[nylug-talk] A good guide to install wireless cards?

[matt b]

"Peter C. Norton" <spacey-nylug at lenin.net> wrote:
 >Your question is now "how do I install a madwifi-supported pcmcia 
 > card in an already-installed fc6 system".
 
 I'm not mad about madwifi, I just really want to know which module to modprobe for, and have been unsuccessful in finding it in /lib/modules. 
 
 So the most specific question I can ask is how, knowing that its an Atheros AR5211 do I know which mod to modprobe? Shouldn't there be a lookup table or something? Having installed this card on other laptops using several different distro's I know it installs fine. Without madwifi. witrhout any additional packages. So why is it so complicated to add it post-installation?
 
 > Install == insert in my description.
 
 cool. 
 
 >> For example lspci tells me its Atheros AR5211. Great. Now what 
 >> module do I actually install? I've looked though >>/lib/modules/2.6.x/kernel and don't see which one coresponds. 
 >   Better yet, use google. I did a search of blogs using
 >google's blog pulldown. The search term I used was "fc6 atheros
 >module".
 
 Ok maybe you're just better at Google, I searched for "atheros ar5211 module fedora" and didn't find the needed module. On the other hand the page you selected immediately launches into a discussion of open bugs in madwifi and then warns how tricky it is. 
 
 The basic operating assumption is that since this card is known to work if inserted during OS installation, the module is somewhere in lib/modules/..  Thus I am asking, (1) how do I actually find the module or the name of it in this specific case, and (2) what is the general rule for locating this information (given the output of lspci) without engaging in an openended search-- which I've been trying most of the afternoon, and though I found lots of really great info, I have not found the really basic bit I need. 
 
 > If that works, you can probably find one of the yum repos that
 > maintain this for you so you don't have to re-build with each kernel.
 
 I have this same card working on another laptop that has been through half a dozen kernel upgrades with no handholding. 
 
 I'm not looking for someone else to do legwork, I've been working on this problem all afternoon. Just asking on the expert list how you locate a module so you can pass it to modprobe.  Since installers do it without having to do a Google search, the info has to be in there somewhere, right?
 
 Thanks for the great suggestions, I really appreciate all the expertise here. 
 
 -Matt
 
 -- 
 The 5 year plan:
 In five years we'll make up another plan.
 Or just re-use this one.
 
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