linux.gotfoo.org

I loaded up the PCLinuxOS 2007 LiveCD last night and during the setup (of the LiveCD) it asks how you’d like to connect to the network either Ethernet, modem or wireless. On a total whim I choose Wireless. It then asked me to select the Windows driver which I luckily had on a USB drive. Unfortunately PCLinux could not yet see the external USB drive but it could see my Windows NTFS partition. So on another total whim I browsed the Windows partition looking for the Broadcom drivers I had downloaded from Gateway a while back. I found the file that I was looking for (bcmwl5a.inf) which has worked in the past with Xubuntu and my laptop and clicked OK. It did some stuff and then displayed a list of wireless networks. I must point out that I was not connected to a network in another way so at this point the wireless card is working. So I choose my wireless network and entered my security key and bang I’ve got a 54Mbps connection to the internet.

The only downside to this happy story is that PCLinuxOS kept freezing up for a few seconds at a time and it would not launch some applications.

But I am still impressed to get wireless working with a LiveCD.

Ok so I’m all jazzed up about Wifi consistently working on my Gateway Laptop but I have noticed some odd behavior with the wifi connection. When the laptop is connected to the network via the etherenet cable and the wifi is running, the downstream for the wifi card is active and the upstream for the ethernet card is active.

Wifi pulling data from the internet.
Ethernet pushing data to the internet.

Does that make any sense?

This is an update to my previous post Installing Xubuntu 6.06 on a Gateway Laptop.

Summary
Xubuntu 7.04 is a derivative from the popular Ubuntu Linux distro with the difference being Xubuntu uses the Xfce Window Manager instead of Gnome or KDE. Xfce is a light weight Open Source window manager that is fast and efficient which makes Xubuntu ideal for lower end computers. Or if you want a super fast system try Xubuntu on a newer system like a my Gateway MX6440 Laptop (1.8Ghz Turion64 with a gig of RAM) and you’ll be amazed at how fast Linux can run.
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A few weeks back my Mother-In-Law (MIL) became the owner of an eMachine Desktop (AMD 1Ghz / 512 RAM) with Windows XP Home Edition that was very virus laden, spy-ware riddled, porn infested and unstable system. Of course she wants to use the computer “to find a man” as she put it and wants me to help her. As Ray Romano’s farther put it “What contest in hell did I win?!”

The first thing I noticed was the PC was connected directly to the Cable Modem with out a Switch or Firewall. Once all of the spy-ware infested download managers, PC gadgets and chat programs finished loading I was able to start accessing the system. That when I found that the System was running Norton Anti-Virus 2004 with Auto-Update turned off and the last virus definition date being early 2005. Along with that Windows Auto Update was turned off as well!

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Summary
Xubuntu 6.06 is a derivative from the popular Ubuntu Linux distro with the difference being Xubuntu uses the Xfce Window Manager instead of Gnome or KDE. Xfce is a light weight Open Source window manager that is fast and efficient which makes Xubuntu ideal for lower end computers. Or if you want a super fast system try Xubuntu on a newer system like a my Gateway MX6440 Laptop (1.8Ghz Turion64 with a gig of RAM) and you’ll be amazed at how fast Linux can run.

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I found this on Ubuntu Wiki:
RadeonDriverHowto: This guide will show you how to use the Free, Open Source driver for many ATI graphics cards called “radeon”. It is similar to the “ati” driver and provides 2D functionality. 3D acceleration is enabled using the drivers from the DRI project such as: r200, r100, r128.
Reade More

Linux and Wireless is currently a pain in the arse. Some wireless vendors are hip to Linux and others could care less. To get around the this issue Linux hackers and some vendors have created dirvers or hacks to get Linux and wifi in the sama bed.

This page is my resource and links page for trying to get wifi working on my Gateway MX6440 laptop which has a poorly supported Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02). At some point I am going to buy either a USB Wifi, a PCMCIA Wifi Card or a miniPCI Wifi card.
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