ndiswrapper written in C to replace Perl script

[BarryK]

I am still on holiday, and don't have the hardware to test this. Help requested!

In this thread, PANZERKOPF posted an ndiswrapper.c that was obtained from the GeexBox Linux project:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... &start=405

I am looking again at being able to build Puppy distros without Perl. Currently, we have a cutdown Perl in all puppies, needed by ndiswrapper, pplog, one of the partview variants, don't know if anything else.

The ndiswrapper package has /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper a Perl script. This was the original reason that we were forced to introduce Perl into Puppy.

Note, if we take out cutdown-Perl, the full Perl will still be in the 'devx' SFS, as required for compiling source packages.

I would like to know if the ndiswrapper executable written in C, that PANZERKOPF found, works. Could you test it with your hardware?
There is one issue apparently, the *.inf file must not have multi-byte characters (unicode) -- it would be good if the program could detect that rather than just fail. But, are there any such .inf files out there?

The compiled binary is attached. Gunzip it, make sure the executable flags are set, and place it at /usr/sbin. Remove prior files at /etc/ndiswrapper then try you wireless hardware.

Feedback will be greatly appreciated!

[Keef]

Just tried this in SolidPup 5.1.1.

I have a Netgear USB WG111T which I had already set up.
Copied the new file, and deleted /etc/ndiswrapper, then rebooted.
Re ran the Network Wizard, but it said no interface had been found. Having experienced this in the past, I ignored it and rebooted.
USB dongle was activated, and got a connection straight away.

Out of interest, also tried it with MeanPup, and this worked straight away. Networking has to be setup with a script after bootup, so the wireless adapter was not already active when I made the changes, which may explain the slight problem above.

[PANZERKOPF]

I would like to know if the ndiswrapper executable written in C, that PANZERKOPF found, works. Could you test it with your hardware?

Some time ago I tested it with three cards:
1) Zyxel G320H (Hasn,t native Linux driver)
2) Asus wl-138Gv2 (BCM 4318 Chip. Has native driver, unloaded before testing)
3) Forgotten................ seems it had Broadcom's chip.
They worked without any issues.

[Plume]

Tried it with lupu 5.25.
WiFi card detected as

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88w8335 [Libertas] 802.11b/g Wireless (rev 03)

net-setup.sh fails

# net-setup.sh
OK
mrv8335
Usage: ndiswrapper OPTION [-o]

Manage ndis drivers for ndiswrapper.
-i inffile Install driver described by 'inffile'
Optionally with:
-a Use alternate output format
-e driver Remove 'driver'

Optional:
-o output_dir Use alternate install directory 'output_dir'
(default: '/etc/ndiswrapper')
WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/.

But manual connexion is successfull (using it now).

[technosaurus]

Ok, I started rewriting it in shell script, but my understanding of perl is weak. If someone could document the ndiswrapper perl script as if it were being used to teach a college course in perl, I could have it done in about a day or so. (probably... I don't own any devices to test it.)

Any perl users out there?

[technosaurus]

I havent looked at the c code, but the perl code thinks you are using a 2.4 kernel if you are using a 3.x kernel by how it does the test... the check can just be removed