Suse 9.3 / 10.0 Working Linksys wpc54g card with NDISWRAPPER

Here's how to set up NDISWRAPPER for Linksys wpc54g cards (Broadcomm chipset).
(all actions done as ROOT) Works for 9.3, 10.0.

1. Ensure Ndiswrapper is installed via YAST.
2. copy two files from your LINKSYS windows CD driver to /tmp/linksys -- lsbcmnds.inf and bcmwl5.sys
3. ensure your card is inserted and type ndiswrapper -i /tmp/linksys/lsbcmnds.inf
4. type ndiswrapper -l you should see the following
   # ndiswrapper -l
   Installed ndis drivers:
   lsbcmnds driver present, hardware present
5. enable the wireless network interface -- type modprobe ndiswrapper
6. configure
   your interface -- edit /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-wlan0 so it looks
   something like this (test it the first few times with no encryption etc
   etc).

   NAME='Linksys WPC54G'
   STARTMODE='auto'
   WIRELESS_AUTH_MODE='open'
   WIRELESS_ESSID='jimbo'
   WIRELESS_MODE='Managed'
   DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF='yes'
   DHCLIENT_SET_DEFAULT_ROUTE='yes'
   BOOTPROTO='dhcp'
   MTU=''
   REMOTE_IPADDR=''
   USERCONTROL='no'
   WIRELESS_AP=''
   WIRELESS_BITRATE='auto'
   WIRELESS_CHANNEL=''
   WIRELESS_DEFAULT_KEY='0'
   WIRELESS_FREQUENCY=''
   WIRELESS_KEY=''
   WIRELESS_KEY_0=''
   WIRELESS_KEY_1=''
   WIRELESS_KEY_2=''
   WIRELESS_KEY_3=''
   WIRELESS_KEY_LENGTH='128'
   WIRELESS_NICK=''
   WIRELESS_NWID=''
   WIRELESS_POWER='yes'
   WIRELESS_WPA_PSK=''

   absolutely ensure the 2 DHCLIENT lines are as in the example

7. ensure the interface is recognized by command iwconfig
   you should see something like this
   # iwconfig
   lo no wireless extensions.
   eth0 no wireless extensions.
   sit0 no wireless extensions.
   wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"jimbo" Nickname:"redfox"
   Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:0F:3D:97:10:00
   Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:15 dBm
   RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
   Encryption key off
   Power Management off
   Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-37 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
   Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
   Tx excessive retries:14 Invalid misc:117 Missed beacon:0
8. if any problems try seeing if your card at least can communicate with
   the wireless access point by using the command iwlist wlan0 scan

   you should get output like this

   # iwlist wlan0 scan

   wlan0 Scan completed :
   Cell 01 - Address: 00:0F:3D:97:10:00
   ESSID:"jimbo"
   Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
   Mode:Managed
   Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
   Quality:0/100 Signal level:-42 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
   Encryption key off
   Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:22 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
   Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
   Extra:bcn_int=200
   Extra:atim=0

9. now we want the module to be loaded at boot time so go into YAST and select system ==> /etc/sysconfig editor
   scroll down to SYSTEM==>KERNEL==>MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT
   add ndiswrapper to the list (if there are any entries just leave a
   space and type ndiswrapper otherise if it's the only entry just type it
   in.
10. Now I re-booted as I wanted to make sure it all worked from boot
11. after boot try PING 192.168.1.1 or whatever your router IP address is
12. connect to Internet WIRELESSLY --and enjoy.

BTW loads of other cards work as well -- the main probs are usually

• not having the correct etc/sysconfig/network/ifcg-wlan0 file
• using
  the wrong Windows drivers --doesn't matter if there are newer one's for
  your device use the one's that came with your CD as these generally
  seem to work better.
• Failing to update the /etc/sysconfig to load ndiswrapper on boot.

(article based on this post)