How to use wireless card WG311v3 in Tahr 605?

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Domarius
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon 23 Oct 2017, 04:35

How to use wireless card WG311v3 in Tahr 605?

#1 Post by Domarius »

My version of Puppy Linux is Tahrpup 6.0.5. PC is a Celeron 3ghz with 1gb RAM.

It detected the wired Ethernet alright, but there are a darn sight too many cables around here, and since this PC came with a wireless card in it, it would be awesome to take advantage of it.

I found this Ubuntu guide which was helpful, but unfortunately when it tries to connect to my wireless network, it fails, and suggests that the card or the driver may not support WPA2.

As for the drivers I used, the official site only has an exe that works on Windows machines, but I found the original zip file (before they packaged it into the installer exe) on driverguide. The Ubuntu guide suggests using the Windows 2000 driver, but when that didn't work, I used the Windows XP driver as suggested by the Puppy Linux interface, but that didn't work either.

As for the driver interface, I went with the "Simple Network Setup" the first time round and chose the Windows 2000 driver. When that didn't work, I couldn't find out how to change the driver from there, so I went back through the Menu and ran the Network Setup Wizard again, and this time chose the "Network Wizard", 3rd option down, and I was able to find my way through and choose the Windows XP driver this time. (Although I'm pretty sure I did it correctly, if there was some way to confirm which driver it's trying to use, that would be good for peace of mind.)

As for the error - well, the card seems to be recognised by the system, it just seems to be failing when trying to connect to the wireless network. The error dialogue suggests that it may be a problem with the card or driver not supporting WAP2. (That was under the "Simple Network Setup" - the more complex "Network Setup" doesn't provide such a suggestion, it just says it failed.)

I found this forum thread where the OP excitedly exclaims they got the WG311v3 working, using the Windows XP driver - however, I notice they said they used WEP encryption, and the thread is many years old, and no mention of WAP encryption... so it's probably many years before WAP was in use.

I don't have my hopes up, looks like I might be cable swapping after all - unless there is a magic linux driver that can make it work :)

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Flash
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 13071
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 16:04
Location: Arizona USA

#2 Post by Flash »

To begin with, I'd boot a different version of Puppy from a CD, with the puppy pfix=ram boot option, and see if it will automatically detect the card. If you can find a Puppy that will use the card, it might make things easier.

Drivers must be compiled for the kernel they'll be used with. Drivers made for a different kernel probably won't work.

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