Config GRUB and wifi networking

[jrsoit]

Hey everyone,

I will tell you what, I LOVE LINUX, espesially Kubuntu, I am so new to it its not funny, I have tried Mandrake 10.1, Redhat 7.3, Fedora Core 4 and Kubuntu is so much more simple. Plus I want to stick it to Bill Gate$, I ordered 5 cds of ubuntu just to pass around and convert people!

But now I have problems, I am very new and need every step explained in thouro detail. I just want to get rid of WinX:P so bad......

I dont have a stable internet connection at home, since all I have is a Motorola Wireless G PCI card installed and configed in window$ but I cant get it to config in Linux and I rent my neighbors internet connection, and I can only use
wireless since they are in the apartment upstairs, Is there any link that someone would recommend on how to config a wireless PCI Motorola Car 802.11g in Kubuntu?

Second: I have used Lilo in the past with mandrake and futsed around with that distro for a while, my wife still has to use window$ and liked the gui of lilo and I could customize lilo to have my winX:P partition as defualt login upon timeout, I just now figured out how to change the timeout in GRUB as root, but can I make WinX:P my default login at timeout, or can I just put LiLo on Kubuntu and config it like you can in mandrake. Does GRUB have a better looking gui? how can I config grub to look nice, more for my wife, I am an avid winX:P user and know quite abit about it but I hate being dependent on winM$
I want to make the full switch to Linux but I am sooooo new and these two obsticles are killing me!!! Any links on how to config a dual boot grub would be great.

Thanks for all the help I have read many posts and learned alot, I hope you can help me!

[dcdurazzo]

Re: Config GRUB wifi networking

Okay, first let me say I'm a noob, too. Especially with Linux. But I just finished writing my own help file because I just got my wireless working and wanted to remember how. I had installed the latest version of Kubuntu (5.10?) and the wireless card just did not work.

My hardware (that's relevant):
Dell Insprion 5100
Broadcom BCM4301 802.11b (rev 02) wireless card

@kubuntu:~/$ lspci 
. . .
0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4301
 802.11b (rev 02)
. . . 
@kubuntu:~/$ lspci -n
. . . 
0000:02:02.0 0280: 14e4:4301 (rev 02)
. . .

So with that background, here is my personal help file. Just adjust the drivers and network setup for your configuration.

1. Install ndiswrapper-utils package using apt-get (or Adept)

	@kubuntu:~/$ sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Suggested packages:
  ndiswrapper-source
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ndiswrapper-utils
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/25.7kB of archives.
After unpacking 131kB of additional disk space will be used.

Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package ndiswrapper-utils.
(Reading database ... 57910 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ndiswrapper-utils (from .../ndiswrapper-utils_1.1-4ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Setting up ndiswrapper-utils (1.1-4ubuntu2) ...

2. Get wireless card's Windows drivers. I don't know where R53005.EXE I got, but it has the drivers that work for me. Check http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...index.php/List to start.

3. Extract R53005.EXE using Windows or appropriate Linux tool. (A floppy or USB flash drive comes in very handy!)

4. Change to driver directory

	@kubuntu:~/$ cd R53005

5. Load driver

	@kubuntu:~/R53005$ sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

6. Verify driver

	@kubuntu:~/$ ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
bcmwl5  driver present, hardware present

7. Do something to ensure ndiswrapper gets properly loaded

 	@kubuntu:~/$ sudo ndiswrapper -m

7(alt). Since I can't remember exactly which one worked and I don't want to go back and undo it, I also remember trying:

 	@kubuntu:~/$ sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

8. Add wireless MAC address to  /etc/iftab as the wlan0 interface

9. Verify

	@kubuntu:~/$ cat /etc/iftab
# This file assigns persistent names to network interfaces.  See iftab(5).
eth0 mac 00:0d:56:38:8e:38
wlan0 mac 00:90:4B:B1:02:04

10. Edit /etc/network/interfaces to include wlan0

.
# The wireless interface, edited by hand!
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid Big D
wireless-mode managed
wireless-key 4C51D978BAD9901BC2B5A4AE03
wireless-channel 11
.

11 REBOOT!!!   (Not sure if it's necessary, but I wanted to prove to myself everything worked correctly.)

	@kubuntu:~/$ sudo reboot

[jrsoit]

Re: Config GRUB wifi networking

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation, I havent had a chance to try it out yet,

If it helps I have a buld it yourself rig with a
EliteGroup KT600A Motherboard
Socket A AMD Athlon XP 2600+ overclocked to 2.3GHz
512MB Mushkin Ram
Soundblaster Audigy Live24 Sound Card
ATI Radeon 9600se 128mb AGP Video Card
Motorola Wireless PCI Adapter WPCI810G Wireless Card w/Original Windows Install disk

anymore specific help would be even more apprectiated,
Like I said befor total n00b
When I installed kubuntu I left the network config to do later.

and anyone on the above mentiond GRUB prob would be great.

Thanks!

[jrsoit]

Re: Config GRUB and wifi networking

ok did everything you said up to step 8 i dont know my mac address we never had to use them and we have an open network no encryption enabled cause we are in a remote location and are not worried about our other neighbors, so now what please?