martouf

Yes, SUSE 9.1 includes the latest PrismGT and Atheros drivers as part of the kernel-default package. You'll find them in /lib/modules/2.6.4-52-default/extra A quick check of places like kerneltraffic.org and the linux.kernel newsgroup (via Google) indicates the linux-wlan-ng drivers were added to Debian stable, Fedora, and Slackware 10 as the version 2.6 kernel was released. check your distro with: find /lib/modules -name ath\* find /lib/modules -name prism\* find /lib/modules -name hostap\* The best answer I can give you is "it depends" (the All Purpose Technical Answer[tm]). I'll point out that lately there's fewer and fewer reasons to compile a kernel. However, there's still plenty of reasons why you'll need to get the kernel source and make all the preparations for building additional kernel modules. ('make oldconfig; make dep', that is) .. a topic for another thread, though.

I couldn't tell if niels82 understood how to mount the 'dead' Fedora partition and didn't want the restoration to get stuck at not knowing /dev/hda refers to the disk as a whole. grub wants to store away a copy of the existing bootblock before it goes and overwrites it. That's why it can't find the right place to save the copy unless the live filesystem is the root filesystem (or you've chroot'ed so the correct filesystem is now the apparent root filesystem). In other words, once you've gotten the dead partition mounted you need to chroot to the place/directory you've mounted it so that the partition is now the apparent root filesystem.

If burning the image at a slower rate doesn't cure the difficulty, then try passing the kernel parameters "apm=off acpi=off noapic" or whatever your distro calls a "failsafe" boot. Another thought: are you attempting to boot a SMP kernel on a uniprocessor system?

too bad you didn't create a bootfloppy for Fedora. It would make it much easier to fix the overwritten master boot record. The Microsoft installer doesn't believe it should play well with others, so it just overwrites the MBR. You need to be able to boot Fedora and mount your /dev/hdaN to fix this. NOTE that's "/dev/hdaN" where N is the correct integer to specify the Fedora boot partition. NOTE that's __NOT__ "/dev/hda" which is a reference to the ENTIRE disk. Once you've got Fedora booted and /dev/hdaN mounted, the documentation for /usr/sbin/grub-install with help you fix the MBR. Google for step-by-step recovery instructions, otherwise.

a quick check of the wlan_adapters list from linux-wlan.com shows the Linksys Wireless-G product uses a Broadcom chipset. Sorry, but there isn't an open source driver for that yet. If you have the Linksys 802.11a/g product, then you're in better shape. It uses an Atheros chipset. On the other hand, if you're OK with buying software to make your Broadcom-based card useful, take a look at DriverLoader by Linuxant. http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/ Have a look at the 3Com 11g product (PrismGT) and the 11a/b/g product (Atheros), part numbers 3CRWE154G72 and 3CRWE154A72, respectively. Both are supported by either the wlan-ng or madwifi drivers included with the 2.6 kernel provided by SUSE 9.1. You should probably get familiar and comfortable setting up a wired network to your Linux box before you attempt setting up a wireless network.

I'm guessing your first order of business is to be able to grab files from your XP host so you can work with them on your Mandrake host. Check your list of installed packages to be certain you have both 'samba-client' and 'kdeaddons3-konqueror' installed. OK, maybe don't check, but put it on your list of things you should learn how to do. In the meantime, expect them to be installed since my quick look at mandrakesoft.com indicates they are both part of the standard/core/base install (matters not if you've got the 'Discovery', 'PowerPack', or 'PowerPack+' flavors Mandrake 10. You can grab files from your XP host with either a command line utility 'smbclient' or a GUI much like using Windows Explorer. Your choice. Actually, get used to the idea you not only have choices to make but also TMTOWTDI. Oh, don't know that one? "There's More Than One Way To Do It" Figure a thing is broke only when you've exhausted all the ways you can do a thing. Getting back to choices: try both ways and go with whichever seems most appropriate for your goal. Note you probably should know about both since one is not always the most appropriate for your immediate goal. I'll wager you'll think I'm just making it more of a challenge if I start with the command line method first. In truth, I'm lazy (as much as the fine folks who created the bits and pieces which go into making a thing like Mandrake 10) so it's GUI first. Fire up Konqueror. Yeah, the 'web browser' initiated by clicking on the crystal ball gumdrop earth with the protruding gear teeth icon. OK, maybe you didn't need me explaning it like that to you. Bear with me, please. I can't tell if your eyes are glazing over or not. Open Location (part of the Location drop-down menu) "smb:/" (without the quotes). Note that's one less '/' char than in my first post. My bad. If you'd rather type that in to the location bar instead of seeing what's in the Location menu, go right ahead. Just be aware you'll need to add menu exploration to your list of things to do. A networky icon (a picture giving an artistic impression of network data transmission) with the name of your workgroup underneath should appear. Click it. A host icon with the computer name of your XP host should appear. Click it. Icons with the names of your fileshares should appear. Pick one, and click it. Icons representing the files and directories in your fileshare should now appear. At this point you should know very well what to do, since it's designed to work like Windows Explorer (as far as the file manipulation user interface goes). As for the command line utilities, remember this: the manual pages are your friends. They may be inscrutable at times, but they really are your own very loyal and expert friends. Try out "findsmb" first. If you're familiar with Windows networking and the "net view" command, then you'll think the output of 'findsmb' is quite familiar. What's up with it? Well, if nothing else it's to confirm your Mandrake host can 'see' the XP host and add a bit to your confidence. Oh, manual page? Try "man findsmb" (I'm going to stop mentioning the quotes caveat). Next try "smbclient -N --list //computernameofXPhost". If you skip the '-N' parameter you'll get a 'Password:' prompt. Just hit Enter. Yes, you could skip the '//' chars but you ought to get into the habit of typing them. You'll see why soon enough. The smbclient output should provide you with a list of all shares being offered by your XP host. Note it's a list of what's being offered and not necessarily everything you can access without a valid username and password. Assuming your as lazy as everyone else on the planet, you've put a couple of files in the 'SharedDocs' fileshare on your XP host. If you know how to set up fileshares then you know why you can access that share without a username or password. Let's do it now: "smbclient -N //computernameofXPhost/shareddocs" You'll be presented with a smbclient command prompt "smb: /> ". Type "dir" then type "quit". Voila! You've used smbclient on your MDK host to list the files on the SharedDocs fileshare on your XP host. Note you can type "help help" and "help get" as smbclient commands to get help from smbclient itself. You'll make good use of the "get" and "put" commands. Oh, manual page? Sure, that's "man smbclient". Try all this stuff out, read up on the commands, and chug along. That's chug like steam train, but it you're certain beer helps - then by all means! ciao!

Enable filesharing on the XP machine, and then use either 'smbclient' or Konqueror (using the 'smb://' protocol). Enjoy!

I'm curious to find out if the visitors here think there's a few distros worthy of being part of the "hot topic" grid. I think another three distros ought to be there and for this poll I'll keep it simple: a "yes" or "no" vote for the slate of distros. A "yes" vote means: "I think Knoppix, SUSE, and Turbolinux ought to be part of the 'hot topic' grid" A "no" vote may mean: "I only compile from sources. What's a distro?"

SUSE 9.1 Live Eval booted flawlessly for me. Of course, I used the disc mastered by SUSE not the "figure it out for yourself" ISO image (DIY kit, really). Investigation in how it's put together and a few remastering experiments led me to the need to match the volume ID exactly so that init can be certain it knows which disc is the boot CD halfway through the boot process. So to be fair, there's nothing really troublesome with the Live Eval disc. There's just a little trouble in the availability of DIY information when you're planning to burn your own copy. Once you're over this hurdle, you'll be able to actually evaluate SUSE instead of judge the ease of making your own Live Eval disc from the ISO image.

Burn your CD image again, but this time make absolutely certain the volume ID (volume name or label) is -exactly- this string "SUSE LINUX 9.1 Live Eval" (without the quotes, of course) The SUSE LiveCD uses a second stage init/loader which must find the string before it attempts to load the compressed loopback filesystem. This and other wizardry is available at negotiable rates. I'll accept karma in this case!