Mint 10 and wireless card

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Cactusface

Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by Cactusface »

Hi Folks,
I have had a few trys with Linux in the passed, of one flavour or another. I like Mint 10! looks like windows, acts like winodws, but better!!
My problem is I can't get around the software installing bit?? :oops:

I have a Newlink 11n Wireless card (based on the RT3060 chip), this works fine with Windows,but Mint ain't having it, on the disk I can find the drivers the package is RT62,3060_linux STA_V2.3.0.0. Tar.b22.
So how do I expend or open this and then get something like the package manager, etc to install it. In simple terms please!
Kind regards
Mel aka Cactusface
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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rivenathos
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 7:32 am
Location: USA

Re: Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by rivenathos »

Are you running Mint from a Live CD or have you installed it?

If you are running it from a Live CD, you probably cannot install the driver since everything is running your RAM.

If you have installed Mint, make sure you leave your Ethernet cable plugged in. When you reboot, a dialog box will pop up asking if you want to install drivers for your wireless. Install the appropriate driver. Then you can unplug your Ethernet cable.
Current hardware: a Dell OptiPlex 3010 desktop, a Dell Inspiron 531 desktop, and a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop.
Current OS: LMDE 3
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Cactusface

Re: Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by Cactusface »

Hi rivenathos,
My PC is new (home build of course) and never had an eithernet connection, always wireless. Mint 10 is on anther drive in a caddy, I just swap over according to what I want to run. On boot up Mint just sits there it's never ask me about anything. Up until very recently I have been running a Mac, but that always did all the unpacking and installing for me, yes I was spoilt!!

Secondly as I mentioned I have very little idea as to how I unpack or install the drivers, years ago I ran linux for a time, just about got the idea, but gave up... If someone could give me a few more details, that would be great..

Regards
Mel.
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Silent Warrior
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Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 1:10 pm
Location: Göteborg, Sverige

Re: Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by Silent Warrior »

All I can say is that my wireless has worked flawlessly and automagically from about two months after I bought this laptop, so I'm really no expert. I don't know what a caddy is, either. Is Mint installed on a harddrive or not? Every guide you might get pointed to will assume it is, just so you know.
What do you see when you open that .tar.gz (with File-roller, Ark, or whatever tool you prefer)? Hopefully it'll contain a README or INSTALL file in some relevant folder. If you need help interpreting those instructions, just post the contents of the file for us to examine. If compilation is required, there could be some trouble, as you may need the kernel headers for that, and they don't usually install by default - meaning you'll have to download them somehow. (Maybe transfer through USB-stick using another OS where you have it set up in a working condition?)
But one step at a time: Contents of that .tar.gz-file you found on some disk. Lessee.
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rivenathos
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 7:32 am
Location: USA

Re: Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by rivenathos »

OK, I know what a caddy is. I have those and do pretty much the same thing. I swap out Debian and Mint physical hard drives.

When you installed Mint, you had no Internet connection since you did not plug in your Ethernet cable. I have never done an offline install, surprisingly.

I am unsure of how your wireless is set up, but if you have a home unit, there is often a port on the back of the transmitter/base. The easiest thing to do is to plug in to that port and install the necessary drivers. Mint should recognize the connection and you can download what you need.

Or, if you have a friend with a physical Internet connection, use his or hers. Just plug in the Ethernet cable and Mint will do the rest. All this is assuming Mint was able to install everything necessary since it was offline originally.

I saw some guides on installing the restricted drivers offline in the forum somewhere, but cannot find them right now. Maybe another forum member has the links handy.
Current hardware: a Dell OptiPlex 3010 desktop, a Dell Inspiron 531 desktop, and a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop.
Current OS: LMDE 3
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Dave68

Re: Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by Dave68 »

Here is the Process I followed to install a RealTek (8192se) Wireless Driver in my Lenova T410. The process will be very similar, as I did this by saving the tar.gz to a Windows Directory, then copied and pasted into my /home directory. I completed the Driver install totally offline due to certain constraints in my Work Environment.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=65034

Hope This Helps,
Dave
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Cheshihvost

Re: Mint 10 and wireless card

Post by Cheshihvost »

Try this nice and easy tutorial
http://steveswinsburg.wordpress.com/201 ... omment-473
It worked great for my PCI wireless card Tenda W311P (chipset RT3060).
Linux Mint 11 "Katya" Gnome 32-bit.
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