Larry

Member since: May 13th, 2008

Larry's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
Download Squad	7 Comments

Recent Comments:

Flipping the Linux switch: Installations are disturbingly easy (Download Squad)

May 14th 2008 10:10PM I have installed Mandrake (back in the day) then Mandriva, then Knoppix, then Kubuntu 8.04.

None of these distros was capable of recognizing my built-in wireless card on a fairly ubiquitous Dell laptop, the E1705.

Every distro (Live CD or not) that I have tried is incapable of configuring all my hardware correctly.

Oddly enough, every distro recognized my Bluetooth. No problem there.

The workarounds required to activate my wireless involve cryptic console commands, installing the ndiswrapper package, (which is not installed as a default package most of the time, so it is difficult to install without an internet connection) then crossing the fingers because ndiswrapper does a good job of emulation most of the time, but not some of the time.

Kubuntu 8.04 is the only distro that recognized all my hardware without a hiccup except for the wireless card. Kubuntu thinks my wireless is an ethernet port, and it does not recognize my ethernet port at all.

Wonderful.

Aside from all that, Kubuntu 8.04 is a solid release.

The Adept Manager is flawless in tracking dependencies and installing packages. Finally, a package manager that works.

How many Windows users can install 30 programs at one time, in less than 5 minutes, and then not need to reboot the system?

Let's not point out that Linux drives do not require defragmenting.

To sum it up, Kubuntu 8.04 is the first Linux distro to make a home on my machine, despite the wireless card problem.

When vendors start writing Linux drivers for all of the hardware, Windows is finished on my machine.

I am running Windows XP Pro, and I refuse the play the Vista game. For me, Windows is like the mother-in-law I can't stand but I have to invite her to dinner anyway.

Flipping the Linux switch: My OS is okay, your OS is okay (Download Squad)

May 13th 2008 5:36PM Now I am running Kubuntu 8.04 with a wireless internet connection. The solution is simple :)

I have an old Belkin Wireless-G USB adapter that I used on a defunct Win 98SE machine. I disabled the Dell WLAN manually by pressing Fn+F2, then I plug the Belkin adapter into a USB port while the machine is restarting in Linux.

It turns out that the Belkin Wireless-G (Model 7050) USB adapter is recognized by most Linux distros natively.

HA!

If I had known this fact two days ago, I would not have bothered with ndiswrapper and cryptic console commands to get my built-in wireless working.

Now that Kubuntu is up and running on the internet, I am duly impressed with the result.

It is unfortunate that I must use an ancient USB wireless adapter to run Linux and get updates and packages.

GrandCentral: What happens when your phone company is in beta? (Download Squad)

May 13th 2008 4:38PM You can sign up for an invitation to GrandCentral here:

http://www.grandcentral.com/home/reserve

Flipping the Linux switch: My OS is okay, your OS is okay (Download Squad)

May 13th 2008 4:21PM I have tried to use Linux distros such as Mandrake, Mandriva, Linspire, Knoppix, and now Kubuntu 8.04 (Ubuntu w/ KDE).

None of the distros I installed will recognize the wireless card in my desktop. I had to spend hours researching the problem in Linux FAQs and Forums until I came across a user with the same machine who solved the problem with a few superuser console commands, then applying NDISWrapper to the Windows driver so that the driver would be emulated by Linux.

If every user has to go through that mess to get an internet connection, then Linux still has a way to go, IMHO.

Windows XP SP3 now available through Windows Update (Download Squad)

May 13th 2008 3:47PM I downloaded and installed SP3 today on my Dell laptop and so far I have not discovered any problems. I haven't noticed much improvement, either. At least my machine still works.

However, I was sweating bullets while the machine rebooted after the SP3 install. After 5 minutes of a lengthy reboot, my desktop appeared and all is well. I think.

Flipping the Linux switch: The distribution maze (Download Squad)

May 13th 2008 3:03PM I also meant to say that the Sun xVM Virtual Box is the best VM I have used in Windows XP so far, but a VM running Linux will not reveal hardware issues because the VM runs its own hardware layer.

I did not find out that Kubuntu 8.04 would not recognize my laptop's wireless card until I installed it on my machine.

Flipping the Linux switch: The distribution maze (Download Squad)

May 13th 2008 2:52PM I have tried several of the Linux distros; Mandrake, then Mandriva, Linspire, and now Kubuntu (Ubuntu w/ KDE) and I always ended up with the same result:

The wireless card on my Dell E1705 laptop is not recognized by any distro I have tried so far.

Of course, without an internet connection, you cannot easily obtain updates or packages.

It's no big deal, really. All a user needs to do is look through hundreds of Linux FAQs and Forums, discover NDISwrapper, learn the console commands (as a superuser!) to banish the native Broadcom chip drivers from a module and then apply NDISWrapper to the Windows .inf file (which you hopefully copied to your Home directory or an external USB drive that is recognized by your distro) and presto! your wireless card comes to life 40% of the time.

Piece of cake.

Really, folks, until Linux is capable if recognizing common hardware devices installed on computers during the stone age, it will continue to be an amusing playtoy to serious computer users.

When Linux gets serious and ubiquitous about hardware support, (and until vendors supply reliable Linux drivers), then I will get serious about using Linux as my primary OS.

Enough said.