Wifi dongle 108mbps from D-Link (DWL-G132)

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Nevermore · #1 Post by **Nevermore** » Tue 16 May 2006, 19:32

i wish to make wireless work on my lap..
under win xp this dongle works fine, but under puppy i can't make it work..
i have a toshiba satellite 4030cds (celeron 300 with 192meg ram) which loves puppy, but is really unhappy w/o wifi..
i found this page
https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php ... _id=323167
but was not much help since i am not really a guru..
what to do?
Thanks

BlackAdder · #2 Post by **BlackAdder** » Wed 17 May 2006, 00:46

Your device may be supported by the madwifi drivers, although your post implies that it is a USB dongle, and that may put a question mark over its support.
Check out the readme file madwifi-ng_README which can be found at http://mymirrors.homelinux.org/puppy/wireless/ The drivers were created by tempestuous (forum name).
If you want to install and try out the driver, follow the instructions in the readme file carefully. The commonest error is to forget to start with the command cd /
If it works, please report back and consider yourself one step closer to guru status.
I'm more of a sadhu, myself.

tempestuous · #3 Post by **tempestuous** » Wed 17 May 2006, 02:21

No, MADWiFi doesn't support Atheros-based USB adaptors ... yet. I think part of the problem is that these USB adaptors use "softmac" firmware.

The link you provided is a good explanation of how to use the latest ndiswrapper with the DWL-G132, including how to load the adaptor's firmware using the load_fw_ar5523 utility, which is linked to libusb.
Barry has included ndiswrapper 1.15 in Puppy2. Maybe when Puppy2 reaches final stage we can look at providing you with the firmware loading utility. Then you only need to be concerned with steps 6 and 7 of that howto.

Nevermore · #4 Post by **Nevermore** » Wed 17 May 2006, 09:20

seems that for now i can give up the hope of making it work with puppy :p

Nevermore · #5 Post by **Nevermore** » Thu 01 Jun 2006, 19:43

hello puppy 2.0 is released!
i would be very happy if someone gives me hints about how to make my dongle work with it! so i can finally get rid of winzoze (the lap is tooooo old and xp runs toooo slow).
Thanks!

Nevermore · #6 Post by **Nevermore** » Fri 02 Jun 2006, 10:25

some news:
i tried ndiswrapper with the windows drivers...on puppy 1.0.X the interface didn't even bother to turn on, plus ndiswrapper gave me errors..
on puppy 2.0 ndiswrapper actually loads the drivers nicely and the interface turns on, a Wlan0 shows up in ethernet wizard as well in wireless wizard..however i am not able to make it work, seems it simply doesn't go on transmit since the rx/tx led is always off..
i think there is something that i've to do but i don't know what..
any idea?
Thanks

ZeNiTRaM · #7 Post by **ZeNiTRaM** » Sun 04 Jun 2006, 19:24

Hi,
I've got an SMC WiFi dongle with the same chipset as yours. And I have the solution....

The load_fw_ar5523 isn't needed anymore in newer versions of Ndiswrapper. You just only need to load BOTH net5523.inf and athfmwdl.inf on Ndiswrapper and then do a modprobe ndiswrapper.
Anyway, if you reboot (not shutdown) the computer, the firmware keeps loaded and it doesn't work anymore. You have to plug it off and then on again or shutdown and then power on.

Nevermore · #8 Post by **Nevermore** » Sun 04 Jun 2006, 19:33

unfortunately this doesn't work at me..if i just load the two drivers the interface sits down there doing nothing..

tempestuous · #9 Post by **tempestuous** » Mon 05 Jun 2006, 01:18

ZeNiTRaM is right ... as long as you have ndiswrapper 1.17 ... but Puppy2 has ndiswrapper 1.15.
You could go ahead and compile ndiswrapper 1.17, it's at release candidate stage 2 at the moment. I will probably make a dotpup of 1.17 when it reaches final stage.

Nevermore · #10 Post by **Nevermore** » Mon 05 Jun 2006, 08:33

tempestuous but i see there is final 1.17!
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... p_id=93482
unfortunately i don't have enough space for a kernel source so i can't compile

does anyone knows if just the kernel headers is fine?
and are they included in Puppy 2?

tempestuous · #11 Post by **tempestuous** » Tue 06 Jun 2006, 14:19

I just tried to compile ndiswrapper 1.17 in Vector Linux 5.1. It complains it needs gcc 3.4, and I have gcc 3.3.4.
Anyone else able to help?

Nevermore · #12 Post by **Nevermore** » Tue 06 Jun 2006, 15:38

tempestuous if u tell me how to do i can compile it on debian sid..
but beside debian sid i have nothing else.. so..

tempestuous · #13 Post by **tempestuous** » Thu 08 Jun 2006, 13:15

When kernel modules are involved, the question is not just "how do I compile?" but "how do I compile modules that are compatible with my kernel?".
Now the answer gets more complex. Start here - http://www.puppylinux.com/development/compilekernel.htm

In the meantime ...
I just installed gcc-3.4.6 from Slackware .tgz packages, and successfully compiled ndiswrapper 1.17.
Since Puppy2's kernel was not compiled with this version of gcc, success is not guaranteed.
I attach it as a DotPup for you to try.
Please report. If it works I will include it at http://www.dotpups.de/dotpups/Wifi/wireless-drivers/
Also please report if the instructions in the README file are correct, or if you had to change any commands.

Nevermore · #14 Post by **Nevermore** » Thu 08 Jun 2006, 14:23

hello thanks unfortunately
it doesnt work..the msg i get is this:
FATAL: error inserting module ndiswrapper.ko is not in correct format.

ZeNiTRaM · #15 Post by **ZeNiTRaM** » Thu 08 Jun 2006, 19:55

tempestuous wrote:ZeNiTRaM is right ... as long as you have ndiswrapper 1.17 ... but Puppy2 has ndiswrapper 1.15.
You could go ahead and compile ndiswrapper 1.17, it's at release candidate stage 2 at the moment. I will probably make a dotpup of 1.17 when it reaches final stage.

No, you don't need ndiswrapper 1.17, in fact, the built-in 1.15 worked with my SMC. The load_fw_ar5523 was removed on 1.6 or something like that.

Nevermore wrote:hello thanks unfortunately
it doesnt work..the msg i get is this:
FATAL: error inserting module ndiswrapper.ko is not in correct format.

The problem is, for compiling 1.17, you have to use gcc 4.x, but modules compiled with gcc 4.x ONLY work on a kernel compiled with gcc 4.x. So you'd have to recompile the whole kernel.. 1.15 is the latest version that didn't need gcc 4.x. The built-in ndiswrapper should work -it does for me in both Puppy and Slack-.

And Ndiswrapper works for your card.. (ndiswrapper wiki)

# Card: D-Link DWL-G132 Airplus XtremeG (word)

* Chipset: Atheros? double... H/W ver.:A2 F/W ver.:1.02
* Other: needs both athfmwdl.inf and NETA5AGU.inf to run.

So there should be something wrong with the configuration. Try running on console:

Code: Select all

modprobe ndiswrapper
iwconfig

Do you see any wlan0 interface? If you do, use WAG to scan. Or set up manually.. (see wiki)
You can also see if there are any errors on dmesg.

Nevermore · #16 Post by **Nevermore** » Thu 08 Jun 2006, 20:01

well i don't know..
a WLAN0 shows up but it simply refuses to work..turn up but beside that nothing else. doesn't scan, the ACk led doesn't even flash..nothing..

joopyhellspawn · #17 Post by **joopyhellspawn** » Sat 22 Mar 2008, 23:59

Hey guys,
I am running txxmine which is based on 3.01b version of puppy. I also have an opportunity to get my mitts on a DWL-G132 dongle, (subject of this thread). I reviewed this thread and don't see anything on it since 2006 and a much earlier version of puppy. I was wondering if anybody knows if this adapter will now work out of the box with puppy 3.01b

I am going to be running it on an ancient dell system that had been running win98se. has usb 1, and 768mb memory. I had it running great on a local lan but my I gave it to my sister and she needs to use it using wifi. I already have about $50 sunk in this and don't want to spend too much more. I can get the dongle for about $10 but don't want to waste my time on it, since I am far from her and if it don't work out of the box she will not bother with it.

so, anybody know if this will work with puppy 3.01b?

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Wifi dongle 108mbps from D-Link (DWL-G132)

Wifi dongle 108mbps from D-Link (DWL-G132)