How to add wireless adapter to redhat desktop

[frederick hannah]

I know I could get "pluto-ed" for asking this:
I have installed on my dell desktop Redhat 5.4
I want to have the os recognize and use the d-link wirelss adapter connected to the desktop via usb. If no one on here has done this before, can I get a link to a Linux forum where
I may be able to find the answer?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Take a look at your hardware specifications, especially the wireless adapter on the Dell website. Check the d-link website for linux drivers by model number.

Many newer wireless adapters were not included in the Linux kernel and the maker provides drivers for installation on the OS after initial configuration.

How you go after this depends on the card. If there is a driver, simply install it. There are ways to make windows drivers work under Linux, but the one vital piece of information missing from your post is the model number of the card.

SEP

[frederick hannah]

D-link 160 is the model of the adapter. I apologize for not being more precise.

[Matti_Kurkela]

Sadly, it might be that the answer is "no". Or rather "if you want it hard enough, start backporting the code yourself."

You might start by telling the model number of the D-Link wireless adapter.

Or if you don't wish to disclose it for some reason, look at this table:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Devices/USB

Hmm... looks like D-Link plays fast and loose with their model numbers: according to that table, some revisions of DWL-G122 use a rt73usb driver, others a p54usb driver.

The USB vendor and product IDs might actually be a better way to identify your wireless adapter: could you please post the output of the "lsusb" command on your system?

The kernel version might be a problem: RHEL 5.x uses a 2.6.18 kernel, and many USB wireless drivers are included in newer kernels only. According to the links in the above-mentioned table, only the rt73usb driver would be available in a standard 2.6.18 kernel.

I don't think RedHat puts much effort to backporting WLAN drivers to old kernel versions, as the newer drivers may depend on various wireless sub-system updates that are not present in 2.6.18. Backporting the sub-system updates too would expand the scope of the porting effort and might destabilize the older drivers.

I must say, in a desktop with a WLAN, you might be better served with a more desktop-oriented distribution; RHEL's main target is enterprise servers. Would Fedora be a possible choice for you?

MK

[frederick hannah]

Looks like Fedora may be the way to go. I was warned wireless would be headache. Last question: Where can i download the latest version of Fedora (stable that is)?

[frederick hannah]

fedora seems much simpler for wireless. thanks guys.

[frederick hannah]

Fedora 12 and wireless are operational