NDIS install, the short version.

I found a good write-up on the internet, which I printed out.  Except, I printed it out without headers, so I don't have the link to the original article!  The author goes into great detail, if you want to find it a search string might be, "ndiswrapper suse professional 9.2"

Taking out the discussion, here's the actual steps you go through.

Yast2>software management>search>ndiswrapper>install
Yast2>software management>search>wireless tools>install

locate your drivers in windows or on the install disk that came with the computer.  You will need two files, xxxxxx.sys and xxxxxxx.inf.  In my case (having a broadcom wireless card) they are something like bcwl15x.sys bcwl15x.inf.  (Not really, but that's the best I can remember without looking it up.)

Copy them somewhere in linux you can find them, such as your desktop.

In the folder where you have now placed the sys and inf files, open a terminal and go "superuser" (su), enter password.

type this command:

ndiswrapper -i xxxxx.inf  

(of course, replace the xxxxxx with the actual driver name.)

Response should be:  Installed ndis drivers: <filename> hardware present

type this command:

modprobe ndiswrapper

type:

iwconfig

Response should be parameters showing your computer now knows you have a wlan0 card.  (It might say something other than wlan0, so make a note of what your wireless card has been named.

Yast2>network devices>network card

Enter "wlan0" or whatever your wireless card has been named.  Ignore "hardware configuration name," "module name," and "options."

Set for dynamic IP address

>next

enter ID, key, other settings you need.

>close

Yast2>system>/etc/sysconfig Editor

>system>kernel>MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT

add "ndiswrapper" (no quotes)

>finish

Yast2>system>/etc/sysconfig Editor>Hardware>Network>wlan0.  

Here you can verify the settings that you set via the network card setup, above.  Also, set START MODE to "on".

You may want to go into your ethernet (wired) card settings, "eth0" and set START MODE to "hotplug."  Otherwise, there is likely to be a priority conflict and your wlan0 won't pick up an IP address at boot time.  (I used to have to run "ifdown eth0, ifdown wlan0, ifup wlan0" to get things running, but then I found some commands that avoid the conflict -- which, of course, I don't recall unless I have written them down somewhere else in my linux notes.

Go to superuser/administrator mode somehow (lots of different ways to accomplish this, Konqueror "superuser" mode, log in as administrator, open su terminal ...

Edit /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcg-wlan-wlan0 (or something similarly named).

add two lines

DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLVE_CONF='yes'
DHCLIENT_SET_DEFAULT_ROUTE='yes'

The help file I used says to do the following, but I never did and I think it didn't matter (especially since my ISP DNS is provided dynamically, anyway:

edit etc/resolve.conf

add

Search <your ISP DNS IP>
nameserver 192.168.0.1

the "192.168.0.1" needs to be the address of the router you are connected to.

With respect to DNS, the author recommends reading http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7917, especially for people who have their laptop "on the road" and are using various ISPs.

I have not had any problem with this -- I change the wireless login via "Kwireless Manager", suing the script I describe elsewhere to retrieve the IP.