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Getting wifi to work on Ubuntu on my laptop

DkongDkong
edited March 2008 in Technology
Alright, about a few months ago, I put Ubuntu on my laptop. I got everything to work....but it can't connect to wifi. It can connect to wifi just fine when I'm on Windows...so I know it's not my network's fault.

Specs
Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy gibbon)

Windows Vista home premium

Dell Inspiron 1501

AMD turion 64 2x ....1.9 GHZ
2 gb ram
32 bit operating system

Comments

  • kiwi_birdkiwi_bird
    Maybe this website will help you out: Link.
  • GunfireGunfire
    This isn't Ubuntu, but it seems to be your problem.
  • GunfireGunfire
    Tutorial.
  • JohnUJohnU
    When you get your laptop working wirelessly you'll have to give my 1501 a try. Good god, I spent an entire couple of days working on this and ended up deciding that I was ok with XP on the laptop.

    Wireless on a Inspiron 1501 with Ubuntu sucks!
  • AprecheApreche
    Wireless in the newest Ubuntus has been better than ever before. I was unaware that there were still wireless cards out there that weren't working at least somewhat. Really, when going for Linux on a laptop, you have to choose a laptop with Linux in mind. You have to make sure you are buying Linux compatible hardware. Intel video cards and wireless are the way to go for Linux laptops.
  • DkongDkong
    edited March 2008
    Tutorial.
    God, ndiswrapped was a pain in the ass when I was trying to use it...but that tutorial looks a bit better than others that I've read...so I'll try it out.

    Edit: Well, there's pretty much no way in hell I'm gonna get the wired internet to work....at least for a long time, mainly because there's no wired internet close by at the moment.
    Damnit...
    Post edited by Dkong on
  • ChrisChris
    Dell laptops are a pain in the ass for Linux. I've got an inspiron b120 or something like that with a Broadcom chipset which I think is what Dell always uses and isn't really well supported by Linux. Throw a live CD in like BackTrack and make sure it will work. If you've got the same chipset then it should. Just search the Ubuntu forums for your type of wireless card. I did that and it ended up being that you pretty much have to uninstall what they have set up to detect your wireless and reinstall it and everything works fine. You'll get the 4 bars like a cell phone next to the time, that's when you'll know it's working properly which I suppose is pretty self explanatory, good luck.
  • DkongDkong
    Newb question- how to I figure out what kind of wireless card do I have? No, I never inserted any card into the computer, so I'm pretty sure it's some internal thing, and in such case I have no idea how to find it.
  • GunfireGunfire
    edited March 2008
    Newb question- how to I figure out what kind of wireless card do I have? No, I never inserted any card into the computer, so I'm pretty sure it's some internal thing, and in such case I have no idea how to find it.
    Googled your notebook model, figured out you have a "Dell 1390 802.11g Mini Wireless Card". Googled that, and it seems you have a Broadcom 4311 chipset.
    Post edited by Gunfire on
  • DkongDkong
    edited March 2008
    Oh another noob question....how to do you know whether to use x86, AMD64, or sun ultrasparc?


    When I installed gutsy, I went with x86. There's a little sticker on the laptop that says AMD Turion 64 x2 technology...but when I hit win+break, it comes up as 32 bit...and I'm assuming the win+break is more reliable then the sticker....but I'm still unsure.
    Post edited by Dkong on
  • AprecheApreche


    When I installed gutsy, I went with x86. There's a little sticker on the laptop that says AMD Turion 64 x2 technology...but when I hit win+break, it comes up as 32 bit...and I'm assuming the win+break is more reliable then the sticker....but I'm still unsure.
    To find out what CPU you have use this command. cat /proc/cpuinfo. The vast majority of people want to use the x86 version. That will work on pretty much any AMD or Intel chip you will have in your PC. If you do indeed have an AMD64 processor, the AMD64 version will theoretically have better performance and such, but you may also encounter some difficulties with certain software programs that aren't ready for 64-bits. The Sun UltraSPARC version is for people with Sun machines. I highly doubt you have a Sun machine.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    I've been having wifi problems with Ubuntu as well. I can't get WPA encryption working. I did everything the ubuntu help said to do to enable support for WPA but it wont work. When I try to connect to my home network it keeps saying that it can't connect because its WPA.
  • AprecheApreche
    I've been having wifi problems with Ubuntu as well. I can't get WPA encryption working. I did everything the ubuntu help said to do to enable support for WPA but it wont work. When I try to connect to my home network it keeps saying that it can't connect because its WPA.
    What version of Ubuntu are you using? All the recent versions seem to "just work" without having to do anything extra. I connect to a wireless access point, and it "knows" if it is WPA or WEP.
  • DkongDkong
    I've been having wifi problems with Ubuntu as well. I can't get WPA encryption working. I did everything the ubuntu help said to do to enable support for WPA but it wont work. When I try to connect to my home network it keeps saying that it can't connect because its WPA.
    What version of Ubuntu are you using? All the recent versions seem to "just work" without having to do anything extra. I connect to a wireless access point, and it "knows" if it is WPA or WEP.
    Another question about this...when I go to connect to a network, it asks for a password. The network I'm currently on isn't password protected and I have no idea if it's WPA or WEP or any of that. Well, I'm 99% sure it's not WEP, but I've never even heard of WPA before...
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    With some cards you will need something called Wpasupplicant. I can't remember how I did mine but you could try searching for your laptop or wireless card model number on the Ubuntu forums.
  • AprecheApreche
    With some cards you will need something called Wpasupplicant. I can't remember how I did mine but you could try searching for your laptop or wireless card model number on the Ubuntu forums.
    You do need wpasupplicant, but the newest versions of Ubuntu take care of it for you. On my laptop it "just works".
  • DkongDkong
    With some cards you will need something called Wpasupplicant. I can't remember how I did mine but you could try searching for your laptop or wireless card model number on the Ubuntu forums.
    You do need wpasupplicant, but the newest versions of Ubuntu take care of it for you. On my laptop it "just works".
    What kind of laptop do you currently have? (and yes, I realize you've mentioned it on podcasts before...I can't remember off the top of my head right now).
  • AprecheApreche
    What kind of laptop do you currently have? (and yes, I realize you've mentioned it on podcasts before...I can't remember off the top of my head right now).
    Fujitsu P7230 with an Intel 3945 abg integrated wireless card.
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