Trying to get Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG working with Debian 3.1

Hi all,
I've been a BSD user for years, but I'll need to install Linux on my
new laptop so everything 'just works' without too much tweaking.

Ubuntu found all the hardware fine, but I'd rather use a more advanced
OS like Debian. Since it's Debian underneath anyway, how do I get the
'sarge' installer to find the wireless driver? It's not in the list,
yet Ubuntu detects it automagically.

Is there a simple workaround to get up and running?

On 21 Dec 2005 06:51:48 -0800, (E-Mail Removed)
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Ubuntu found all the hardware fine, but I'd rather use a more advanced
> OS like Debian. Since it's Debian underneath anyway, how do I get the
> 'sarge' installer to find the wireless driver? It's not in the list,
> yet Ubuntu detects it automagically.

Ubuntu is newer than Sarge. It is basically Etch AFAIK. They also have
a different policy WRT loadable firmware that isn't compliant with the
Debian Free Software Guidelines. The ipw2200 cards use such firmware.


> Is there a simple workaround to get up and running?

I can think of three ways.

First, the source is in the Debian "contrib" repostitory. It is an
older version, but then I've had various issues with the newer ones
anyway. You can add contrib to your apt sources:

hauck@scheme:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ sarge main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ sarge main non-free contrib

Then you can use dpkg to build a Debian package. You'll need kernel
headers installed for this.


Second, you can compile directly from the original source. The
procedure is documented and the code is available here (and you still
need kernel headers):

<http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/>


Third, you could use Ubuntu and add the Debian repositories to your apt
sources and call it good.


--
-| Bob Hauck
-| A proud member of the reality-based community.
-| http://www.haucks.org/

> Third, you could use Ubuntu and add the Debian repositories to your apt
> sources and call it good.

That sounds good! Then I can just use the graphical installer to add
everything I want? I installed yesterday, saw a bunch of things I
wanted, then reinstalled ubuntu a few hours later (after trying other
distros) and all the things I wanted were no longer in the repo list.
:-(

I'm going to poke around debian.org, but so far I haven't found the
repos. If you get a chance, please post the links here. thanks!

I found how to enable the 'universe' options for the repo, so that
should do it. I'll get the hang of this gui one of these days....