HOWTO: ndiswrapper w/ graphical interface

[Lambert]

First howto so be patient and I'll edit where needed.

I see a lot of posts on ndiswrapper and command line use to set up drivers. I ran across this and thought it would help some of those who prefer a graphical interface.

First thing you have to do is install some packages from the repositories. If you are completely new to linux I suggest going to the wiki and do some reading. You'll find a link at the top of the forums.

Quick link to the synaptic/adding packages section click here (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SynapticHowto)


The packages you want to install are

ndisgtk & ndiswrapper-utils

If you do not find these packages then make sure you read the wiki section on adding repositories.

After installing you should get a menu item under System>Administration titled 'Windows wireless drivers'

When you click on this you should get a window that looks like this (http://lxer.com/lxer/tom/ubuntu_wireless2.png)

Have your drivers handy and point, click, and follow the steps.

Thanks for this tool goes to retrix for developing it. (Thanks for pointing that out poofyhairguy.)

I welcome any comments on improving this.

[j0hnny]

Thx, this is really a smoother way for those who are new to ubuntu :D

[majikstreet]

Holy @Q$^ that is great! I wish I had this when I started linux!

[briguy]

This should be part of the default install of Dapper...

[Arktis]

Marvelous! This is on a lot of people's wishlist. I agree, you should make a note of it to the devs so they can put this into default dapper. Though I must admit, ndiswrapper is what initially got me started into getting really familiar with the command line.

Though I value my knowledge thusfar in using the command line, gui tools like this will go a long way in the adoption of linux by less experienced, less technical minded computer users. And that's a good thing, IMHO.

[doogle]

Nice, my asus wifi works with a rt2400 driver, but I might try using the ndiswrapper and this, as I will no doubt need it the future

[scflymedic]

I love you Lambert! This is great, you showed me how to do something in 3 minutes what used to take me 15 or 20 minutes after searching for the right ndiswrapper HOWTO. Thanks again!

[mlomker]

It's amazing the things that you can run across by browsing in Synaptic. I swear, they seem to go out of their way to make it hard to find things like this.

[gt24]

Awesome find! :razz:

[poofyhairguy]

It was developed by Retrix, a community member:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=50607

The forum originally helped test it. If we all test and and find all the bugs, it might one day get into main Ubuntu like SMEG did.

[magimum]

the internet is still not working for me. i installed ndiswrapper and ndisgtk and the driver. im pretty sure the driver is working because when i go to manual configuration it shows the wireless connection and the network name(essid) drop down shows all of the wifi spots around me with the strength of the connection. anyone have any idea whats wrong?