LINUX HOWTO 1st installment (Errata: see below)
This is the first in a new series called Linux HOWTOS. Every week I will post a video explaining how to accomplish something using a GNU/Linux operating system. Please write requests for installments in the comments!
This installment deals with using ndiswrapper to use Windows wireless drivers in Linux. Hardware manufacturers often don’t release specifications of their products to the open source community, so programs like ndiswrapper become necessary.
If you have any questions, please ask in the comment field, and I or someone else will do our best to answer. Please avoid ‘RTFM’-style answers. They are not welcome. Also please post corrections if I mistakenly give some wrong information.
I hope this project will serve as a valuable resource for people wanting to make the switch from a proprietary operating system to Linux.
***Errata***
If you are using ndiswrapper but have a native kernel module for your wireless card installed, you need to add the line:
blacklist name_of_kernel_module
to you blacklist file (probably /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist ). Running “ndiswrapper -l” (without quotes) as root will give the name of the native linux module you need to blacklist. If the module is already loaded you need to run “rmmod name_of_module” (without quotes) before ndiswrapper will work.
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This video was created using only free and open source software tools: TightVNC, pyvnc2swf, ardour2, jackd, lame, and ffmpeg.
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Cool video man!!!
must i have installed an other programm for it? sory for my english
Thanks. it’s the cool tutorial video. i’ve learned something here.
You rock man.
Cool, so its like embedding the calendar and time script into the shell on autoload yeh?
Thanks man
will try when Im booted up in BackTrack 
(on WinXP for video editing at the moment).
Run these 2 commands in your home directory.
echo cal >> .bashrc
echo date >> .bashrc
that will give you a callender + date and time when you open a terminal.
*NIX for the win ^^
Thanks for the upload, that is a cool auto shell calender script. Mind if I ask where to get that?
Keep those videos streaming
hey, how can i get and download lunix
am i the only one who laughed really hard when he was picking his driver….”this one says it has a MAJOR security bug, so im gonna pick this” awesome logic
how do you get ndiswrapper if you don’t have an internet connection? second. How does this work ubuntu 8.04?
It is not the distro’s fault for not including drivers for wifi, it is the fault of the companies who won’t make open-source drivers.
Don’t work on Xubuntu
I also get denied when trying to place in /usr/src/
this is the reason people don’t switch over to linux/ubuntu/fedora, whatever… it’s so freakin’ complicated to just try to get your internet to work!!!!!!!!! I have been wanting to switch over for a while, every once in a while I get the urge, then just dismiss the idea for it not being practical, and please don’t tell me it is easy because not everybody out there is a computer geek!!
isnt the an easier way? without using the terminal or having an internet connection on the machine i need to install ndiswrapper on? some of the commands you tell us to use dont work, i get errors and command not found.
I have been trying to install ndiswrapper for a week now, I am really annoyed and confused that its so hard to install. I feel like ripping my own head off right now.
how do you download ndiswrapper if you don’t have an internet connection?
“Billion Thanks” for the tutorial it really help me.
Thanks so much, I’m very new to linux, and was at my wit’s end trying to get my internet up. Much appriciated!
hello, I watched your video and I like it.Keep up the good work.Thank you.
ubuntu 8.04*
I get denied when i try to make a directory in /usr/src
i have ubuntu 1.53
Thank you emiemi2
A case sensitive filesystem is a blessing and a curse. Glad you got it working.
nevermind, my DOS brain didn’t see the capitalized “INF” in the filename so I got it. Excellent tutorial!
I’ve been trying to get my wifi card working since March. It’s suitable for madwifi but I found madwifi a nightmare so I’m trying ndiswrapper. On debian while installing the inf I get the error: “couldn’t open netw511.inf: no such file of directory at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 219.” ndiswrapper is a file at the specified location not a directory so I cant make a directory there to put inf file into because ndiswrapper already exists. Is it because the required sys file is named different?