Linksys WMP54GS Wireless with Linux

[jamnz]

How do I make it work with Fedora, Linux?
I called Linksys and they do not have a Linux driver.
If you can, I need detailed instructions how to make it work as I am very new to this type of stuff. I also need to know what drivers or utility I would need to make it work.

Please help.

Thanks,
Jamnz

[xazo]

84 reviews of this question and not one attempted reply indicating how to make a Linksys WMP54GS work on Linux Fedora.
Bah-humbug

[+Daemon+]

- download the windows drivers. Extract them to c:\temp\linksys
- Now burn them or put them on a media or somthing so you can transfer these files over to linux (note: linux wont beable to extract the exe file)
- Download ndiswrapper for linux located at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=93482
- Now make sure you have all the development tools installed in fedora
- Now download dhcpcd from http://www.phystech.com/ftp/dhcpcd-1.3.22-pl4.tar.gz
- log into your linux box as root
- Now make make sure all the files (*gz files, and linksys driver files) are in the root partition on the linux machine (/root/wireless_driver) if "wireless_driver" is not there make the directory (which u will have to do) "mkdir /root/wireless_driver"
- now at the command prompt (terminal) go into the "wireless_driver" directory "cd /root/wireless_driver"
- now type "tar xvfpz ndiswrapper-0.12.tar.gz"
- "cd ndiswrapper-0.12"
- "make install"
- "cd .."
- "tar xvfpz dhcpcd-1.3.22-pl4.tar.gz"
- "cd dhcpcd-1.3.22"
- "./configure"
- "make && make install"
- "cd .."
- "source /etc/profile" (note: you might want to edit root's .bashrc and add source /etc/profile there, some how fc3 doesnt have root source /etc/profile for some reason)
- "cd /root/wireless_driver/WMP54GS_20040423/Drivers"
- "ndiswrapper -i BCMWL5.inf"
- "ls /etc/ndiswrapper/bcmwl5" u should get a list of alot file in here
- "modprobe ndiswrapper"
- "dmesg wlan0" show see wlan0 if its there your good if not then somthings wrong - please post everything thats comes out of dmesg "dmesg > demout"
- now for a little script open your favorite text editor and copy the following code:

#Sample ndiswrapper script - By: Derrick Rose

#Load ndiswrapper module
echo "Starting Ndiswrapper Driver..."
/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper

#Setup Essid
echo "Setting up ESSID..."
iwconfig wlan0 essid "your essid here"

#Setup WEP Key if you have one
#Uncomment below for WEP
#echo "Setting up KEY..."
#iwconfig wlan0 yourkeyhere

#Setting up DHCP on wlan0
echo "Starting DHCP on wlan0 [ 10 sec timeout ]"
dhcpcd -t 10 wlan0


- the script above will setup your wireless card for. Now save this to a file in roots directory (/root) called wireless
- "chmod +x wireless"
- to run manually type "./wireless" as root
- If you want to automaticly load on startup do the following
- "cat wireless >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local"

hope this works for you, its the ndiswrapper method, somtimes this works if no linux drivers, we just use the windows driver on linux :)

D

[Cabhan]

Daemon, that's an awesome walkthrough, but I have a correction and a solution:

Firstly, the section of the script with the WEP key should actually be:

#Setup WEP Key if you have one
#Uncomment below for WEP
#echo "Setting up KEY..."
#iwconfig wlan0 key yourkeyhere

You left out the "key" in the above line.


The solution is that if you restart your computer using this form, for me at least, I ended up not being able to access the Internet any more. In order to fix this, I had to delete the /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-wlan0.pid file, then rerun "dhcpcd -t 10 wlan0". This fixed everything. You may want to add that to the script.

[jwilli]

Daemon,
I followed your instructions (and Cabhan, your input as well) to the letter.
Exactly as instructed, at least 6 different times, to ensure that I was not making any mistakes.

Output of "dmesg wlan0" (last three lines) is:

wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:0f:66:70:06:a8 using driver bcmwl5
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP, WPA with TKIP, WPA with AES/CCMP
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Linksys,02/19/2004, 3.50.21.11) added

There is no "/etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-wlan0.pid" file.

Reboot does nothing to help.
I'm happy to provide any info needed to make this work.

Thanks.

[Cabhan]

I've been working out some other problems with the Internet on another forum as well, but I've got one question that will probably make it easier for anyone to help you out:

First off, I assume that the problem is still a lack of Internet access?

Now then, what's the output of the command

iwconfg wlan0

[jwilli]

Correct--no Internet access, no LAN access.
Output of "iwconfg wlan0" is:

wlan0 No such device

But of course it's there, and works fine under XP.
Thanks for responding.

[Cabhan]

You've run the script that was posted?

If so, I frankly have no idea. But I'm practically a Linux newbie, so your best bet is to keep searching around. But I've discovered that Linksys is not a Linux fan...

[jwilli]

Oh yeah.
Again, and again, and again.

And you're right; shame on Linksys-- if necessary, I'll use another wireless that supports Linux.

[xazo]

I've got it working 100% now.
took some time but is great to know it works.

[SeniorX]

Men, can you explain how did you make it work on linux? Iam using Ubuntu. Did you follow the steps of Daemon?

[3fingersalute]

Men, can you explain how did you make it work on linux? Iam using Ubuntu. Did you follow the steps of Daemon?
do you have synaptic? get it, then use ndiswrapper and the wireless configuration tool to set it up using a windows driver

[SeniorX]

Ok men, I'll try, if a have any problem I'll post again, thanks a lot :)

[alecorre]

Using Centos-4.3-i386 version of Linux. Can't get the adapter working. I go through the fix that was listed above but when I get to the line "ndiswrapper -i BCMWL5.inf" I get errors and I can't proceed farther. Is there some trick that I am missing?
And isn't there an easier way? I just got off the support line with Linksys and all they could say was that they don't support Linux.
If anyone can shed some light on this issue and how to get around it, that would be great.
It works fine on my XP system.

Thanks