Linux

Hi,

I have successfully installed the latest Linux Mint for the very first time on an old (2001) Gateway 600 laptop. I still have my old Windows XP on this too.

I cannot figure out how to get the wireless connection to work (to connect to my home router).

I have tried installing my only "INF" file (WLLUC48.INF) using the "Control Center" application, "Windows Wireless Drivers". In there it say "Hardware present: No".

I believe I have "WaveLAN/IEEE" (Agere) wireless hardware.

Would anyone be willing to help me understand why and how wireless drivers should work in Linux? This is frustrating to someone who know Unix well but can't seem to figure out what Linux is doing wrong.

Thank you!
Steve

You usually don't use Windows wireless drivers in Linux. The one way you can is a complicated and bug-prone procedure that's as likely to crash your system than not.

Try lspci to see what hardware you have.

Here's the lspci (ran it as root):

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 42)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 01)
02:02.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1520 PC card CardBus Controller (rev 01)
02:02.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1520 PC card CardBus Controller (rev 01)
02:03.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1988 Allegro-1 (rev 12)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card CardBus Controller (rev 01)
02:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Intruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
02:08:0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 42)

So ... if there's no easy way for my built-in wireless device to work under Linux ... maybe I can find a Linux "app" (& hardware) that would make one of my USB ports connect to WiFi?

I'm not at all versed in Linux ... but while I learn it I would sure love to not need ethernet cat-5 cabling to it.

Thank you for the response!

I hope all that lspci info I manually typed went through! I just tried the other command, "dmesg" and weeded out some interesting things:

Looks like something called "orinoco_cs" did see my wireless hardware:
orinoco_cs 2.0: Firmware determined as Lucent/Agere 8.10 (saying this again with 9.48)

Then...
eth1: Lucent/Agere firmware doesn't support manual roaming (says this over and over)

eth1: This firmware requires an ESSID in IBSS-Ad-Hoc mode.

I didn't see any of that lspci info, sorry. You could try plugging in with a cable, so you could copy-paste. or save to a text file and transfer with a flash drive...

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 42)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 01)
02:02.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1520 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
02:02.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1520 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
02:03.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1988 Allegro-1 (rev 12)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
02:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 42)

---------- Post updated at 10:58 AM ---------- Previous update was at 10:47 AM ----------

Thanks again for looking at this Corona688 ... really appreciate it.
Looks like there's no controller info in lspci that mentions WiFi or wireless.

Would it be easier to try to find a USB device that works on Linux as a wireless connector?