Wireless In Ubuntu

Wireless In Ubuntu

See below for our connection guide for adapters that do not work out of the box easy.

VitalBodies ended up buying a Edimax USB EW-7318USg (with removable antenna) Wlan as they work out of the box easy! Plus, being USB you can position the adapter where you get the best reception like the side of your monitor.

VitalBodies is getting 3 out of 4 bars of signal strength from 2 buildings away from the router! See that blue and white building in the distance behind the antenna, that is where the router is.

See below for our connection guide for adapters that do not work out of the box easy.

Links about Edimax Products:

• EW-7318USg: http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_detail.php?pd_id=8&pl1_id=1&pl2_id=1

HOW TO GET CONNECTED IN UBUNTU:

Hopefully your wireless works out of the box so to say. If not, what device are you using?

If you are new to Ubuntu, hang in there, getting connected (or shall we say, not being connected) is perhaps the hardest part of switching to Ubuntu.

In Linux, what driver you need is often described by the chip in the devise, rather than the brand name on the outer case.

But how are you supposed to know what that is?

Open the terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type (or paste) in one of the commands below and press the Enter key on the keyboard:

IF YOU HAVE A PCI ADAPTER:

lspci -v | less

IF YOU HAVE A USB ADAPTER:

lsusb

What chipset does the card have? You might have to use the up and down arrows to scroll to see the whole list or make the terminal window larger.

Example: Bus 007 Device 002: ID 148f:2573 Ralink Technology, Corp.

Just by chance, VitalBodies had all Atheros based adapters laying around when the shift to Ubuntu began. We got those to work but we had to load Windows drivers. Thus the adapters did not work right out of the box so to speak. The Atheros adapters we used did not work out of the box and created a huge struggle to get going (for those new to Ubuntu and not connected) so we wrote these guides to help you avoid that struggle. Plus we wanted to shift to all free as in freedom software and not use proprietary drivers if possible.

If you can not connect to the Internet on your Ubuntu computer, scroll down and read NO INTERNET. If you can connect but are just looking for Linux/Ubuntu drivers scroll down to RALINK DRIVERS or ATHEROS DRIVERS. If you have Windows drivers but need some instruction installing them see USING A WINDOWS DRIVERs.

NO INTERNET?: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
What if you can not connect to the internet?
Vitalbodies got connected with a LOT of help.
Ideally you would install a Linux driver.

If you only have a Windows driver (on a floppy or CD) this will get you going until you find a Linux driver if one exists.

USING A WINDOWS DRIVERs:
You need to get Ndiswrapper going, in order to use your Windows driver.
With the Ubuntu CD in the drive try this:
System > Administration > Software Sources:
Choose the CDROM with UBUNTU check box.
Close.
Applications > Add/remove… >
Select all open source applications.
Search for wireless drivers
Check the check box for Windows Wireless Drivers
Click the enable button.
That should install Windows Wireless Drivers
Go to  System > Administration > Windows Wireless Drivers
See if you can load your driver.

If not…
Just go to Synaptic Package Manager, that is in System > Administration and search the Synaptic Package Manager for [B]Ndis[/B] and you will find three things to load:
ndisgtk
ndiswrapper-common
ndiswrapper-utils.

If that fails and you have no connection, you will have to use another computer and connect and get these:

(this is for the 64-bit version)

Mirrors for 64 ndisgtk:

64-bit: http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/amd64/ndisgtk/download

32-bit: http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/i386/ndisgtk/download

Mirrors for [all architecture] ndiswrapper-common:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/all/ndiswrapper-common/download

Mirrors for 64 ndiswrapper-utils 1.9:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/amd64/ndiswrapper-utils-1.9/download

Download all 3 and install them in this order: commons, utils and then ndisgtk.
Install them. NOTE: They will answer with dependency error if one or the other has to be loaded first so just change the order you install them.

Optional: To explore the main directory going here:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/

ATHEROS DRIVERS:

Once these are installed then use this driver if you have an Atheros based adapter:
http://blakecmartin.googlepages.com/ar5007eg-64-0.2.tar.gz

Or the Windows driver that came with your device.

Note: Be sure to reboot once you install everything.

Once you have installed that driver, setup your wireless in Network Settings.

This message was orgingally written using the 64-bit Ubuntu Hardy and my Atheros based Abit wireless card! A big accomplishment at the time!

If the driver you happen to need drivers based upon the Ralink chip then the SerialMonkey drivers are what you need. http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

RALINK DRIVERS:

Vitalbodies next tried the Linksys WUSB56G v4 as this was known to work with free drivers rather than Windows drivers. The adapter works great, but this was such a struggle to get going VitalBodies wrote the SHORTENED INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS below to help others on that path. Using the SHORTENED INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS, getting the adapter to work is easy, but you are basically using legacy drivers and need to use the SHORT REINSTALL INSTRUCTIONS to reinstall the drivers each time you update the kernel. Not a big deal, but we wanted out of the box easy, thus the Edimax.

INSTALLING: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Installing the ra2570 driver…
Here is how VitalBodies got the wusb56gv4 working:

SHORTENED INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Download to desktop: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/rt2570-cvs-daily.tar.gz
Extract the driver (right click on its icon on your desktop and select “Extract Here.”)

sudo apt-get install build-essential

cd ~/Desktop/rt2570-cvs-2008061613/Module (must = Folder Name)

make

sudo make install

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

#Added these entries to the blacklist to replace rt2500usb with rt2570usb:
blacklist rt2500usb
blacklist RT2500USB

sudo modprobe rt2570

sudo ifconfig rausb0 up

REBOOTED then set networking to manual (used my routers setting SSID etc) rather than roaming and REBOOTED

sudo ifconfig rausb0 up

REBOOTED
Connected!

SHORT REINSTALL INSTRUCTIONS: (needed if you update Ubuntu Linux kernel)
Download to desktop: [url]http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/rt2570-cvs-daily.tar.gz[/url]
–> If you did not do this before updating the kernel you still might be fine.
–> Use the latest driver you have.
Extract the driver (right click on its icon on your desktop and select “Extract Here.”)

cd ~/Desktop/rt2570-cvs-2008061613/Module (must = Folder Name)

make

sudo make install

sudo modprobe rt2570

sudo ifconfig rausb0 up

Bring up RutilT and connect as needed…
You should be Connected!

NOTES:

lshw -C network

Gets this:
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
logical name: rausb0
serial: 00:12:17:83:ff:47
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes ip=192.168.1.102 multicast=yes wireless=RT2500USB WLAN

SHORTENED RT2500 INSTRUCTIONS:
Download to desktop: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/rt2500-cvs-daily.tar.gz
Extract the driver (right click on its icon on your desktop and select “Extract Here.”)

sudo apt-get install build-essential

cd ~/Desktop/rt2500-cvs-2008052413/Module

make

sudo make install

sudo -s

echo "blacklist rt2500usb" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

sudo modprobe rt2500

sudo ifconfig rausb0 up

lshw -C network

Connecting:(for serialmonkey drivers)
Applications > Add/remove… >  Add RutilT

Build this so you can build the legacy drivers.

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Getting Connected:
Applications > Add/remove… >  Add RutilT
Ralink RT2570 chipsets based wireless 802.11g devices like my Linksys WUSB56G v4.
Download Driver: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php?title=Downloads
INFO: http://ralink.rapla.net/

Additional Resources:

VitalBodies suggests “when in Linux do things the Linux way” when possible. In essence, try to find the correct Linux driver for your chipset if you can.

Here is a list of commands that can help to find information about connection and getting setup to connect:

http://vitalbodies.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/commands-that-can-be-used-in-ubuntu/

Marvell Semiconductor, Inc Drivers:

Check http://www.marvell.com/drivers/search.do

Make sure you have the latest driver.
Network Controller > Linux Kernel 2.4 and higher etc
VitalBodies found this Linux driver:
http://www.marvell.com/drivers/driverDisplay.do?driverId=153

Use These Tools For Troubleshooting Clues:
System > Administration > Network (Is the connection enabled?)
System > Administration > System Log (Are there any clues mentioned?)
System > Administration > System Monitor > Resources (See if you are connected…)

From Ubuntu.com:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsZonet
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs

Using Windows Drivers:

If you use a Windows driver you might have to use wireless tools that work with Windows Wireless Drivers like Network Selector.
Also check that your hardware drivers are enabled:

System > Administration > Hardware Drivers.

Make sure they are actually enabled if you are going to use a Windows driver.

Applications > Add/remove… > Show: All Open Source Applications > Search: Wireless >

Final Note: VitalBodies found using Windows drivers or compiling from source to be a pain, and simply bought an adapter that works “out of the box. Be aware that getting a troublesome device setup is not just difficult once, but EVERY TIME you reload ubuntu or, if you had to compile from source, EVERY TIME the kernel is updated.

Please add your helpful notes to those who follow our foot steps….
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