Linksys wireless and DSL

Forum: Networking
Topic: Linksys wireless and DSL
started by: John

Posted by John on Dec. 19 2003,07:00

Avoid WPC11 v.4, it requiers a propietary driver from Realtek to work. WPC11 v3 and under work fine with DSL right from the LiveCD.

I've been told that Linksys will exchange a V4 for a V3 if you write to them.

Posted by pourriture on Jan. 02 2004,08:00

Odd .... I have a linksys WPC11 ver3 and I have tried it with 4.10, 5.0 and 5.1 and I get nothing with either live CD or HD install. Is it possible that my card is mislabeled or have I done something wrong?

Posted by pourriture on Jan. 02 2004,08:32

I just tried 5.2 with the same result.

wlanconfig says no wireless found
netcardconfig says no supported network cards found
cardmgr says unsupported card in socket 0
ifconfig only shows lo

label on card says model no. WPC11 ver3
fccid is PKW-WPC11-V29

Posted by gee on Jan. 02 2004,15:20

I have a Linksys wpc11 v 2.5 and it's never worked, with hard drive install or live, with any versions of DSL or any knoppix distro with the exception of mepis distro, it worked.

Posted by pourriture on Jan. 02 2004,15:38

Update :

Tried my WPC11 v3 with knoppix 3.3 ... it behaves properly.

Posted by John on Jan. 02 2004,22:15

Looks like I made a mistake. I'm looking at that card now and I can't get a version number off of it. Maybe that means it is a v1?

I had a v4 and exchanged it with my neighbor, and In thought he said it was a v3.

Posted by John on Jan. 02 2004,22:26

FCCID=07J-GL2411010700 looks like it is pre 2.5, sorry.

We are going to expand DSL's wireless support soon, it may come at the expense of an app or two.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 02 2004,22:56

Maybe it could be possible to compile the kernel with module support for many various kinds of wireless hardware. Then you could put all of the extra 'drivername.o' files out on the Internet at the DSL download site.

In this way, people could use a different computer or OS to download their specific driver file and save it on to a floppy disk.

Finally, when booting DSL, the person could choose 'knoppix expert' and insert their floppy disk and type in their driver file name when the prompt appears on the screen.

The advantage of this approach is that a huge number (not just Linksys) of wireless device drivers could be supported without turning the DSL LiveCD into a disk full of drivers and not much else. The disadvantage is that people who own the less popular wireless cards will need to bring along a floppy disk with their specific driver file on it. Of course, another option for an advanced user might be to edit the ISO filesystem on the CD and add their driver file before starting the CD burn process. This should be easier than the task of remastering the entire compressed KNOPPIX filesystem just to add one file.

What do you think?

Posted by John on Jan. 02 2004,23:14

cbagger01, interesting idea, I have to mull it over.

Posted by pourriture on Jan. 03 2004,01:06

Thanks for the prompt and enthusiastic response. I am thrilled with DSL thus far. The only bummer is all the data x-fer from my Redhat P-IV 1.8Ghz desktop to my DSL P-233mmx laptop. :;):

Thank you again for the quick response.