Support for Netgear WNA3100 USB Adapter?

[jric]

This is a promising thread. Only issue is that:

1. My OS is 64 bit Vista, and thus the driver is bcmwlhigh6 instead of 5, and according to this thread, that has a bunch of undefined symbols in it. Also, I'm guessing that it's not likely to work with my 32-bit Ubuntu.
2. There was mention of the bcmwlhigh5 driver "in the wild", but after an hour of searching, I've given up. Would someone be so kind as to post the files here?

I have posted my bcmwlhigh6 files, which came from a Vista 64 install, in case they are useful to anybody.

[victoryred]

Hi Jric,
If you are running a 32 bit version of Ubuntu then yes you will need the bcmwlhigh5.ini and sys files. As I recall both the high 5 and high6 versions get loaded into the Netgear directory under drivers setup.exe executes. You should have the files on the cdrom that came with the adapter. I don't know if you can legally just put the files out without permission from Broadcom but I have seen it out on the web.

Another note for others using the WNDA3100 which is the dual band N adapter. It doesn't use the Broadcom chipset so trying to use the BCMWL files won't work for you. I mention it because I found someone in another thread mention using the bcmwl files after I posted information here. BCMWL means BroadCom WireLess so be careful.

Finally (IMHO) I believe that what makes the USB wireless adapters more prone to problems is the plug and play aspect of the drivers that Windows supports that so far it looks like Linux doesn't. The funtions calls that I see problems with when I use ndiswrapper -l are all plug and play related. When you look at the ndiswrapper source code it is peppered with todo() function calls. That's part of the reason I posted what I did.

I like Linux, I think it's cool. But I don't mind spending $100 to buy something that is well supported directly by the suppliers so that I don't go into a reversionary programming mode that I left 20 years ago. However, it's good to know I can still make some sense of the source code.

[jric]

Thanks Victory. I did not find the bcmwl5 files in the same directory. Even if I could find my install CD, I would probably have no luck, since I've read somewhere that the only way to get the files is to do the actual install, and of course, I am back to the 64 bit problem.

I hate to admit defeat, but I give up on this one. Better luck to the next happy Linux traveler with an extra $100 to spend, or better internet searching skills.

I'll bypass this problem after I move into my new place which I wired with cat5.

[victoryred]

Jric,
My fault actually. I found that the bcmwlhigh5 files got installed on my Windows XP laptop in my quest for the 32 bit files. You are absolutely right i your observation. Here's what I suggest. Don't give up....just take a break and come back and revisit a little later. I think you will have a fresh start, Broadcom or someone might fully solve the problem (maybe even me). You have to remember that this stuff really isn't simple after all. Part of the thrill is solving a problem that hasn't been solved before. Finally, there is tons of information sitting in your log files waiting for you to discover it, make sense of it then add it to the puzzle, one piece at a time. You will have a very proud moment when you see the light and do something you didn't think you could do. Don't ever give up......ever! Be a Bulldog.

Best,
VictoryRed

[FluidBlow]

Hey all,
I went through a big effort but successfully installed the WNA3100 wireless USB adapter in Linux. I'm using it right now to port to this thread.

Hello, you said you succeed in using WNA3100 usb adaptater on Linux didn't you ?
Well, can you tell us what distrib and version of linux are you using, what drivers and what version did you use ? (32 or 64 bits)

I tried both bcmwlhigh6 and bcmwlhigh5 (64 bits) drivers with ndiswrapper, with the 5: 64 bits, when I connect the usb adaptater, ndiswrapper functionnalities are frozen for example, when I type "lsusb" nothing happens (and the shell don't let me type another command).
With the 6, (always 64 bits), the driver is installed well and the hardware is detected, but they are plenty of ndiswrapper errors so the driver isn't loaded and nothing happens.

Thank's for help.

[victoryred]

As I mentioned in a previous reply. bcmwlhigh6 yielded many errors while trying to load with ndiswrapper. bcmwlhigh5 yielded 1 error and I supplied a copy of a handler routine that I added to the ndiswrapper source code that I then recompiled and ran. The problem that I see with using Windows drivers running on Linux with wrapper functionality is that the plug & play capability that exists in windows isn't handled well in ndiswrapper. If you get a copy of the source code you will see what I'm talking about. The snippet of code I provided is a copy of a piece of such code. A simple patch to get things operating. The real problem is cleaning up all the other functions (traps) that really need to handle and pass valid arguments back and forth to the Windows driver you are attempting to use. All this can be done, please feel free to press on.

[flash63]

Hello,
optimized Driver 32/64bit for Netgear WNDA-3100 v3 ID 0846:9020 here

http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/be.../#post-2612284

Supported ID's:
050D:825C (Belkin)
050D:6050 (Belkin)
050D:615A (Belkin)
0846:9020 (Netgear)

[koffkoffus]

Can anyone recommend a USB wireless adapter that works "out of the box" with Linux/Ubuntu?

Thanks - much appreciated.

[victoryred]

wnda3100 is a dual band device. Not the same as wna3100.

[victoryred]

<H1>Try this as a lead.....

BCM4323 - Intensi-fi® XLR Single-Chip 802.11n USB Solution

</H1>