Laptops :: Inspiron 700m



You have patiently investigated this problem well, testing different driver versions and checking documentation.
I think that DSL's 2.4.26 kernel just isn't working for you.
I have just learned that Feather Linux has the 2.4.27 kernel.  So I suggest you try ndiswrapper with ipw2200 in Feather.
Feather is bigger than DSL, but still not large.  If you're a hard-drive install kind of user, it's probably the better option anyway.

Still no good?  Move up to Knoppix 3.9 - it has kernel 2.6.11.10
Or want to stay small ... try Puppy Linux or Austrumi Linux ... but now you're leaving the Debian family.

If you find that Feather (or Knoppix) works, but you're absolutely hell-bent on using DSL, it's possible to "transplant" a newer kernel into DSL, at least the 2.4 versions anyway.
It's easier than it sounds.  I see that another forum member, Tronik, has done this.
I, myself, upgraded Luit Linux's 2.4.22 kernel to 2.4.26 in order to get a wireless driver similar to yours working.  I seem to recall I just replaced the kernel (linux24) and the entire /lib/modules directory, and maybe minirt24.gz.

It may even be possible to upgrade to a 2.6 kernel from Knoppix, but if you decide to attempt this, I strongly suggest you use Knoppix 3.8 or 3.9, because earlier versions could dual-boot the 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.  So a special boot option was required which might be difficult to emulate in DSL.
Once again, thanks for the feedback.  I have used Feather quite a bit but it is (I understand) no longer to be developed.  Also, it does not have the very neat 'mydsl' facility available in DSL.

Along the way, I have had a shot at Mandrake, Redhat/Fedora, Knoppix, Kanotic, Ubuntu, Mepis and Puppy but DSL seems to me to be the most coherent small(er) linux solution.

But, for the sake of completeness, will try the ipw2200 setup in Feather.
Hi,

Tried the ndiswrapper procedure in Feather but no joy.

Guess I will have to wait until the 2200bg becomes so common that it just gets included in the basic setup.

Thanks for your help, these forums are a great source of suggestions/tips.

Bye for now,

Geoff.
it's easy to made 2200bg working good in knoppix 3.9 liveCD and ubuntu 5.04 liveCD ,and i
made it work good in slackware 2.4.26 kernel or 2.6.7 kernel(10.0),so do i in slax pro 4.2.0 with 2.4.28 kernel(kernel-ide-2.4.28-i486-1.tgz),the kernel 2.4.x need patch,just follow in feather linux,but i don't know how to compile in dsl,i know how to make a .dsl, could somebody help me ,and i 'd like to make an ipw2200bg.dsl , sorry about my poor english
Hi,

Thanks for your input.  I agree: I have it working in a series of distros but they all had a 2.6.xx kernel.  And, they were all big distros!

Have you got it to work in Feather?  If so, please post some details, I would be very happy to use it in Feather.

Regards,

Geoff.
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