the hang of this

alchemator · 2012-02-22 15:07:13

aw yeah i've finally got pacman updating packages

now to install cabextract, ndiswrapper, and all of their dependencies

alchemator · 2012-02-22 16:12:46

finally installed wine (i could only find the driver in .exe format) and running the installer there are so many errors

whoo boy i hope it manages to extract drivers through all this

alchemator · 2012-02-22 16:36:52

well i found the drivers i need, now trying to set up ndiswrapper

alchemator · 2012-02-22 17:09:44

great, now i cant get the ndiswrapper properly loaded

i followed the steps in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … diswrapper

and i get "FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found" every time i run "modprobe ndiswrapper"

edit: this is probably related to the error i get using "ndiswrapper -m":

"couldn't add module alias: at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 882"

okay, so thats the part of the script that returns the error "couldn't add module alias"

and adding the alias manually gives no errors but i still hit "FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found" at "modprobe ndiswrapper"

Last edited by alchemator (2012-02-22 17:28:18)

alchemator · 2012-02-22 17:36:41

come to think of it, the error where it "couldn't add module alias" was preceded by

sh: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'
sh: -c: line 0: `echo "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" >>'

does this mean there was supposed to be more in the ndiswrapper.conf file
because when i view it with nano it appears empty

alchemator · 2012-02-22 17:43:28

okay, a quick reboot and repeating those steps got me past all the errors and moving on to manual wireless management

karol · 2012-02-22 17:48:34

Did you upgrade the linux kernel in the process of installing ndiswrapper? (you can check /var/log/pacman.log if you're not sure)

alchemator · 2012-02-22 19:10:32

karol wrote:

Did you upgrade the linux kernel in the process of installing ndiswrapper? (you can check /var/log/pacman.log if you're not sure)

i apparently upgraded linux (3.0.3-1 -> 3.2.6-2), if that answers your question

but i'm not having any difficulties installing drivers anymore

scanning displays the available wifi networks so i think the drivers are working great

i'm just lost in the web of wireless configuration now

the curve on installing this thing is ridiculous

karol · 2012-02-22 19:14:42

You have to reboot after updating the kernel, otherwise the modules won't work, as you already found out trying to execute 'modprobe ndiswrapper' :-)

alchemator · 2012-02-23 22:13:48

i'm gonna mark this as solved even though i didn't get wireless set up as i decided to just move the desktop downstairs, connect via ethernet, and figure out wireless setup later

so when i do set up wireless, it will be on a computer with internet access

Arch Linux

#1 2012-02-22 12:44:30

[solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#2 2012-02-22 14:05:22

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#3 2012-02-22 14:33:58

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#4 2012-02-22 14:38:04

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#5 2012-02-22 14:51:43

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#6 2012-02-22 15:07:13

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#7 2012-02-22 16:12:46

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#8 2012-02-22 16:36:52

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#9 2012-02-22 17:09:44

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#10 2012-02-22 17:36:41

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#11 2012-02-22 17:43:28

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#12 2012-02-22 17:48:34

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#13 2012-02-22 19:10:32

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#14 2012-02-22 19:14:42

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

#15 2012-02-23 22:13:48

Re: [solved] need help setting up wireless via sneakernet

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