Great, another Ubuntu question...

bassfacekevin · #1 02-01-2009, 02:07 PM

hey y'all,

Well, I'm in quite a predicament: I have been telling my friend to dump her windows os because it is constantly giving her trouble. She isn't the most computer savvy and doesn't understand that going to bad sites and opening random e-mail attachments is bad, and refuses to stop, so I told her that maybe linux is her answer. So after giving her a tour of my linuxbox, I finally persuaded her to give it a shot. "easy" I thought. I get a fresh copy of 64bit 8.10 Ubuntu, pop it in her computer. Installs like a charm. But wait... no wireless connectivity. Crap.

So I run "sudo lshw -C network" find out her wireless card is an "Airforce One 54g" made by broadcom. Come to find out that this card has some issues with turning on with linux. I have come to the conclusion that the "niswrapper" is the solution to this problem, but the documentation is a bit dense for me to understand how to install it. Anyone have a good link they could send me for a tutorial? Maybe they could coach me through it? I would be eternally grateful, and you could rest easy that by helping me, you got one more person turned onto linux.

Been using this tutorial to no success: http://i-eat-noobs.blogspot.com/2007...buntu-704.html (been having trouble at the "blacklisting" section. Not sure how to input the blacklist command)

Install: Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex (64bit)

(specs)
HP Pavillion dv5000 laptop http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a
Airforce One 54g Broadcom network card
AMD Turion64 processor

daystcity · #2 02-01-2009, 04:50 PM

I had a wireless problem with ubuntu on my laptop, 20$ later solved. One interesting thing I found was that different distros might give you success. Fedora worked but Ubuntu didn't. Then later an update came out that fixed my issues. So I suggest get a new wireless card of look at other distros.

And good job freeing her from her windows! Be prepared to answer a lot of questions!

bassfacekevin · #3 02-01-2009, 06:51 PM

Ha, yeah, too true. I'm still working on this (waiting on some help from a techie friend) so I ended up loaning her my Macbook Pro.

until I can fix her laptop. I hope I can fix this soon....

daystcity · #4 02-01-2009, 09:22 PM

Honk'n_down-low · #5 02-01-2009, 09:30 PM

Throw a known working card in it till youi can figure out the issue with the Broadcom - man it seems any issues I have ever had Intel or otherwise have been with Broadcom based cards.