DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
1 edit | No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver instead!
Some devices are not supported under Linux but often you will find there exists an Windows XP driver. Broadcom chipset based cards and Intel Centrino is under this classification. Well, now there is hope for some if not all of these cards.
There are two solutions for Linux allowing Windows XP drivet to be used under Linux using an ndis wrapper layer (or ndis wrapper driver):
Linuxant: »www.linuxant.com
Sourceforge ndiswrapper project: »sourceforge.net/projects/ndiswrapper/
Linuxant is a commercial solution but since it is more stable and supported it might be easier for some. The cost is fair for most people. Ndiswrapper is free but might be unstable for some or too much of a pain to get it running.
Having that said I am posting this note on Dell Latitude D600 with Dell TrueMobile 1400 (Broadcom a/b/g chipset) using Windows driver under Linux. I have used ndiswrapper (with sources direct from top of CVS)
I am using AP mode with 128bit key.
This linux is RH9 based running kernel 2.4.23 from kernel.org. Kernel is compiled with kernel mode pcmcia, hotplug and acpi support. I've also recompiled the wireless utilities (from version 26 sources) because kernel used version 16 of wireless extensions while stock utilities used 15.
For TrueMobile 1400, I have used the Dell driver download package: R63259.EXE
Please refer to README file in ndiswrapper for details.
The following is the PCI id for TM 1400 mini-PCI module.
#lspci
...
02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4324 (rev 02)
...
#lspci -n
...
02:03.0 Class 0280: 14e4:4324 (rev 02)
...
So, my wireless device is vendor id 14e4 and dev id 4324
After downloading Dell driver, unzip it to a directory. You will need bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5.inf files under TMSetup directory for TrueMobile 1400. Preferably copy these to ndiswrapper main directory so you do not have to enter long paths.
Once you have build the ndiswrapper the following are what is needed.
insmod driver/ndiswrapper.o
utils/loaddriver 0x14e4 0x4324 bcmwl5.sys bcmwl5.inf
Note: remember 0x14e4 is PCI vendor id (ie. Broadcom) and 0x4324 is the devid that we identified from lspci output.
iwconfig showed my wireless card is eth1
iwconfig eth1 essid off
iwconfig eth1 mode Managed
iwconfig eth1 key off
iwlist eth1 scan - this should scan for AP
You can configure your card to use 128-bit WEP as follows. (substitue real ssid and key)
iwconfig eth1 essid "your ssid"
iwconfig eth1 mode Managed
iwconfig eth1 key "xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xx open"
You can replace "open" with "restricted" or remove it completely. Most AP will do either. Some only accept one way or another.
Once the essid/key is configured you can bring the interface up:
ifconfig eth1 up
dhclient eth1
To make it easier to configure I've actually created /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
here are the contents:
STARTMODE=hotplug
DEVICE=eth1
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ESSID=your_ssid
MODE=Managed
KEY='xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xx open'
Again, drop "open" or replace with "restricted" as you wish.
After this file is setup, you do so you can bring up the interface simply using ifup eth1 (again this is for RH9)
Now at boot time the ndiswrapper driver and windows driver are not loaded so eth1 will fail. You need to follow automation notes in the ndiswrapper README file to have fully working system. Again the test was done on RH9 so on a different distro the paths, files etc. may vary.
Good luck. It might be somewhat overwhelming for new Linux users. |
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No_Strings
Premium,Mod
join:2001-11-22
The OC | Re: No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver inste
Thanks for posting the exact steps. People seem to be reporting mixed results with the Linuxant loader, better results with the ndiswrapper. Any observations on throughput, signal strength? Any errant behavior? |
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DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
| During the time I've tested last night, it was pretty reliable for me. Ping times to other network hosts were very consistent but I did not do any significant throughput testing.
I am actually very satisfied with the performance of TrueMobile 1400 in Dell Latitude D600. I tought I was getting an Atheros radio because in the 802.11a or 802.11a/g space they are the most common. It was a surprise to get Broadcom instead but I am glad ndiswrapper worked out very well.
BTW, Linuxant claims to support WPA as well. This is one area that bests ndiswrapper and might be a consideration for some. |
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kevin_ucla
join:2004-01-30
Los Angeles, CA
| reply to DrTCP
Re: No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver instead!
Hi, I installed the driverloader from Linuxant.
Now I can saw APs around me in linux by iwlist, that I can connect without key in Windows. But now in Linux I still cannot connect to them.
I used Dell Truemobile 1400, I also used Orinoco 11ag combo card.
When I type "ifup eth1", it told me "configuration not found." However I configured the eth1 with essid, key off, mode managed ...
I also tried to use "ifocnfig eth1 up": okay. But when I type "dhclient eth1" It told me configuration not found.
Is my problem due to DHCP? How should I do with the DHCP stuff, since I can see those AP with wireless routes now.
Can any one help me?
Thanks a lot. My email: kevin_ucla@yahoo.com
Thanks
Xiaolong |
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ahuebel
join:2003-09-24
Houston, TX
| Re: No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver inste
I think your card may use an atheros chipset which would mean you can use madwifi drivers instead. If iwlist pulls up APs within range, I guess you are already working with Linuxant.
said by kevin_ucla  :
When I type "ifup eth1", it told me "configuration not found." However I configured the eth1 with essid, key off, mode managed ...
If you dont have an ifcfg-eth1, I'm pretty sure #ifup eth1 wont work.
said by kevin_ucla :
However I configured the eth1 with essid, key off, mode managed ...
The default essid should be "any", likewise, key mode "off" and mode "managed". So you technically shouldnt have to explicitly define those parameters. When you did specify the ESSID, did it give you any errors? If not, are you certain you gave the correct SSID? |
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DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
| reply to kevin_ucla
Re: No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver instead!
Dell TrueMobile 802.11a/b/g is Broadcom chip which you need Ndiswrapper. In the key do not use any '[1]' etc. Ndiswrapper does not like key selector for some reason. Also, if you AP is set to open mode with WEP add ' open' to the end of your key. Some people had greater success with setting both essid and key at the same time.
Orinoco a/g card is Atheros (I hope you are refering to this version not the 11Mbps one). You can use Madwifi driver with Orinoco. I have equivalent Netgear WAG511 and it works fine with Madwifi driver. Since there is native driver I did not use Ndiswrapper for it. |
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elboricua
El Subestimado
Premium
join:2001-08-12
Bronx, NY
| reply to DrTCP
Re: No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver inste
Has anyone gotten the Linuxant driver to work with a 2.6 kernel? I am trying to get it going but I keep getting unresolved symbols in module driverloader  According to the documentation on the linuxant website it should work with a 2.6.
I am going to try a 2.4 kernel tonight and see if it works with that kernel.
I am using a vanilla 2.6.2-rc3 kernel with slackware on an old IBM thinkpad 600E.
--
Sending script kiddies to /dev/null since 1995! |
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elboricua
El Subestimado
Premium
join:2001-08-12
Bronx, NY | Kernel must have been too new. It works fine with a 2.4.24 kernel. I will try just the vanilla 2.6.1 later.
--
Sending script kiddies to /dev/null since 1995! |
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elboricua
El Subestimado
Premium
join:2001-08-12
Bronx, NY
| Final report 
Linuxant driver worked with WPA. It took me the better part of the day and some help from the All Things Unix Forum but I have my Belkin 54 G PCMCIA card in my old IBM Thinkpad 600E working and with WPA. I will definitely be purchasing the full lisence. I tested with a 2.4.24 and with a 2.6.1 kernel. For some reason I kept getting unresolved symbols with the newest 2.6.2-rc3 prepatch. I used this site »people.zoy.org/~hpreg/wifi/ which ihaddsl pointed out to me in a thread on ATU.
After following DrTCP 's steps with iwconfig and loading the driver I downloaded the wpa_supplicant files from the Linuxant site. It is not documented at all on the site how to install. You need to install libdnet before installing the wpa_supplicant. Installing the supplicant is easy. Just untar and cd into the directory. Then issue the command make. After that is where it gets tricky and I could find no documentation.
What you have to do is
./wpa_passphrase [ssid] [passphrase]
This will generate the output that you need for the wpa_supplicant.conf file. What I did was
mv wpa_supplicant.conf wpasupplicant.conf.example
./wpa_passphrase myssid mypassphrase > wpa_supplicant.conf
with that done now you have to start the daemon.
./wpa_supplicant -i eth0 -c wpa_supplicant.conf
That command should state that it sees your access point and that it negotiated a good connection. I am typing this from my laptop right now using WPA Whoo hooo. I hope this helps other Linux users interested in linuxant and wpa!
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Sending script kiddies to /dev/null since 1995! |
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DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
| said by elboricua :
Final report
Linuxant driver worked with WPA.
Good to know but from what you have shown it is technically WPA-PSK. Does WPA_supplicant works with full WPA (with RADIUS based authentication) |
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detth
Onemhz On Aim
join:2000-10-06
Astoria, NY | reply to DrTCP
Re: No native Linux driver? Use WinXP driver instead!
good info here - finally some hope on getting my centrino to work w/linux! |
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