Where can I find the drivers for the Orinoco 802.11b/g wireless Gold
card in Red Hat Fedora Linux?
How do I install it and make the card functional?

Greetings!

I have also been through the frustrating process of configuring a
wireless LAN card for Linux.  Many hardware manufacturers are not
willing to produce Linux drivers due to contractual agreements with
Microsoft.  Others have been frightened off by lawsuits filed by SCO
claiming that Linux impinges upon their copyrighted Unix source code
(there is more information about the lawsuits at
http://www.lemis.com/grog/sco.html).  The good news for you is that
the talented software developers of the open source community have
come up with numerous ways to get wireless LAN working on Linux, even
when Linux drivers are not available for a particular card.  Most of
these solutions revolve around loading the Windows drivers in a way
that Linux can use them.

The best software available is called DriverLoader from LinuxAnt.  If
you go to the following link, you can download a 30-day trial version
of the software:

http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/?PHPSESSID=a19bfa2a17e22cf3b93b7224b5105f01

After thirty days, a permanent license is available for $19.95.  When
I configured my system, I initially balked at paying for software on
an open source system.  However, once I worked with the DriverLoader
software, I quickly realized that it was worth every penny.  It is
very easy to install, configure, and maintain.  All you need to get it
working is the CD with the Windows version of your drivers.

If you are not interested in paying for the driver, there are other
free solutions as well.  The first solution I tried on my system was
called NdisWrapper:

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

This is an open source project, and I had some difficulty configuring
it properly.  If you are more of a Linux "hacker," then this solution
might be for you.

I ran a search on Linux WLAN solutions for good measure, and the
following site stood out as interesting:

http://linux.grmbl.be/wlan/
-- This is another Linux wireless LAN project that appears to be in
the mature phases of development.  I haven't worked with it, but I
would glad to hear any feedback you have about it if you try to use
it.  There is another link into the site with a little more
information at http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/index.html#FAQ.

Good luck with your wireless installation.  It's a little bit of a
hassle, but it is worth every ounce of effort.

Sincerely,
rosicrucianpope-ga


Search Strategy:
wireless drivers for linux
wlan for linux
ndis for linux

---

Clarification of Answer by rosicrucianpope-ga on 24 Jun 2004 02:52 PDT

I just found a link to another site that has information about
wireless LAN drivers on Linux and links to more resources:

http://www.goonda.org/wireless/

Cheers,
rosicrucianpope-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by rosicrucianpope-ga on 27 Jun 2004 00:58 PDT

Dear stevehk-ga,

Thank you for your kind feedback!  We hope you continue to use Google
Answers in the future.

Sincerely,
rosicrucianpope-ga

This is a very good answer to my question.  Thank you.

Here's a start at where it is, why it is, etc.
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.drivers.802.11b.html#WavelanIEEE

Based upon the incredible amount of deviation in the use of the name
Orinoco, knowledge of your manufacturer and model will greatly
increase your likelihood of working. Since wireless is such a big
thing, you may find that support is already included and detected for
your card. I'm sure that doesn't help much if you can't connect to
your access point.

Kindly clarify with your manufacturer of the card, as well as the
uname -a information of your box as someone may be able to help
further with more specific information.

Thank you for responding to my question.  I am currently running Red
Hat Fedora and the disk that came with the pcmcia card only had
drivers for Microsoft Windows.  I contacted Proxim and they stated
that they did not provide drivers for Linux for that particular card.

The card that I purchased is the following -
Proxim / Orinoco Gold 802.11b/g pcmcia card
Model# 8470-WD

THERE IS NO1 STUPIDER THAN ME ON EARTH!
I purchased an MS Wireless card at Best Buy Canada Inc. 403/Dundas - U
no the 1 acrossfrom Starbucks and Costco by Super Pet and Home Depot
DURING MY SWITCH TO LINUX!!!