Help with wireless install

[rich40]

I am very new to this op. sys. I have used UNIX, but it was a while ago. I have successfully downloaded and installed lenny, downloaded the wireless drivers, done the suggested aptitude commands as suggested in the beginner help pages. I am stuck on how to get Network Manager understand I want to configure my wireless network. On some systems, when Network Manager starts, it has a wireless section. Mine does not. I can do iwconfig, but I don't know what that is telling me. etho, lo and wmaster0 all say "no wireless connection." wlano has IEEE 802.11 ESSID:** and some other stuff I don't know about. How can I either edit this wlan0 thing and configure it to my wireless network OR somehow edit something in Network Manager to configure my wireless? Many thanks .. Richard

[bugsbunny]

I don't do Network Manager (I prefer wicd) however I do know that the version in backports instructions [Debian Backports] is said to be much better than the default version in Lenny. You may want to start by installing that version, and hopefully somebody else will come and help you.

Other links that may help:
WiFi/HowToUse - Debian Wiki
NetworkManager - Debian Wiki

Note that one thing I do know is that you shouldn't have any references to the wireless config in /etc/network/interfaces.

[rich40]

Many thanks for the reply, Bugs. I'll the command line version first and if that doesn't work, I'll try the other backport thing. I've had it for today, so it will be tomorrow AM .. thanks again .. R

[sir fer]

What sort of wireless hardware do you have?

You may need to install firmware and 'modprobe' the drivers to get your OS to work with it.

[rich40]

Hi Ser .. well I have a wireless "antenna" stuck into a USB port and I have a Westell router. I have two other computers using my wireless networks as well as Tivo and a printer. I'm not sure whether it's a driver on the Linux machine I need or a way to tell it where the wireless antenna is or what. Thanks for the reply .. Richard

[rich40]

I installed backports, but i see nothing different in Network Manager - still no Wireless tab to work with. Perhaps I'm supposed to do something else? Perhaps I'll try wicd next.

[rich40]

I guess I need a driver for my wireless "antenna" - a NETOPIA wireless G device. So, on to finding netsw123 and trying to install that .. R

[smallchange]

You might find the Debian Wiki useful.

[stevepusser]

Well, if you have a "wlan0" interface, that means you have a working driver that has recognized the device and created an interface for it. The last thing you want to do now is to muck things up with windows drivers in ndiswrapper!

Did you update network-manager from backports? It will NOT upgrade automatically. What version do you currently have installed?

[rich40]

Greetings. I suspected I needed to update something after the backport experience, but I didn't (and don't) know how to do that. I did get this computer working, but what I did was I "apt-got" kde and switched to that interface. Evidenly kde is the deluxe verision of gnome as it seems to contains much more stuff in it. Plus after switching to kde, the network manager now has a wireless section in it and I was able to tell it my router info. It worked for a while until I started moving my usb aps. I think I can get it to fly again. I have other questions which I may post if I cant' figure them out. My next venture is to get my ham radio interface to work for PSK and WSJT. Also, I guess I need to know how to switch from kde to gnome as none of the advice I've see so far works - all part of the learning experience. .. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions .. Richard

[Absent Minded]

if you have both Gnome and KDE installed you can swap between them using the menu selection in the KDE display manager (if you selected it as the DM when you installed KDE).