Need help with SUSE wireless configuration

[Qwerty]

I recently installed SUSE on my main computer, and I was surprised by how easily I was able to set up wireless on it. In fact, I didn't need to do anything at all, it simply figured it out itself. Because of how simple it was, I decided to install it on my shiny new laptop as well, and things aren't going as smoothly as before.

SUSE recognized my laptop wireless card, and it has the same settings in "Control Center (YaST) -> Network Devices" as my computer has, but in my system tray (is that what you call it in linux?) KInternet isn't doing anything, and when I right-click it, I only get the "Settings..." option, and there isn't much in there. On my main computer, I get a ton of options and the icon is animated, indicating network traffic.

Any ideas on how to get my device started on my laptop?

[natas]

well we need to figure out if its working first. Did you try firefox, pinging anything, ifconfig as root?

Lets start there :)

[Qwerty]

Ya, it wouldn't download updates when I was installing, nor when I rebooted and stuff :( /cry

[CuCullin]

In YaST, go to Network->Network Cards

Check to make sure that the wireless card says "Configured for DHCP" or otherwise set up. If your lapotp has a network controller built in, this is the default network connection device, and the wireless card is simply not set to be used (which is why it doesn't appear in kinternet).

[Qwerty]

It's already set to do that, too :( That's why I'm so confused lol. Do I have to, and this may sound stupid because I don't know much about working with devices in Linux, start it in the console or something? :D

[CuCullin]

Ok, a few questions.

How exactly is your wireless card configured in YaST, what wireless card do you have, and which version of SUSE are you using (as in 9.3 vs 10.0, not worried about eval vs. oss)?

You don't really have to do anything at the console with SUSE, but you can if you want ;) There are a few things we can do at the console to try and evaluate the problem, but lets start with the basics and go from there :)

[CuCullin]

well we need to figure out if its working first. Did you try firefox, pinging anything, ifconfig as root?

Lets start there :)

Btw... iwconfig ;)

[Qwerty]

Ok, I finally got around to this...

I have an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG, it came with my Vaio, and I'm using SUSE 10.0 with the following configuration in YaST:

Network Device: wlan-bus-pci-0000:06:0a.0

Automatic Address Setup (via DHCP)
Hostname: linux
Domain Name: site
Update Name Servers and Search List via DHCP: checked

Is this the info you were looking for?

edit: Also, I couldn't get iwconfig to work :( I assume I'm supposed to just type it in the console?

[CuCullin]

Ahh.... ok. I'm assuming you used the OSS version of SUSE...

Remove your wireless card using YaST, as in click on the device and delete it. Then, Install this: ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/suse/i386/10.0/inst-source-extra/suse/noarch/ipw-firmware-5-6.noarch.rpm

Restart, should be detected correctly and should also prompt you to configure it.


As an aside, this is available using YaST if you added additional repositories. See here:

http://www.opensuse.org/Additional_YaST_Package_Repositories

for more info

[CuCullin]

Oh, you can install the non-gpl friendly kernel portions using yast, which will have those other modules in there for you.

ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/suse/i386/10.0/inst-source-extra/suse/i586/

kernel default non-gpl is what you'd want there.

[Qwerty]

I'm posting this from my laptop. Thank you so fucking much, you are amazing. You're pretty much the only reason I'm still trying Linux, hehe. You and natas. :)

[Qwerty]

Also, what's the easiest way to update programs? For example, I just tried to update firefox, and failed miserably. I used the same procedure on my other computer, so I don't know what happened this time around.

I downloaded the new firefox, and extracted the contents to a new directory (/home/qwerty/firefox). I then became su, and tried to mv the new directory to /opt/MozillaFirefox/lib, where the old version files are, like so:

mv -f * /opt/MozillaFirefox/lib

I got this:

qwerty@linux:~/firefox-1.5/firefox> mv -f * /opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/chrome'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/components'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/defaults'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/extensions'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/greprefs'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/icons'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/plugins'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/res'
mv: cannot overwrite directory `/opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/searchplugins'
qwerty@linux:~/firefox-1.5/firefox>

/cry

What should I do differently?

edit: nm, I did this:

tar -xvzf firefox-1.5.tar.gz
su
mv firefox /usr/local
ln -s ../firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin

[CuCullin]

The other option is to use YaST Software Management, apt, via apt4rpm or smart, or even using yum/kyum/gyum

And no problem! The discussions on the opensuse mailing lists have been quite active lately, trying to figure out how to make things better for the end user. Thats the reason for even better wireless support in 10.1, and future versions :D

[coolspud]

Not sure if this should be a separate thread but...

I have a similar problem.

I'm using SUSE 9.1 (sorry - its all i have)

I have an Intel PRO Wireless LAN 2100 3A Mini PCI Adapter on a laptop.

SUSE reports is as using DHCP and enabled at boot time but when i fire up the web browser it won't hit the web pages.

Fresh install.

[agilbreath]

Thank 'ee, CuCullin. Your advice to Qwerty helped me a bunch. Appreciate it!

- Andie

[CuCullin]

Not sure if this should be a separate thread but...
I have a similar problem.
I'm using SUSE 9.1 (sorry - its all i have)
I have an Intel PRO Wireless LAN 2100 3A Mini PCI Adapter on a laptop.
SUSE reports is as using DHCP and enabled at boot time but when i fire up the web browser it won't hit the web pages.
Fresh install.

Honestly.... don't remember what to do on 9.1. Though you may want to upgrade, since 9.1 is (i believe) no longer being supported.

[CuCullin]

Thank 'ee, CuCullin. Your advice to Qwerty helped me a bunch. Appreciate it!
- Andie

No prob :)

And be sure to check out the opensuse.org wiki for info on setting up additional repos, etc, etc.

[nvmago]

Hey hi, I read the suggestions u sent to Querty.

I was hoping perhaps you would be able to help me too. Here’s my problem. Both my father and myself have laptops, with dual operating systems, win xp and suse. Both of us have an Intel pro/wireless 2200 bg wireless card

My laptop: dell inspiron 600 m with suse 10.0. I was able to configure my wireless by downloading firmware 2.3 from sourceforge.net and extracting it in /lib/firmware. When I ran modprobe ipw2200, I would get a response and the dmesg command, would show unable to load firmware. So I ahd guessed I would need firmware, that solved my problem.

My father’s laptop: ibm thinkpad t43 with suse 9.3. I was helping him configure it, but the command modprobe ipw2200, returned no output, so I guessed perhaps suse9.3 doesn’t have the drivers for the wireless card, but he was unable to install the drivers.

Could you please suggest what could be wrong and how can we get the wireless working on the ibm laptop with suse 9.3. I would appreciate your help. Also would you suggest using the method posted here

[Redhat]

I'm using suse 10.0 with minimal experience, I recently bought a new card (D-Link DWL-G520) because I found a good deal and because of this site (http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz). I however have not been able to find a driver, again I’m using a D-Link DWL-G520, and any help would be much appreciated. If someone does find a driver, perhaps a link and a quick tutorial or walkthrough of the installation?

~:O)

[CuCullin]

Using the updater tool, choose to install the atheros drivers. Restart.

Thats about it.

[CuCullin]

nvmago, yes, I would suggest doing it the same way as for the OP, just be sure to grab the 9.3 rpm, the one above is for 10.0