PC Hilfe , PC Notdienst , PC Reparatur und PC-Service

A great article for newbies switching to Ubuntu, especially for new comers to Linux from Windows or any other OS. You will find a lot of pics explainig what is where and how is done.

Linux applications are almost all open source and they're, unlike typical Windows programs, highly dependant on external libraries to work. You don't have to understand what libraries are, but just that Windows programs typically include parts of libraries in their installers, taking up lots of space after they've been installed because the same libraries have duplicates many places on your harddisk; Linux programs usually don't do this.

Most Linux operating systems have evolved a system where you can download the program, along with any needed dependencies, without having duplicates scattered all over your harddisk saving you lots of space. At the same time, this system allows you to have a central location from which to install and update packages. This system is called the package manager and on Ubuntu you'll meet it in the form of apt-get, aptitude, Add/Remove…, Update Manager and Synaptic. All these programs are frontends to the same package manager built right into Ubuntu.

Complete Walkthrough

I installed SUSE Linux 10.1 just to realize that my wireless card, which is Asus WL-130g PCI, supporting 802.11b/g, is not functioning. The card is based on Ralink's RT2500 chip. Then I noticed in release notes that the driver is not included. By saying not included, I mean that openSUSE team decided that the current drivers are unstable with the latest supplied kernel, and removed it from there. Same is true with Atheros based cards.

Here is a statement from Release Notes:

The following kernel module package was changed internally:
Various drivers for wireless LAN cards. The madwifi driver for Atheros WLAN cards was removed.

For technical reasons, it was necessary to drop support for Ralink WLAN cards. The old driver no longer works with kernel version 2.6.16 and the new version is not yet stable enough. We intend to release an update as soon as the new version is stable enough.

I was very upset as I really needed the card to function, which is installed on desktop, to have access to internet from notebook and other wireless devices, as my desktop also functions as router. The next was to compile drivers manually. As I was thinking of this I remembered all the trouble that I had to go with SUSE 9.1 to make this card work, as compiling the driver was giving me headache. But to my surprise all went very smooth and very easy.

Many are having the same problem, which can be noticed from SUSE related forums. To make things easier for everybody I deicied to write a walktrgough.

As usual, you will need to make sure that following are installed: kernel-source, gcc and make

1. Download the latest CVS for RT2500 based WiFi cards from here (right click -> save)

2. Once downloaded extract the file.

3. Now we need to compile a module for the wireless card that we have. Go to folder where you extracted the archive. Open folder called "Module" and execute the following command:

~> make

Got my SUSE Linux 10.1 up and runnin and already enjoying, though still got to go through all the customization. I will probably post a review on my experience with SUSE 10.1. But one thing for sure, the ATI drivers gave me a little kick, before I came up with these instructions, that I hope will work on most of the computers. Remember that I was trying to install these drivers as to later be able to install and launch Xgl/Compiz on desktop.

This time I decided to make the howto with more pics, thinking that maybe this way it will be easier for you guys to understand what is going on. At least I tried my best, well nearly. Here we go.

As of writing this I am running SUSE Linux 10.1 (maybe you already forgot), x86_64 platform (AMD64), with my ATI Radeon X800 series PCI-E interface on DFI nForce4 Ultra based motherboard. The latest driver version is 8.24.8

Once again there are prerequisites before you begin installing the drivers. You will need to have the following installed. All these can be found on your SUSE 10.1 CDs or DVD, unless by the time you will be reading this post and already there are online updates available for these packages, via Yast/Apt/Yum repositories. The packages are:

1. kernel-source 2.gcc 3. make

Info for n00b or rather newbies: When you see "~>" bfore command, that means execute it as user, and when you see "#", you have to be root (by typing "su" and supplying the password when asked). No disrespect … :-]

Once the above mentioned packages are installed, let's prepare the kernel modules (not necessary, but no harm in doing so). Execute the following commands (as root):

# cd /usr/src/linux

# make mrproper

# make cloneconfig

# make modules_prepare

and one last command to clean the kernel source:

# make clean

Also, if you have tried installing drivers before, let's remove them properly by executing the command:

# rpm -e $(rpm -qa | grep fglrx)

Now to installing drivers. From the following screenshot you can clearly see that when a fresh copy of SUSE 10.1 is installed, OpenGL rendering is supported by MESA supplied drivers. Basically, when you see MESA - that means the ATI drivers are not up and running. This can be found by running either of the commands: glxinfo or fglrxinfo (as user, not root)