[CentOS] Wireless newtworking in CentOS 5

Sun Jul 15 12:36:57 UTC 2007
Johnny Hughes <johnny at centos.org>

Andrew Allen wrote:
> Installed CentOS 5 on my Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop, hoping that it will
> be easier to set up wireless networking than it was in CentOS 4.4. But
> still sooooo difficult to get it working, mainly because there doesn't
> appear to be a driver pre-installed for this wireless card ((Dell
> wireless 1390 Mini PCI network card 802.11b/g). Do I still have to use
> ipw2200 and what is this anyway?


> I really don't understand why it is
> so difficult to get wireless networking in CentOS 5 when it works like a
> dream in Windows XP (I have a dual boot system, but I'd much rather use
> linux!).

UMMM ... that would be because the people who made the card made it to
work on Windows ... they did not make it to work on Linux.  They don't
provide technical specs or free software drivers so some poor smuck sets
in a room and reverse engineers a driver for it.

Obviously a reverse engineered driver is not the same as a hardware
driver programed by the manufacturer.

> I've tried modprobe ipw2200 and all the rest of it with no success -
> what am I doing wrong please?

Red Hat has ipw2200 and ipw2100 drivers that are not free and have no
SOURCE ... but if you are a paying client you can to get them.  Those
drivers and firmware are not free or re-distributable by CentOS.

If running your wireless on Linux is important to you, complain to the
laptop manufacturer so that they will put in devices that support linux
properly out of the box.

Thanks,
Johnny Hughes

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