Easy Steps: how I got wireless working with Realtek 8187b

[farfnarf]

That method worked for me on my Toshiba A205 with the Realteck 8187b wireless card.

But the settings did not stick. When I shut down the machine and then later booted up, the wireless was not
recognized and I had to go through the entire process again.

I'm using the beta, of course, so I understand that things could get better in the final release. I just thought that
I should report my results.

[farfnarf]

That method worked for me on my Toshiba A205 with the Realteck 8187b wireless card.

But the settings did not stick. When I shut down the machine and then later booted up, the wireless was not
recognized and I had to go through the entire process again.

I'm using the beta, of course, so I understand that things could get better in the final release. I just thought that
I should report my results.

[mythus]

Did you follow this step?

Step 9: Now go to /etc/modules.autoload.d/ in your file system, and put the following into your kernel 2.6 (or 2.5) config file...

Code: Select all

ndiswrapper


You need to make sure it is in the correct kernel file for it to stick. But it should stick. You may find yourself needing to occasionally right click the network bar and select the appropriate network after having your computer off for a while. But other than that, everything should stick.

And if I may, this is not really a sabayon issue. If realtek would release a open source driver for this card, then it would work better.

[farfnarf]

Did you follow this step?

Step 9: Now go to /etc/modules.autoload.d/ in your file system, and put the following into your kernel 2.6 (or 2.5) config file...

Code: Select all

ndiswrapper


You need to make sure it is in the correct kernel file for it to stick. But it should stick. You may find yourself needing to occasionally right click the network bar and select the appropriate network after having your computer off for a while. But other than that, everything should stick.

And if I may, this is not really a sabayon issue. If realtek would release a open source driver for this card, then it would work better.

Thank you for replying (how did I get multiple posts up there? ).

Anyway, I did the "sync" thing right away and afterwards I noticed there is no longer a modules.autoload.d file in /etc or anywhere else. I cannot find a autoload file to put the ndiswrapper entry in.

Do you know what the alternative is to autoload ndiswrapper?

(edit): Also, I am wondering if now the instructions for the process need to change. That emerge sync proceedure changed quite a few things in Sabayon 3.5 r3, even elements of the file structure.

[mythus]

Greetings,

Sorry for not responding. I have a habit of not checking these forums often. After all, why when things seem to work well? lol!

Anyways I went ahead and updated the laptop to loop 3 and I can report that you are correct. Things have changed. These instructions no longer seem to work. For example, I have gotten the ndiswrapper and the driver installed... but it doesn't display in the knetwork manager.

I will continue to look and see what changes need to be made and then update this when I know exactly what to change.

[farfnarf]

Greetings,

Sorry for not responding. I have a habit of not checking these forums often. After all, why when things seem to work well? lol!

Anyways I went ahead and updated the laptop to loop 3 and I can report that you are correct. Things have changed. These instructions no longer seem to work. For example, I have gotten the ndiswrapper and the driver installed... but it doesn't display in the knetwork manager.

I will continue to look and see what changes need to be made and then update this when I know exactly what to change.

Thank you very much for that piece of info; nice to know that what I saw in my Sabayon installation (the changes) was for a real reason, and not because I messed something up.

It is also very good to know that this issue of the Realtek 8187b in the Toshiba is being addressed by Sabayon developers. It would be wonderful if it is all fully functional by the time of the final release of your great distro.

[mythus]

LOL I am not a developer by any means, just a user like you who researched to find a way to make it work with loop 2.

[farfnarf]

LOL I am not a developer by any means, just a user like you who researched to find a way to make it work with loop 2.

Oh!

Well, maybe the Sabaon developers are happy users such as yourself are around here to help.

[mythus]

Greetings,

I am glad to report that the Realtek 8187b wireless on my wife's laptop still works in 3.5 final.

Please note that I only updated her loop 2 installation to the final installation. However her ndiswrapper file held and thus she still has wireless with no changes needed on my part.

It seems to me that ndiswrapped in now loaded by default, but I may be mistaken. I do not know if anything needs to be done differently from the procedure I have provided here. Only change I can suggest is using enthropy instead of emerge for ndiswrapper.

Hopefully someone else will report that a fresh install of 3.5 works using this procedure. If ot, I am sure it is only a matter of changing the place to automount ndiswrapper from.

[farfnarf]

Greetings,

I am glad to report that the Realtek 8187b wireless on my wife's laptop still works in 3.5 final.

Please note that I only updated her loop 2 installation to the final installation. However her ndiswrapper file held and thus she still has wireless with no changes needed on my part.

It seems to me that ndiswrapped in now loaded by default, but I may be mistaken. I do not know if anything needs to be done differently from the procedure I have provided here. Only change I can suggest is using enthropy instead of emerge for ndiswrapper.

Hopefully someone else will report that a fresh install of 3.5 works using this procedure. If ot, I am sure it is only a matter of changing the place to automount ndiswrapper from.

I installed 3.5 fresh, and am back to the same problem: no wireless on my Toshiba Satellite A205.

I have to use Vista until it is resolved. I was hoping this new release would have had this taken care of.