I'll let the rest of slashdot argue (mostly uselessly in the first 262 posts!) about whether its the right future direction or not... I'll try to do something more constructive like seeing if the darn thing actually works or not!!
</rant>
That out of my system...
Executive Summary: Yeah it works... I'm writing this over a fairly fast (2.6 mbps) 802.11g+cable connection. One big gotcha as of right now (version 1.05 of the driver) -- no WPA support. I had to drop my router to 128 bit WEP instead.
My setup:
Dell Inspiron 8500 with a Truemobile 1300 (802.11b/g minipci) dualboot winxp and vanilla redhat 9 kernel patched upto 2.4.20-20.9
Linksys WRT54G (version 1 NOT 1.1) patched upto 1.30.7
Steps:
Get the Windows driver from Dell [ http://www.linuxant.com/drivers_bcmwl/compatibilit y.php ] and extract it under winxp. Copy the TMSetup subdirectory to a partition that is accessible to redhat (or at least the two files bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys)
Get the rpm (follow the instructions [ http://www.linuxant.com/drivers_bcmwl/bcmwl5/insta ll.php ] on the Linuxant drivers page to make sure you get the right iX86 rpm -- mine was i686)
Install the rpm -- notice it says you need to connect to http://localhost:18020 to finish the install. When I tried it it was asking for my root password... I'm not a fan of providing my root pwd to strange apps so here's what I did:
Went as root in a terminal and killed the process titled bcmwl5webconfd.
cd to/usr/lib/bcmwl5driverloader and edited the file bcmwl5driverloader.conf and changed $UseAuth=0 (it was 1).
Restarted bcmwl5webconfd again and followed the instructions to point it to the.inf and the.sys file. Followed the instructions on the lunxiant site to get the driver license (30 days... yeah I know THAT sucks... especially now that I know it works!). Plug in the license key and email address you use (use a real one... you need to confirm receipt of email and confirmation key) into the setup and you are all set as far the install is concerned.
Kill the bcmwl5webconfd daemon now.
Start->System Tools->Network Device Control and add the device. I added it as eth1. My setting in the wireless settings tab are
Mode is Auto
I specified my SSID (its not broadcast on my network)
Fixed the channel
Entered the WEP hex key (stupid note: when it says hex keys should be prefixed by 0x -- please do it!)
That was pretty much it... Activated the driver and it worked just fine. Checked stats using ipconfig -a... tested it by disabling (and removing the cable from) my lan connection. Tested the speeds for just the wireless and then with both interfaces up...
Slashdot Mirror
I'll let the rest of slashdot argue (mostly uselessly in the first 262 posts!) about whether its the right future direction or not... I'll try to do something more constructive like seeing if the darn thing actually works or not!!
</rant>
That out of my system...
Executive Summary: Yeah it works... I'm writing this over a fairly fast (2.6 mbps) 802.11g+cable connection. One big gotcha as of right now (version 1.05 of the driver) -- no WPA support. I had to drop my router to 128 bit WEP instead.
My setup:
Steps:
- Get the Windows driver from Dell [ http://www.linuxant.com/drivers_bcmwl/compatibili
t y.php ] and extract it under winxp. Copy the TMSetup subdirectory to a partition that is accessible to redhat (or at least the two files bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys)
- Get the rpm (follow the instructions [ http://www.linuxant.com/drivers_bcmwl/bcmwl5/inst
a ll.php ] on the Linuxant drivers page to make sure you get the right iX86 rpm -- mine was i686)
- Install the rpm -- notice it says you need to connect to http://localhost:18020 to finish the install. When I tried it it was asking for my root password... I'm not a fan of providing my root pwd to strange apps so here's what I did:
- Went as root in a terminal and killed the process titled bcmwl5webconfd.
- cd to
/usr/lib/bcmwl5driverloader and edited the file bcmwl5driverloader.conf and changed $UseAuth=0 (it was 1).
- Restarted bcmwl5webconfd again and followed the instructions to point it to the
.inf and the .sys file. Followed the instructions on the lunxiant site to get the driver license (30 days... yeah I know THAT sucks... especially now that I know it works!). Plug in the license key and email address you use (use a real one... you need to confirm receipt of email and confirmation key) into the setup and you are all set as far the install is concerned.
- Kill the bcmwl5webconfd daemon now.
- Start->System Tools->Network Device Control and add the device. I added it as eth1. My setting in the wireless settings tab are
- Mode is Auto
- I specified my SSID (its not broadcast on my network)
- Fixed the channel
- Entered the WEP hex key (stupid note: when it says hex keys should be prefixed by 0x -- please do it!)
- That was pretty much it... Activated the driver and it worked just fine. Checked stats using ipconfig -a... tested it by disabling (and removing the cable from) my lan connection. Tested the speeds for just the wireless and then with both interfaces up...
- Enjoy Wireless 802.11g freedom!
:)
Its up two hours and counting...