Introduction:

For this guide we are going to be working on wireless networking in openSuSE 10.2.  As more and more people try out the Linux world the support has become better and better.  However, it still lags behind in out of the box functionality.   The main reason is the vast number of chipsets used by manufactures in their products.   

Disclaimer: testmy.net and its mods are not responsible for any damage to hardware, software, systems, or bodily harm if you decided to attempt this.  I strongly recommend that you attempt this only if you are confident in your computer skills and have some time to troubleshoot.

What will be covered in this guide:

• Wireless using ndiswrapper
• Audio

A few notes before we begin…  For this guide I am using my HP Pavilion ze4430us laptop.  It is equipped with an AMD 2400 XP+ Mobile, 512 MB Ram, 40 GB hard drive, and a Broadcom 802.11G Wifi adaptor.   At this point in time all security patches have been applied to the system. 

Let's get started!

• The first step in this procedure is to obtain your wireless card drivers from your computer’s manufacture.  The software that will be installed later in this guide is going to use the Windows based drivers and wrap them into the operation system.  This will give you a generic wireless card without all of the extra features such as SpeedBoost from Linksys.
• After you have the drivers extract them to a folder.  Most of the time manufactures package multiple version of Windows together.  You are going to want the 2k/XP version and place them on either a CD or onto a flash drive.
• With the drivers on the flash drive, it is now time to turn our attention to the Linux host.  The first thing that we are going to need to get is the software application that is needed to make all of this magic work.  The software is called ndiswrapper and is available from sourceforge.net.  Download the lastest STABLE version. (At the time of writing that was 1.45.)   With this saved to the Linux host, it is time to get our hands dirty.
• The first thing that needs to be installed is the package called Kernel Source.  This is the source code for the entire kernel.  You are going to need this because ndiswrapper had to interact with the kernel to provide the wireless functionality.   For the purposes of this guide I will be doing everything via command line because that is what is needed later.  However, it can be done via graphical interface. 
• From the desktop, click SuSE | Terminal Program.  You will now see the Terminal window.  From here type the command: su.  This allows you to change users without logging out of the current session.  Without any user definition, the command su will try to log you in as root.  This is what we want to happen.  When the password prompt comes up enter the password that was set during the installation of your distro.
• You should see your header change when you are root mode from user@host to just the host name.  Once in root mode, type yast.  This will start the terminal version of YaST, the ‘Control Panel’ of openSuSE. 

• You are now greeted by a blue display.  With the cursor highlighting Software.  Press Tab and move it over into the next column.  Select Software Management.  From this program we are going to install the Kernel Source. 

• Once the Software Management Utility loads, press Alt+s.  This should spawn a search box in which type kernel source.  When the search results come back highlight kernel-source and press enter.  This should add a ‘+’ to the front of the package meaning that it is going to be installed.   Again press Alt+s, and search for gcc.  You will find a large list of return but select the second one.   Now press Alt+a to accept the changes and begin the
  installation.

• The installation should start.  I am using an online repository as oppose to the DVD/CD to make sure that I am getting the most up to date packages.
• Once the installation is completed select No when asked to install more.  Then you can quit from YaST by issuing Alt+q.
• At this point I normally reboot the host.
• When the host come back up relaunch the terminal window and su back into root.  At this point you should be sitting in the /home/username folder of the user that you logged in with.  It is now time to install ndiswrapper.   So find where you saved the ndiswrapper download to.  The default for firefox is to save it to the desktop.  If that is where you have it then you are going to issue the command: cd Desktop.  You should move into the desktop folder.  Your header should also show a change.
• Once in that folder issue the command: ls.  This will list all of the files located in the folder.  You should see ndiswrapper-1.45.tar.gz.  This is the ndiswrapper program.  To get to the scripts needed, you need to basically unzip it.   So from the command line issue the command: gunzip ndiswrapper-1.45.tar.gz.  Press enter.  The operation should not take very long.

• Now issue an ls command once again.  You should see the ndiswrapper-1.45.tar.gz change to ndiswrapper-1.45.tar.  This is another zip type utility.  Issue the command: tar xvf ndiswrapper-1.45.tar .
• Again issue an ls.  You will now see a directory called ndiswrapper-1.45.  Issue the command: cd ndiswrapper-1.45.
• Now it is time for the actual installation.  From the ndiswrapper-1.45 directory, where you should be right now, type the word make.  This will begin the installation process by copying a bunch of file to all sorts of places.  Once this process finishes, type the command: make install.  Again it will copy a bunch of stuff.  This should take less than 3 minutes total.
• After everything is done enter the command: ndiswrapper.  You should receive a printout of usages.

• Now it is time to install the driver.  This is the trickiest part of the whole thing.  Move your drives over to the Linux system, I have mine in /home/username/.
• Once the drivers are copied over issue the following command: ndiswrapper –i /location of your drivers.  Here is my command.  I am installing bcmwl5.inf from the /home/dhedge/sp28537a folder.
   

• Press enter and the driver should install.  It may set some parameters. 

• Now type the command: ndiswrapper –l .  This will list all of the drivers currently installed and their status.

• If it say installed and device present then you are set to go.  It is now time to install the wireless card into SuSE’s network utility.
• From the command line enter yast again.  This time press the down arrow until Network Devices is highlighted.  Tab over and highlight Network Card and press enter.
• Press Alt+n to leave the current setup configuration.  Then press Alt+a to add a new device.  For the Device Type select Wireless.  This can be done by hitting Alt+D then using the up/down arrows.  After that is highlighted press enter, and then tab down to the Module Name box.  This is the only other modification you need to make.  Type ndiswrapper into the box and press Alt+n. 

• You are then going to move to two more screens keep moving to next and then select Yes for the security warning.  This is going to be handled by software later.

• You should now have another wireless card listed on your computer.  Hit Alt+f to finish the setup.  Quit YaST and type reboot.  This will reboot the system and bring up the new wireless adapter.

• Once the host come back up, on the bottom right, near the clock, there should be an icon that looks like a cable unplugged from the wall.  Right click it.  You should now see a listing of the wireless networks in your area.  Select your wireless network, enter you password, and you should be set to go.  There will be a utility called wallet that pops up asking to you to set it up.  I would suggest it otherwise you will be entering your wifi password in each and every time.
• Congrats!  You have now setup a wireless adaptor in Linux using ndiswrapper.

Audio Fix

For some reason normal users do have the right to the audio devices.  To fix this go back into YaST, and select Security and Users.  Highlight User Management and press enter.   Highlight the user you want to have audio and hit Alt+i.  When the next screen comes up hit Alt+d and then Alt+f.  For the default group set it to audio.  The you need to add users back in.  Hit Alt+o and highlight users and press enter.  To complete the modification hit Alt+a and then Alt+f to finish.

Conclusion:

Overall the experience of running Linux can be a challenging one.  With so few users as of right now but with more and more people moving to or trying this software platform support is only going to get better.  Wireless has always been a huge challenge for the Linux community due to the overwhelming number of chipsets and lack of manufacture support for anything other than Windows.

As always feel free to post in the newly created Linux Help section or just drop me a PM if you are having issues with this guide.  I have also attached a .pdf version of this guide. 

~Swimmer