Download and install rpm packages: kernel-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.stk16.i586.rpm and kernel-devel-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.stk16.i586.rpm (for building, you can uninstall afterwards) from linuxant. Download and rpmbuild (with -tb option) ndiswrapper-1.47.tar.gz from sourceforge. Backup and install the built kernel-module-ndiswrapper-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.stk16-1.47-1.i386.rpm and ndiswrapper-1.47-1.i386.rpm
Start NetworkManager and NetworkManage Dispatcher and make them automatically start. Insert wireless card and run: sudo depmod -a; sudo modprobe ndiswrapper; sudo gedit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0 &
Add some lines into ifcfg-wlan0: DEVICE=wlan0 USERCTL=yes ONBOOT=no BOOTPROTO=dhcp
Run: system-config-network. Tick and edit device “wlan0”. Within Hardware device tab, probe the MAC address. Within Wireless settings tab, set mode to auto.
After the above operation, the first uncommented line of /etc/hosts has been removed. As my machine is a web server, without this line I won’t be able to view and edit my website when I’m offline. This is the trick also mentioned in a formal post. For me, I need reinput: 127.0.0.1 www.softbeam.net softbeam localhost.localdomain localhost 🙂
Something different: need to run “sudo modprobe ndiswrapper” in x-term every time the machine is restarted. Otherwise NetworkManager won’t find the wireless card. Seems the module is not aumatically loaded?