(Apologies to the mods if I'm doing this wrong - I can't remember
whether this group is top or bottom posting.)

Google Is Your Friend.

Search for 'WRT310N default password' and you will get loads of pages
back. There seem to be a few 'defaults' for this model though, but try
'admin/admin' and 'admin/ ' first.

I did goto the Cisco site and download the manual and it says that the default
password is "admin". However that doesn't work and the other permutations don't
work either.

I think that the "no wireless extensions" output means that I don't have a
driver installed for the WRT310N.

I've downloaded a .bin file from Cisco and I've may have installed ndswrapper,
not sure, but maybe I need a driver installed first.

I have never heard of drivers for a router. If you want to use the router to
make your Linux box wireless it needs to have a "client" mode, it turns the
router into a Wireless Access Point, once it is setup you setup your linux box
to connect to it (network card settings), connect the cable and it works.

My linux machine is setup that way, has been for over 2 years without any
problems (that I did not create myself).

I use a Buffalo WHRG54S as it has settings to be a client in it's firmware, I
just installed DD-WRT and set it up similar.

I checked the WRT310N manual, Username is Blank, Password is admin.

there seem to be an awfully large number of 'defaults'...

Actually, looking a little closer at your original posting (which will
teach me to read before I type ;-) ) I don't think you have any
problems, other than your router not being set up for wireless. The 'no
loopback extensions' is just fine and I would expect the results you got
- 'lo' is the internal 'loopback' interface and eth0 is your wired
connection, so neither should have any wireless extensions. wlan0 is
your wireless interface and is showing that you do, indeed, have a
wireless interface but that it is not connected to anything.

Rather more interesting is the result of the lshw, which shows that your
wireless card *is* connected to something - or, at least, the computer
*thinks* it is. If you aren't connected, then lshw should not show an
ip address for the interface, but yours does - and the fact that it's a
10.x.x.x address, rather than a 192.168.x.x address is intriguing. Both
are private IP addresses, but 10.x.x.x is more typical of an internal
business network while 192.168.x.x is more typical of a domestic network.

But as to what it means. Well... Um... Er...

However, as others have said, your router shouldn't care what OS you're
using and your OS doesn't need a driver for it - the router just sends
and receives standard packets of data which have no tags in them to
indicate what has sent or or is receiving them.

So, a couple of questions.

Have you ever had this computer connected to any wireless network?
Is this a brand new router or a second-hand one?

I think Cisco's default is "admin" and "password"

I only configured one once, so I'm not quite sure.
--

Note: Full frontal nudity may be enticing, especially in Jennifer Aniston
movies, but it wont make us any safer at the airport.
-----------

There's only one basic human right, the right to do as you d*** well please. And
with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."--
P. J. O'Rourke

"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."

you said you had downloaded the manual for your router. It
tells you how to reset it to factory defaults. In my experience, some routers
are difficult to reset; you need three hands, and you need to hold something
awkward for 15 seconds.

It's easier to set up a router the first time if you are wired to it, not by
wireless. Set it up to use WPA encryption and give it a strong password. (WEP
encryption has been cracked.) And give "admin" a strong, different password.

Whether you are using Linux, Windows or OSX, your computer does not have any
software that is specific to your *router*. It does need software for the
wireless adapter in the computer, and in many cases, that software is included
in Linux. There are videos on youtube about how to connect, assuming your
wireless adapter "just works."

"Have you ever had this computer connected to any wireless network?

Is this a brand new router or a second-hand one?"

Hello David. Yes it's my router and I've had it for awhile, but I was using it
under Windows.

It is working now thanks to all of the subtle direction I received from you,
Mike and others, Thank You All, for the time you spent thinking and posting
about my router problem.

My biggest issue was that I had never set anything like this up before. Well,
not without some kind of "plug and play" software running under Windows.

One of the reasons that I moved on to Linux is because it forces me back into
the books from time to time and I actually learn something whenever I enter into
an area I've never been in before and I like that.

The other wireless network you alluded to is in the HP computer that I use as my
Linux box, it's built in, and initially I thought that it might have been
causing some kind of conflict issue, but it really wasn't. Another issue was my
incomplete understanding of how the router and the wireless stuff in Ubuntu
worked together, and unfortunately I still have a lot to learn about that aspect
of the OS.

But at the end of the day with your help and others I was able to get it up and
running, so thanks again everyone.

That information should be with the paperwork that came with the router. If it
is the same as the older units the name would be blank and the password is
admin.