RE: my new Inspiron - WAS: OT: laptop recomendations
> From: Bernard [mailto:bdebreil@teaser.fr]
> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 3:30 PM
> Subject: my new Inspiron - WAS: OT: laptop recomendations
>
[snip]
> For I have not been able to get WiFi working so far !
>
> The UBUNTU v8.04 Gnome Desktop proposes a few things to get wifi
> working, but it does not work here. On my Desktop computer (running on
> Debian Sarge half upgraded to Etch), WiFi works on my DSL box/router,
> whether with WEP or WPA encryption. My old Thinkpad 600 worked WiFi
only
> on WEP encryption. This one does not work at all so far ; no doubt
that
> it is my mistake, but I'd like to kwow which one is mine. The
automated
> process "network tools" has not given any success. I have tried to
> insert my WPA encryption key in /etc/network/interfaces as I have done
> on my Desktop, but I had no success. A ping on 192.168.1.1 gives no
> result either. I have not forgotten to switch the side button that is
> supposed to switch the network ON/OFF.
If you have not used Ubuntu recently, the wireless configurations are
/much/ different then they were in Debian Etch. Try using "network
manager"; I bet the icon is in the top right of your screen by the clock
(looks like 2 computers). Left click to see the wireless networks it has
found, right click to see the properties information. Also, right after
a fresh boot up, it will take a few minutes for it to scan/find wireless
networks (I kid you not, it takes a full 2 minutes to find my wireless
network on my Ubuntu 8.10 laptop). So give it time. Once it scans the
area, it should present a drop down menu of all the wireless networks
found (left click). If you have your SSID set to "hidden" you will have
to select the "connect to Hidden Network" option. Both options bring you
to the same menu where you can define your network, your encryption, and
your password/phrase. That should be it to get you connected.
If you try to do networking/wireless "the Debian way" in Ubuntu, you
have to disable/remove network manager first. You will have issues if
you don't. You will probably find that people tend to either love or
loath "network manager".
>
> Do you recommend to give it a quick extra trial before installing
Debian
> Lenny, or have I better switch right away ?
I would give it a trial. Also, please do yourself and anyone helping you
a favor and look at the hardware before hand. I have heard several
stories of these laptops being shipped with binary blobs for drivers.
Also, a friend got one of the first Ubuntu-preinstalled Dell laptops. We
were unable to get Etch to install and we were unable to get Lenny
working right. The latest Sid and Ubuntu worked though (This was almost
a year ago so I hope things have changed for the better). If I were you
I would look through all the hardware and do a few Google searches to
make sure that the Debian version you are going to install will work (or
at least find out how much work it will take to get the drivers to
work).
I hope this helps. May the drivers be included on install and your
configuration smooth!
Have fun!
~Stack~
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