Please Tell Me How To Install Wifi

I don't know anything about Linux, but I had a bright idea to install it on an old laptop in place of XP and have tried numerous 'distros' on LiveCD but mouse and wifi don't work.

Compaq Presario 711AP, triumphantly installed SuSE on its 5gb HDD (it took 3 hours to install, sat on 80% file copying for hours), managed to find a USB mouse that works.

It doesn't see my Pluscom WU-ZD1211B WiFi dongle (which works perfectly on the same laptop with XP installed). I've downloaded and saved the driver on a USB mp3 player which I know is recognised by my SuSE.

From trawling this forum I see that I've got to use 'ndiswrapper' (I think that's what it is but have seen it so many times with typos I'm not sure).

Please would you tell me what to do - I mean EVERY STEP, EVERY KEYSTROKE - I bet I've got to use Terminal :wacko:

(Honestly I've tried reading online books, but am driven mad trying to find the right pages amongst hundreds in PDF docs whose indexes are wrong...)

It's a much dreaded, very signifiicant birthday in 15 minutes' time, so please be patient :unsure:

clemenzina

first and foremost what you need to do is cut down on runlevel services, this is equivalent to your running processes in windows, there is a good how to by broch in the how to section, which ones to turn off.
you go to yast, runlevel services, then edit each one as necessary, this will free up ram. also you need to edit to dump temp files on each startup, this is to save space on your harddisk and it will save you headaches later on when having difficulty booting inot the system, we will talk about how to do this later once you find the windows .exe for your wireless driver....once you find that, post and we will go from there. inside the executable is the file needed by ndiswrapper to get you a blue light on your wireless.


edit: Im sorry, you are using a dongle...I thought internal wifi...you have the driver...the easiest way to get the file needed if you still have a win machine around is to install it go to directory and get the file needed....
this howto may be of some help....
check here

also this thread at pluscom may be very helpful as well da link

which suse version are you using?

remember the other two suggestions are also vital, we will talk once we take care of the dongle....

keep eye candy to a bare minimum, and also with such a small harddrive forget about downloading large files unless you have an external hdd....can always get a bigger hdd.

also welcome to linux....the number one antivirus, malware, spyware around!! and talk about security! in a recent hacking contest mac went right away then vista...as of this writing Linux is the only one left standing..you can't compare the security it gives you. DO NOT BECOME INTIMIDATED!!! once you learn to stop thinking the windows way, you will realize exactly what you have been missing out on. good luck!! It is not as nearly as difficult as it sounds and once certain concepts are learned it will be a breeze...once we get your wireless up and running your next task will be doing an update.. The first time I came to linux I had to make a winmodem....an internal software based modem, work with linux.....now that was a crash course into linux which was about as heavy as things could get for a noob coming off of windows 98. I got the modem up and running....

depending on your SuSE version, which you have yet to disclose ,if this is your wireless device

Pluscom WU-ZD1211B WiFi dongle [/b]

using SuSE 10..3 -10.2 the zd1211 firmware/drives are on the install media. for 10.1 you need the drivers from here http://linux-lc100020.sourceforge.net/

Andy

I realised in the night that I hadn't mentioned the version:

10.3 KDE.

All I want this laptop for is surfing, emailing, and creating the odd text doc during the night when I can't get to my PC because of 'guests' in my lounge <_< Hopefully it will be networked to my PC's data drives, as it is now with XP (which I still have on a 6gb HDD, I can swap the drives around but it's a nuisance). I intend to remove unnecessary stuff once I get Linux running - nothing can be done about the RAM/CPU but I've just bought a used 30gb HDD, it should arrive this week, but just in case it's a dud, and because I can't leave this alone and it's practice, I'm proceeding... and if it's not a dud I could have XP and KDE running side by side on it, couldn't I?

Confusions:

When I see pics of typing in Terminal, there's no indication of <- at the end to enter the command and proceed to the next line.

Where is YaST on my setup?

Originally posted by KeyserSuSe
.you have the driver...the easiest way to get the file needed if you still have a win machine around is to install it go to directory and get the file needed....

What "file needed"? The driver I downloaded is "zd1211-firmware-1.4.tar.bz2".

Are you saying that I must remove a driver included in Suse and/or prevent it from being reloaded ("blacklist"?) and then install the driver I've downloaded?

Is this all a waste of time because only USB 1.0 is inbuilt in the Compaq? I think my dongle is connected via a USB 2.0 adapter.

I've printed the pages you linked, KS (I'm a great fan of Usual Suspects!), and am taking them to my bedroom to read quietly with laptop for company.

clemenzina

as you are using 103, if you have the dvd version, the zd1211 drivers/firmware are on the disk. to install via YaST :

1 ) go to kmenu ->system -> YaST ( Administrator settings ) enter root's password
2 ) select software management from the menu
3 ) type, in the search field zd1211 & press enter
4 ) in the right-hand column select zd1211,then click accept. you will probably be asked to insert your disk.
5 ) once installed,go to YaST again.this time select network devices then network cards
6 ) click on your card & then select configure. follow the on-screen menu's, filling in where appropriate
if your disk doesn't have the drivers/firmware, get it here http://packages.opensuse-community.org/ind...ro=openSUSE_103
click on the one-click install at the right of the page, then follow the instructions above

Andy

Not doing too well

My pathway is a bit more convoluted than yours:

ChameleonLogo/Applications/System/AdminSettingsYaST/password/SoftwareMgmnt = "ERROR - download failed". Much clicking of Abort boxes req'd to exit.

Whatever I do in that area it wants to connect to the net, eg: Curl error for http://....download opensuse/repositories/......../standard content.

"Warning = 10.3-non-oss var/cache/zyppp/raw" (abbreviated)

I tried Software Repositories, adding CD (I put the installation disc in) = Unable cd:///

I don't have "KMENU" available in a prominent position on my desktop.

clemenzina

so you have the cd version ? download the rpm by clicking on this link http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/...3-35.noarch.rpm
then install it from a console,as root

Andy

then install it from a console,as root
[/b]

Eh? :wacko: You forgot the step-by-step, tap-by-tap, Andy :blush:

I'm downloading as we speak

CAN I PUT IT ON A FLOPPY? Getting short of CD/DVDs

clemenzina

hit andy's link, you can install it via command line, or if you want a really really easy way....one which makes sense for someone coming off of windows and used to .exe....you can right click on it , or you can choose to install it when firefox asks you what you want to do with it.

another thing....it is obvious you are very new in many aspects...don't worry that is not an insult...but there are things which you will have to learn with time....a good way to begin is simply google for your answers. yast is in kmenu (start on windows) system then configuration....yast is the app which allows you to tweak, install software, manage firewall rules, hardware, etc etc. also, one thing you have to realize which makes linux different than windows, among other things , is that programs often require what are called "dependancies" or other programs which are needed for that program to run, hence andy's suggestion of installing your drivers from your cd first is a solid one, any dependencies will be taken care of, then get the newer drivers (if that is there is a newer driver) from the link which andy posted.

if you want to, once you get the dongle taken care of, there is a program which is an alternative to yast's software management...not the other things within yast, just the software management...it is called smart package manager...you can find it at labix.org...install the guru one...for your suse version and archetecture 32bit or 64bit... I would dare to guess you are on the 32 bit one....this package manager allows your to look through alll the available RPMs for suse from several sources, almost every kind of program imaginable can be found there...it is also used primarily for updating your system....on first launch it will ask you to activate channels or "sources" for updates and program repositories....click yes on all except for latest kde and latest open office packages... when you install programs it will resolve "dependancies" for you....also install versions from the cd you used to install SuSE with will also do this via yast....for example before going to labix.org for smart, you install smart and smart gui from your disc, this will insure that when you try to install from the website it will install properly and there at labix you will install 1st smart 2smart gui then 3 smart addons, as well as the drivers andy mentions...you put your disc into the laptop, go kmenu, system, configuration, yast then click on software management and search by typing what you are looking for.....you can even look for words in the description if you are not sure what the program is called, which you can also do with smart...the advantage of which is that it already comes with a plethora of sources from which to download updates patches and software....in yast you have to manually set these and by the looks of things, you have a couple months to go to get the hang of not thinking like someone who was indoctrinated on windows...again no insult, we all have been where you are now don't worry.

remember it is also vitally important since you have a hard drive so small, to go to yast, system, /etc/sysconfig editor, click on system tab then "cron" then where it says CLEAR_TMP_DIRS_AT_BOOTUP click that and in the field which appears set it to YES. if you don't you may run out of space really really quickly and may not even be able to boot into the system.

and don't forget to check Broch's how to on editing the system services (runlevel) that's your running processes...yast, system, system services....your two big things after the dongle is ram and space...so don't forget!! and as to your question about floppies....what size is the program and how much space do you have on the floppy?

also, you do realize, just to make sure, that in order to install ANYTHING you have to give the system your root password (think of it as an administrator password, but one which actually separates the end user from the core of the system).

once you have the rpm for your driver installed write to tell us if you got connectivity or not.

to install via command-line

1 ) change to the directory where the file is,e.g.if it is on the desk-top,type this

cd /home/andy/Desktop replace andy with your name

2 ) type su and press enter,then type root's password
3 ) type rpm -Uhv *.rpm then press enter.
4 ) once you are back at the prompt,type SuSEconfig and press enter
5 ) once back at the prompt,type ldconfig
6 ) close console and go to YaST as per post #5

Andy