[PLUG] Installing a Cisco Valet wireless USB adapter

chris (fool) mccraw gently at gmail.com
Tue Dec 14 21:37:32 UTC 2010


On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 13:28, Mark Jones <mark.sinanju at gmail.com> wrote:

> I looked at that page. Specifically, the USB device page. So if I get
> one of the products listed on this page, and download the driver
> associated with it, I should be able to use it, yes? Would I still
> need to use ndisinstall?

no ndisinstall required--ndiswrapper is the thing that lets linux
(kinda) use (some) windows-only drivers.  i use it because i was
gifted some hardware, but i had to install a wired connection to that
server too since the ndiswrapper driver hangs occasionally and it's
really difficult to plug a monitor in to diagnose.  the hangs are the
sort that just hang the wireless card, so the server is still up.  yet
still the hangs require a reboot to fix and occur with varying
frequency--sometimes thrice in a day, sometimes not for months.
that's the level of reliability i'd expect from any ndiswrapper-driven
device :/


> I'm looking for the simplest way to get my machine to connect
> wirelessly, and I'm not sure I even know the right questions to ask.

the devices on that web page are probably supported already by your
distribution, most likely nothing required to install/enable except
plugging them in.


>>You can also use reflashed access points (like wrt54gl's or
>>equivalents) to bridge airgaps.

> I have no idea what this means. :D

he was just suggesting using a second wireless access point, changing
its os, and plugging it into your PC with a wire and having it do the
talking to the "real" wireless access point that is hooked to your
cablemodem.  if you happened to have a spare one laying around, maybe
it would be the cheapest route (and easy on the linux side.  though
more complicated on the second wireless access point.



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