Getting netgear MA101 adapter
Hi, I'm trying to get my usb Netgear MA101 adapter to work on my Debian
Sarge with 2.6.8 kernel. It's been very frustrating because any time I
want to do something useful, I have to boot into XP... (burning cdrom,
internet, etc), then back into linux.
1. lsusb shows the adapter is plugged in
2. iwconfig and all its various options does not show the adapter
lsmod does not show anything about an atmel-whatever driver being
loaded
driver does not seem to be on sarge cd-1 or cd-2
downloaded the driver from
http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/downloads.html
Copied file to USB flash keychain to load in linux.
FAT is not supported in kernel, so can't mount keychain
Burned CD with patch and drivers
doesn't compile due to some /usr/src/module (I think) not
being available. I think it means I need the kernel source. Good time
to fix FAT not being supported. Also, atmel driver instructions say
something about a patch and/or recompiling usb.c. Ok so I need the sources.
apt-get install kernel-source
doesn't work. Found kernel source 2.6.9 on
debian site.
Burn to CD.
make menuconfig
needs ncurses-dev
can't find it. Apparently it's named
lib5ncurses5-what-the-frick-devel.deb
apt-get install what-the-frick (from
the sarge CD) of course doesn't work
download off the debian site,
burn to CD
install curses5-dev or whatever
'make menuconfig' works, compiled new kernel
with "reasonable" settings (including FAT and wireless drivers)
GMX2000 driver has booboo, compile stops.
redo kernel config and disable
GMX2000 driver
kernel compiles
Copied vmlinux to /boot/vmlinux-2.6.9-1-586
Added entry in grub menu, a copy of the
"recovery" line put there during install. This includes 'single' in the
entry
Dosen't boot -- something about error 13. I
figure it's the kernel setup
Copy original config file from original
install from /boot directory, and make sure wireless drivers are enabled
and GMX is disabled.
Compiles again
Doesn't boot, error 13 I figure
it's the 'single' entry.
Boots further along, but it looks
like I need a good initrd.
copy old initrd since I
didn't see one magically made for me, and (gosh!) the initrd.txt file in
the /usr/src/kernel/documentation directory really doesn't say jack
about how to get an initrd file working if you really need one. Lots of
general high-minded stuff, but no step-by-step.
Boots further along, then
says something aboun insmod, modules this, that, etc.
I apologize for not having all the errors exactly written out. I'm
writing this email in XP and there was far too much to document....
SO... am I on the right track? Do I need to fix all these stupid BS
problems or is there a better way to get my stupid wireless ethernet
adapter working? I have not found any useful documentation online. Any
and all non-elitist "RTFM" help is very much welcome.
thanks
michelle
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