Linux Mint 4.0 + ndiswrapper works on Gateway T1616: rtl8187b

This is an instruction to new Linux Mint users who have a Gateway T1616 Laptop, if you are using Ubuntu and the wireless doesn't work, you may want to try Native Linux Driver for RTL8187B. "Linux Mint is an Ubuntu - based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. It also adds a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration tools, and a web-based package installation interface. Linux Mint is compatible with Ubuntu software repositories." Gateway T1616, which is not a very linux-friendly laptop, has the wireless card RTL8187b. I found that it is very easy to make the wireless work out of the box with Linux Mint 4.0 . First, you need to download the RTL8187B driver for Windows. Notice that there are several drivers in the package, and the one for windows 98 works just fine. So uncompress that to some where on the disk. Then you install the driver with ndiswrapper, which is in the system by default. To be specific, go to Daryna-Administrations-Windows Wireless Drivers. Click on "Install" button, choose the path where you unpacked the Win98 driver, and you will find the .inf file highlighted, click OK. Now you should have the wireless working properly. If there are wireless signals around, you should be able to find them listed by clicking the network reminder on the right of the taskbar. You may also try iwconfig in a terminal and you should find wlan0 up and running. The last thing to do is to add ndiswrapper to a new line in the start-up module list, which is in /etc/modules And that's when you start enjoying wireless.