[mdlug] Networking with open SUSE 11.1

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: Jay P Hailey
> To me this suggests that my networking card is like an old winModem
and
> depends on Winders for some functionality.

 In effect, yes. Here's the deal: the FCC puts limits on how much power
wifi cards can broadcast at. But the limits are imposed by software, not
hardware. So the drivers need to do it. Some manufacturers don't give
Linux developers the specs they need to do this.

> Which give me hope that the problem can be resolved,  but I have no
idea
> what they're talking about.  Something about installing a wrapper, to
> include the stuff the card looks to windows for.

 NDIS - Network Driver Interface Specification - is a standard for how
to talk to network cards. Mostly used by Windows, but some code called
"ndiswrapper" has been written to allow Linux to talk to Windows drivers
that use it. (See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NdisWrapper )

 So what you need is the .inf and .sys drivers from the Windows driver
of the card. I'm afraid that I haven't had to do this so far (all the
wifi cards I've gotten have happened to have native Linux drivers) so I
can't give you a lot of details, but Googling on your Linux distro name
and "ndiswrapper" should get you the instructions you need...

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                              (313) 227-2317

 "There is a fine line between being on to something and on something."
                          -Friar Broccoli
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