I have a laptop with Debian installed as well as XP Pro.
I want to get a wireless card...
Any suggestions? What about the requirements on the boxes that only list Windows installation? Is that just for installation help, and it will work with other OS?

Which wireless card and whats the kernel version of Debian and why in the world did you pick Debian?

Do a google search, there are opensource linux drivers for wireless cards (and even USB)...

I found USB, but not cards...I'll refine my search.

Milton, Debian was installed simply because the server I run off at work is Debian, and I am most familiar with it.
I don't know which wireless card I should look at...this is not something I even know where to begin looking except google, but I thought those in the know might help me avoid bad ones...former IT guy told me it should only run me about 15 bucks, but I am not finding those prices and I have a note to avoid 3Com for some reason....I can't reach him so I turn to you for help.
I have to check kernel version...don't have laptop with me. I'll get back to you.

What are the laptop specs?
What standard of wireless? 802.11b/a/g/n?
What happened to the IT guy. Did he find a new job or was he canned?

It's an IBM Thinkpad...I have to get the RAM and disk space when I get back to my laptop.
I have no idea where to start with wireless...this is my first time even delving into wireless stuff which is why I am so lost.
He made aliya...he's a hardware guy anyway, knows his way around, and he knows enough to help me. But he's been offline, and I have no idea if he is currently here (as he was a month ago when he suggested to me what to do with the laptop I inherited) or back in Israel.

This one worked out of the box for me using Ubuntu 6.10 (released almost 2 years ago). It's sure to work with a later release of Ubuntu.

Linksys WPC11 (802.11b)

Thank you kindly.

This is what I found here in Sierra Leone...


works with


...i think...

What is the difference between http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WPC11-Wirele...r/dp/B000056SSM and http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WPC11-Instan...5064351-6365511 which has the word instant in its name and is a few bucks more? Anything noticeably faster to make it worth it?

The "instant" one came out in 2005 and the other one in 2001. I would go with the 2005 one because one of the reviewers specifically mentioned that it works with Linux. I'm not at home right now so I can't check if the card I have is "instant."

http://cgi.ebay.com/Linksys-WPC11-V-4-Wire...1QQcmdZViewItem
Is it worth it to risk on ebay, or should I just buy from a "real" seller?

Amazon would cost me $20, but I can get almost half off if I bid and won this auction.

Go ebay, but look for a card with lower shipping fees.

Also see this:

http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

Amazon I could get $20 for the card+shipping.
Ebay so far I haven't found too many for that price or cheaper. Especially new.
Is it too risky to get used?

The card you linked to is used.
I would go with ebay and make sure that whatever listing you choose notes that the card is in working condition if it's used.

I know it's used; that is why I wanted to know if it was risky.

Thanks...I'll try to buy via ebay. Considering I have not spent a penny on this laptop yet, I think I'm doing pretty well

I have been using my ebay won card on XP nsmoothly, but Debian is giving me issues, and I think I might switch to Ubuntu which someone else suggested might work better. Am I crazy for tackling this all alone with no technical support to use as a crutch except remotely?

Do you even KNOW it works in Ubuntu??

And even if it DOES, wouldn't it be easier to install or recompile the driver on Debian than to replace the entire OS???

Milton said he has it working.
And a supervisor here suggested switching OS completely for not only this issue but others. And since others on the thread have made comments that debian isn't the ideal, well...I don't mind the practice. I have installed Debian before (with someone in the office to fall back on with questions). Ubuntu, with their CD, shouldn't be all that complicated, now should it?
(I just need a confidence booster, I think.)

I really don't know, I have never installed either...
And may I ask why are you using linux in the first place???

As opposed to Windows? Do you even have to ask?
As opposed to Mac? I have no idea how to get a Mac OS free, and frankly I am comfortable with the Debian installation I use at work.

Don't get me wrong, I don't encourage ANYONE to use Windows, but most people who install linux on their laptops are how should we say this, more "technically inclined" and would have already hacked the wifi card to work with their toaster... It it pretty much reserved for the people who consider themselves to be 1337 computer weenies...

Ubuntu is really simple to install and it's a "Live CD" so you can boot off the Cdrom and test the OS (and wireless card) before installing it.

I'm not THAT good, but I do know my way around.


That's what it seems like. Didn't know about being able to test the wireless card, but that's another bonus. I already put it in a request for the CD; takes 4-6 weeks. I don't want to waste bandwidth to download it.

My CD came
Maybe I'll install it M"S.

Nu?

My laptop doesn't have enough RAM
I have to buy some before re-attempting. (I think I only have 256 M, while ubuntu requires 384 I think it said....the CD was crawling.)

Your laptop has enough RAM. Install the OS and then open a command prompt and run



Which will install a stripped down desktop system that will be much more responsive.

So ignore the system requirements on the Ubuntu package? Maybe I'll try again M"S then...but why was the CD crawling?

Maybe DMA was not enabled by default when you began to install it. There are a number of reasons why the CDROM could be crawling, but don't worry about that for now.

Thanks.

I'll re-attempt M"S (provided I don't have any family obligations that suddenly creep up on Chanukah).

Milton, I started installing it. Got up to partitioning disks when baby woke up. My brother needed the computer already to book a return ticket so I decided to cancel installation and restart. When I got back a half hour later, Ubuntu CD still hadn't exited, and he said it hadn't budged in the progress bar in 20 minutes or so. I could not restart my computer (control alt backspace, control alt delete, power button, opening CD drive to take out disc) and I manually had to unscrew the battery to get it to "die" so I could revive it.

I need 100% assurance that if I finish the job now it will work and won't stall on me like the Live CD did. I'm just too nervous to install an OS that really shouldn't be on this laptop. I can really go ahead with it?

agent220, I really really doubt that Ubuntu 7.10 requires 384 MB of RAM to run. The previous version, 7.04, only required



A few thoughts:

1) Try to install Ubuntu and if it doesnt work you can just install another OS instead, but I have no reason to believe it won't work.
2) Can you test the CDROM to make sure it's good. Many Linux OSes allow you to test the media.
3) If all else fails, download and burn a copy of Xubuntu, which is Ubuntu with Xfce as the window manager and has much lower system requirements.
4) Why are you so nervous about installing it?

Ok. But this packaging says it does.
From the site:



Ok.


It works, but very slowly. You said stripping it down should help.


From here? http://www.xubuntu.org/

Because if I write over my Debian I'll have no Linux on my OS if Ubuntu fails, and working from home if the need arises (until I re-install it) will be so torturous using Windows.

My "guy" in Israel told me to go ahead with it even after my M"S failure; he really doesn't think it'll be problematic.

There are real minimum requirements and then there are recommended requirements.

It will be much quicker after it's installed and then after you switch the window manager to xubuntu (see my directions earlier in the thread).

Yes, but only if the installation doesn't work out.

Doesn't sound recommended to me:
Package reads -- "To use with Live CD, you must have a PC with at least 364 MB of RAM"
I guess it's not for installation, since it then goes on to say "To install Ubuntu, you should have at least 4 GB of disk space". That sounds recommended.

Anyway, installation just finished
Thanks, Milton for your help....rebooting the laptop now and will see if GRUB loads
Edited: It loads. Lost nothing

Next q -- how to get the wireless card working on Ubuntu...

Milton, code for xubuntu-desktop didn't work.
"Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "xubuntu-desktop""

Try this:


If that doesnt work then please post the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list

I tried that already,,,

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release i386 (20071016)]/ gutsy main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
## users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse

uncomment the following lines:

#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted


The rerun the apt-get update and install.

Worked beautifully.
Thank you.

Next....trying this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=95591
Synaptic Package Manager wants me to insert the disk to apply the new utility. Aren't I supposed to be able to change my installation directly on my hard drive?

Just wanted to clarify that this happens even if done command line...
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common tells me:
"Media change: please insert the disc labeled 'Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ -Release i386 (20071016)' in the drive '/cdrom/' and press enter"

Comment out this line:deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release i386 (20071016)]/ gutsy main restrictedDid you exit Gnome and login to Xfce?For the wireless card, you should NOT need to install anything and you should be able to simply configure the card.

I logged out and logged back in before I tried it.
When I tried to configure it in Network Tools, configure button was disabled for wlan, leading me to believe (perhaps erroneously?) that I need to install ndiswrapper.
Anyway, I installed ndiswrapper now (thank you), and I'll prod along...

So now I am wondering if I'm just being silly.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareS...orkCardsLinksys
says that light doesn't work but card does. I now have configure capabilities for it, but apparently WiFi was disabled in the office. I'll bring it home and see if it works

never mind...figured it out

Never mind what? Was there a question?

Yeps. I edited it cuz I found out the answer on my own
(I spent today weaning off of Debian at work onto a brand new desktop circa 2000 where I did an Ubuntu install and I didn't chap what was automatically there and what wasn't....got my ssh on, scped my files over, and we're all good. Thanks for checking in though and for helping me out.)