How to install Intel PRO ipw3945 wireless drivers

The following tutorial covers the process of installing ipw3945 drivers in Debian. Enabling you to get your Intel® PRO Wireless 3945ABG Wireless network card working in Debian. The Intel® PRO Wireless 3945ABG network cards are commonly used in various laptops ranging from HP to Dell. These drivers are in the non-free section and thus are not included with Debian or Debian remixes by default.

Installing Wireless ipw3945 drivers in Debian:

  1. Open a terminal and type sudo su
  2. Type gedit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the contrib and non-free sections just after main as seen in the example below:
    deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
    Then save the file
  3. Back at the terminal, type
    apt-get install ipw3945-modules-$(uname -r) ipw3945d firmware-ipw3945
  4. Now simply press Ctrl + Alt + backspace to restart x and login when prompted.

Your Intel PRO 3945 Wireless Network Card should now be enabled. You can enable your wireless connection via the NetWork Manager Applet from the Gnome Panel as is seen below:

IPW 3945 Wireless SelectionIPW Wireless Networks