USB Wireless

jon.wulf · 2010-02-14 16:57:16

Hello all,

I'm intending to buy a USB Wireless dongle and would like to know what ones WILL work pretty much out the box. My laptops wireless card just won't work under Linux (I can see wlan0 but it wont show any networks at all) and I'm a hairs breadth from going back to Windows on it to solve this problem once and for all. Any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

~Jon~

Staerseus · 2010-02-14 17:14:22

What card do you have? I don't believe you cannot make it running...

jon.wulf · 2010-02-14 17:21:09

As near as I can tell it's a Realtek 8191SE (I say as near as it's called that on my XP partition and after installing the driver for that model wlan0 showed up).

Last edited by jon.wulf (2010-02-14 17:38:36)

Staerseus · 2010-02-15 19:01:47

If you speak German, this can help you... https://forum.archlinux.de/?id=20;page= … read=13422 I didn't understand much, but, this package from Arch can help you - http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=34281.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … mments=all

But try to find some more information about your card on google.com/linux... I am not a guru, but on the launchpad link a guy was trying to make it running with ndiswrapper. It uses the driver from windows... With it you can connect to network but you cannot set the card to the Monitor mode. But that page is about half a year old, so maybe the situation has changed yet and there is a driver for you...

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wir … diswrapper

Also look here and paste here some more info...

Or really try to Google something :-)

barzam · 2010-02-15 19:16:59

I have an Option 225 3g modem which works *perfectly* on Archlinux.

Check this site for more info: http://pharscape.org/

Chokkan · 2010-02-16 06:37:08

Mine works OK. I use wvdial to connect manually.

Edit: Doh! Sorry. I did read, but brain didn't process.

Last edited by Chokkan (2010-02-18 00:44:54)

tomk · 2010-02-16 08:32:04

barzam, Chokkan - the OP is looking for help with a wifi issue. Your 3g modems are not relevant.

grey · 2010-02-16 11:06:42

The problem with at least some devices is that they come with different underlying chipsets. Windows users don't care as long as the correct driver is included, but for linux users it matters a lot. E.g. my dongle - Belkin USB Wireless G - comes with 4 different chipsets, of which 3 are supported out of the box in the current kernel.

One key that should work is the Netgear WG111. It has a chipset supported by the p54usb kernel module. £16 at amazon.

Useful references:
http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi#USBDevices lists most available kernel drivers
follow the links to get to a list of devices that contain hardware supported by the drivers
http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids contains an updated list of usb manufacturer and device ids - what you get from lsusb once the device is actually plugged into you system.

brianhanna · 2010-02-16 13:02:35

jon.wulf - can you post the output of your lspci? If we knew what chipset you had we may be able to help.

jon.wulf · 2010-02-18 21:03:38

Hello everyone,

apologies for the delay in replying - college work etc... Since my last post I have made a break through. I tried the drivers I was using for my card on Arch with Backtrack 4 and......perfect! (The speed does vary a bit but that is likely my ISP's doing. It's yet to drop completely...touch wood.) I'm writing this very message on Backtrack 4 while streaming media via my wireless. However... If I do this on Arch I can connect but get slow speeds before the connection drops after a few minutes. Any ideas?

Info:
32 bit Arch
WPA2 Wireless - 63 character password - Hidden SSID
lspci - 06:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)

Staerseus · 2010-02-18 21:08:02

jon.wulf wrote:

Hello everyone,
apologies for the delay in replying - college work etc... Since my last post I have made a break through. I tried the drivers I was using for my card on Arch with Backtrack 4 and......perfect! (The speed does vary a bit but that is likely my ISP's doing. It's yet to drop completely...touch wood.) I'm writing this very message on Backtrack 4 while streaming media via my wireless. However... If I do this on Arch I can connect but get slow speeds before the connection drops after a few minutes. Any ideas?
Info:
32 bit Arch
WPA2 Wireless - 63 character password - Hidden SSID
lspci - 06:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)

Try this http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Len … ek_chipset and http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=76184

I found it on google.com/linux :-) You should try to google it, too .-)

jon.wulf · 2010-02-18 21:30:46

Um... I don't want to sound rude or ungrateful, but that's the driver I have been/am using. Under Backtrack 4 it works great, under Arch I get maybe 5 minutes use before the connection terminates. I'm wondering if maybe it's a Kernel issue or a config setting I should look out for?

Staerseus · 2010-02-18 21:37:38

And are you using ndiswrapper or he first one in the wiki page I've posted? And are you conecting through netcfg, iwconfig or NetworkManager or Wicd?

jon.wulf · 2010-02-18 21:39:43

I'm using the native driver, I had zero success with ndiswrapper. I use Wicd to manage my connections.

Staerseus · 2010-02-18 22:34:24

So you can still try the Networkmanager or connect through the terminal to find out, where the trouble is...

tomk · 2010-02-19 06:58:25

Compare relevant dmesg output from backtrack and Arch.

trusktr · 2010-02-20 20:09:41

Hey grey, how'd you get your Belkin USB Wireless G to work?

I also have a Belking Wireless USB dongle but i have no clue how to get it working.

I'm on wired internet right now

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-14 16:57:16

USB Wireless

#2 2010-02-14 17:14:22

Re: USB Wireless

#3 2010-02-14 17:21:09

Re: USB Wireless

#4 2010-02-15 19:01:47

Re: USB Wireless

#5 2010-02-15 19:16:59

Re: USB Wireless

#6 2010-02-16 06:37:08

Re: USB Wireless

#7 2010-02-16 08:32:04

Re: USB Wireless

#8 2010-02-16 11:06:42

Re: USB Wireless

#9 2010-02-16 13:02:35

Re: USB Wireless

#10 2010-02-18 21:03:38

Re: USB Wireless

#11 2010-02-18 21:08:02

Re: USB Wireless

#12 2010-02-18 21:30:46

Re: USB Wireless

#13 2010-02-18 21:37:38

Re: USB Wireless

#14 2010-02-18 21:39:43

Re: USB Wireless

#15 2010-02-18 22:34:24

Re: USB Wireless

#16 2010-02-19 06:58:25

Re: USB Wireless

#17 2010-02-20 20:09:41

Re: USB Wireless

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