Linux users?

[AD720]

Any Linux gurus around here want to help a brother out?

I have an older Dell laptop that I use down in my man-cave. It runs Ubunto liin a champ but I am having a wireless card issue.

I have three wireless adapters- the Dell card that came with it, a Belkin card and a Netgear USB adapter. The Netgear is the only I can get to work at all, but it works sporadicly. It will be fine for a while (a half hour or so) and then I will just not be able to get out to the internet. The icon still shows me as connected but I am not seeing the outside world. The only way I can get going again is to restart the computer. Then it works again for a while.

I know that the Belkin card is capable of working with Ubunto. I did some reseach about drivers but I am in over my head when it comes to wrappers and drivers and how to actually install them.

Any ideas?

The machine is Dell Inspiron 1200 and the Belkin card is a F507010. The Netgear USB adapter is a WG111v2.

Any advice is most appreciated, including a card that will work right out of the box.

[j6ppc]

The best thing you can do is find a wireless card that is natively supported.
This is a good resource.

The next best solution is to use ndiswrapper in conjunction with windows drivers.

If it works for a while and then quits you probably don't need to reboot the laptop - stopping / restarting some services should do the trick as should ejecting / re-enabling the card from a terminal window. I'd walk you through both but am not currently in posession of a linux machine at the moment.

[AD720]

Thanks for the info, it is appreciated.

I am certainly not astute enough to start working on the command line so I will look into a natively supported card.

Should I shoot for one of the cards on that list that says "Yes" under "Linux Driver"?

[Cgarman]

Yeah, that would work. The other thing is if you are using Ubunto use the package manager. Also make sure that you have enable 'restricted drivers' I too do not have a linux machine right now... cause I am work. I can check tomorrow sometime as I am running Ubunto 7.10 at home.

[yayson]

You should add some repositories in your package manager if you have not done so, the default set are pretty restricted in what they offer due to licensing issues so if you want more very useful things like drivers and whatnot, add some repositories.

There is an excellent help entry in Synaptics package manager, to access it go to:

Settings > Repositiories
will open up the repositories dialog box, then clikc the Help button at lower left and it should open straight away to "Setting Preferences". This is required reading!

http://www.medibuntu.org/repository.php is a good repository

and don't be scared of the command line:

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-util

That should get you a nifty new application under your administration menu for installing windows wireless drivers, it will detect your hardware and use the ndiswrapper utility to use windows drivers under Linux

[kgoings]

You get it working?

[Darb85]

sorry to treadjack but does anyone know if anything happened to lindows? the mix of linux and windows?

[kgoings]

Originally Posted by Darb85

sorry to treadjack but does anyone know if anything happened to lindows? the mix of linux and windows?

They released Linspire 6.0 in July of 07.

[Darb85]

Originally Posted by kgoings

They released Linspire 6.0 in July of 07.

it is still free? im thinking about running my desktop off of it

[kgoings]

Originally Posted by Darb85

it is still free? im thinking about running my desktop off of it

Nope its $50. Umbuntu is free, and you can goto umbuntuforums.org for any help you need installing it.

[yayson]

Originally Posted by Darb85

it is still free? im thinking about running my desktop off of it

I have never tried running Windows apps in Linux but I remember Lindows and now Linspire I've heard of. If I'm not mistaken Lindows (and possibly Linspire, I dunno it at all) use WINE and I know there's a great deal of Windows software that will run under Linux using the WINE API which is included in a lot of distributions already

Originally Posted by kgoings

Nope its $50. Umbuntu is free, and you can goto umbuntuforums.org for any help you need installing it.

"u-b-u-n-t-u"
j00 got and extra M in there

[floydp]

I used to use several different Ubuntu incarnations and had a fairly easy time with them but since I installed Mandriva I haven't used Ubuntu. The Ubuntu forum is an excellent source for help.

[mspringfield]

Sounds like you have a couple of the Atheros chipset wireless cards. They do not play nice with Linux. Try going here: MadWiFi . They have repositories for most of the most popular Linux distros that will allow you do download and install drivers for the Atheros cards. Ubuntu will sometimes give you a nasty message that says you aren't using a true OpenSource driver but it will work none the less. The good news is Linux is getting much better at handling wireless.

Michael

[AD720]

Originally Posted by mspringfield

Sounds like you have a couple of the Atheros chipset wireless cards. They do not play nice with Linux. Try going here: MadWiFi . They have repositories for most of the most popular Linux distros that will allow you do download and install drivers for the Atheros cards. Ubuntu will sometimes give you a nasty message that says you aren't using a true OpenSource driver but it will work none the less. The good news is Linux is getting much better at handling wireless.

Michael

Thanks, I will give this a shot!