Broadcom 802.11G E-machines Wireless under Fedora Core 3?

[rcltrh 0]

I have my emachines m5312 laptop setup for dual boot in Win XP and Fedora Core 3. Fedora works great with the wired Broadcom network 10/100 adapter port, but I cannot figure out how to get the wireless 802.11g to work. For some reason I cannot find ndiswrapper option in Fedora like I could in Mandrake to install a windows driver. There is no "use windows driver" option in FC3 that I can find anyway using Gnome's network tool. I have my Windows XP .sys driver for this adapter. Does anyone know how to use a windows driver with FC3 or does anyone know of a real Linux driver for this built-in wireless adapter and how to install it? many thanks!

Thomas

 

[danleff 0]

Realize that Mandriva and Fedora are two different distros designed for different users level of comfort.

 

In Fedora, ndiswrapper is not installed by default. You have to install ndiswrapper as an add-on package.

 

The kernel is also an issue, as it is limited to 4 stacks, with no option to change it by recompiling the kernel. So, ndiswrapper with a Win XP driver will most likely hang the system, as Win XP drivers are designed to use 8 or even 16 stacks. There is a workaround that Linuxant has provided. They have custom kernels with the stack size increased to deal with the problem.

 

However, I found that the test release of Fedora Core 4 fixed the issue. So, I recommend waiting for the full release of Fedora Core 4 and try that, unless you are adept at installing the custom kernel that linuxant provides.

 

[rcltrh 0]

Cool. I went ahead and did the 30 day Linuxant driverloader program and it works fine, so I will go ahead and purchase the permanent license for it and not worry about another Linux driver. I was planning on up[censored] to Core 4 after the final release. I have been using the built-in Red-hat updater program, and it wants to update my existing core to actual Red-Hat 3.x.x that is newer than my Fedora core, but I wasn't sure since Fedora and the real Red-Hat are supposed to be slightly different. Will it be ok to do this core update that it recommends? Thanks for the help. I agree that the two products are totally different distros and I was never really able to get Mandriva to work properly - poor, blurry graphics and lots of graphic problems on my flat panel display, very elementary looking menus, sporadic wireless functionality even with ndiswrapper, etc. Fedora worked 99% after the initial install and except for the wireless driver problem I have had zero issues with it (plus the graphics are superb over Mandriva in my experience).

[danleff 0]

There are two ays of looking at this.

 

UPGRADE = move from one version of Fedora to another.

 

UPDATE = update Fedora Core 3 packages (programs) to newer versions.

 

Once you start to customize Fedora with outside packages (not in the Fedora family) the chance of breaking somethng by up[censored] things (such as the kernel version)increases. This is not a problem with the Linuxant drivers, as you have one wireless card that is licensed. You can download or re-install Linuxant drivers fine with your license.

 

Generally up[censored] packages is not a problem. Keep your existing kernel, as Linuxant is configured for it. Have some fun and get used to working with the distro.

 

The security updates should be fine, as are the package updates, say for OpenOffice.

 

If you upgrade to the next release, you may need to re-install the drivers, since you moved from one version to another and much usually changes. If you have used Windows, you know the score. Upgrading usually means upgrading drivers as well. This is not always the case in Linux, but many can tell you that they trashed a perfectly working (customized) install by worrying too much about up[censored] and upgrading things.

 

If it works, don't worry about the latest or the greateest until you are comfortable re-customizing a new install again.

 

Just my two cents.