Help me before I hate Linux!

[thenumberthirteen]

My dad bought an old laptop off e-bay for £50, but it had an old Windows OS. I like to think of myself as a computer guy, and so i decided to install a Linux distro on it (openSUSE 11.1).

I've never worked with Linux before, but it seemed to install ok. Until, however, I tried to get the wireless card working.

OMFG I have spent HOURS trying to get the wireless card working. The card worked fine in my other laptop (running XP) but it flat out refuses to work in openSUSE. It can scan and detects my wireless access point, but it will not connect, nor will the wireless router acknowledge its existence. I thought it was probably the driver, but the instructions for every linux driver tool i can find all involve typing in code or instructions into a terminal and I am a 100% Linux n00b. Can anyone help me before I start to hate Linux.

 

[Baby Tea]

Odd. I haven't used openSUSE, but I know for a fact that Ubuntu (And it's children) work flawlessly with wireless cards (Built in, or external). At least, they have for me.

Otherwise, I'd say start here:
http://en.opensuse.org/Wireless_network_card

And keep checking back here if that doesn't work. I'm sure other Escapians might have ideas.

 

[Specter_]

SUSE is evil. Try Debian or Ubuntu

 

[Baby Tea]

I'd go get Ubuntu, that's about as easy as Linux gets.

I'm pretty certain you could install it on a piece of cheese and it would still find the network card.

Just...awesome.

 

[superbleeder12]

open the terminal and type 'lspci' then press enter. If you see the word "broadcom" then throw out your laptop because broadcom is a shit company. they don't release open source drivers.

You'll have to go to the manufacturer's website to find the driver package for that wireless card. then google 'NDISWrapper'

Pretty much you have to use NDISWrapper to translate the windows based driver to a linux based driver so that you can use the card.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I'd go get Ubuntu, that's about as easy as Linux gets.

I'm pretty certain you could install it on a piece of cheese and it would still find the network card.

I haven't laughed in a long time from what someone has written on these forums, but you have just made me laugh my ass off.

 

[Specter_]

SUSE is evil. Try Debian or Ubuntu

Hey! I like openSUSE! I was using it before Novell got their grubby hands on it as well!

Now, that aside, because I don't want to start any holy wars

Let the holy war commence and burn all infidels!

I wouldn't try Debian if you want a network card to work. I mean, I like Debian as well and I use it on my own laptop, but I know from experience that configuring a network card that isn't detected easily is fucking hard.

I have to admit, i proposed Debian to fulfill my souls evil needs. Even so it's been dumbed down a lot since the last time i worked with it it's not funny if you start your Linux-career with Debian.

To get back to the OP: go Ubuntu!

 

[Erana]

I think you deserve a cookie for not hating something, despite hours of frustration.

 

[sequio]

go ubuntu.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

SUSE is evil. Try Debian or Ubuntu

Hey! I like openSUSE! I was using it before Novell got their grubby hands on it as well!

Now, that aside, because I don't want to start any holy wars, I wouldn't try Debian if you want a network card to work. I mean, I like Debian as well and I use it on my own laptop, but I know from experience that configuring a network card that isn't detected easily is fucking hard. I have an Intel PRO/Wireless from the Centrino chipset as well, and trying to configure it was still grossly difficult, and I've been using Linux for about eight years as well.

If you're willing to change distribution, Ubuntu is the way to go for somebody who hasn't used Linux before. If you want to stick with openSUSE, and I wouldn't blame you if you did, there's NDISwrapper, or you could give me more information about the card (brand and model, et cetera) and I'll see if I can help with installing Linux-native support for it.

Also, the fact that you've gotten this far proves how much easier it is to install Linux than the first time I used it. Of course, I've been dabbling with far more difficult operating systems in the last few days, so I'd contend to anyone who thinks that Linux installation is difficult to have a go at installing OS/360 MVT, and watch as you become grey-haired overnight.

Thanks for the help. I got openSUSE because it came in a magazine. I'd hate to have to start from scratch and install Ubuntu, but if push come to shove I may give it a shot. I have tried Ndiswrapper and installed the driver that came with it, but it still doesn't work. It may just be that the card just sucks.

What's the difference between openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, etc?

P.S I have two wireless cards at hand an ADDON GWK150v2(the one that sort of works), and a SAFECOM SWLCT-54125 (doesn't work at all). They're both fine on my other laptop, but non of the drivers I install do anything.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Thanks for the help. I got openSUSE because it came in a magazine. I'd hate to have to start from scratch and install Ubuntu, but if push come to shove I may give it a shot. I have tried Ndiswrapper and installed the driver that came with it, but it still doesn't work. It may just be that the card just sucks.

What's the difference between openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, etc?

P.S I have two wireless cards at hand an ADDON GWK150v2(the one that sort of works), and a SAFECOM SWLCT-54125 (doesn't work at all). They're both fine on my other laptop, but non of the drivers I install do anything.

The difference between openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva and the rest is mainly down to their system of install, and some other various things which make them slightly different. Ubuntu is one of the very easiest and best supported versions of Linux, and is also the most popular. openSUSE and Fedora are both community versions of professional Linux distributions, and some of the few to use the RPM package manager instead of the Debian-derived alternative. Debian is a highly customisable distribution which many others, including Ubuntu, are derived from.

It looks like neither of those cards are going to be supported in Linux, no matter what distribution you get, though. Unfortunately, wireless cards are just one of those things which Linux does fall down on, because very few companies consider open-source drivers.

Are there any wireless cards that do work in Linux?

 

[superbleeder12]

Are there any wireless cards that do work in Linux?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported

There's a huge list of stuff that works in linux, but you're probably like me, and lucky enough to have one of the cards on the list that isn't natively supported ;_;

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Are there any wireless cards that do work in Linux?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported

There's a huge list of stuff that works in linux, but you're probably like me, and lucky enough to have one of the cards on the list that isn't natively supported ;_;

Thanks. I think my ADDON card's chipset is on that list. I'm away from the laptop this weekend so I can't try it now. If it does work then you will have saved my life.