Ubuntu- Dell inspiron mini WiFi chipset driver? Help needed urgently!

[corcorand82]

I am a total noob when it comes to linux. I recently downloaded ubuntu to my dell inspiron mini (1012) and it won';t recognisemy wifi chip. When I hook it up to ethernet i get wired internet, its the driver thats missing. could anyone show me where to get the driver and explain how to put it into effect? Thanks!

 

[markwp]

You have entered into one of the more challenging areas in unbuntu - getting wireless to work.

First you need to find exactly which wifi card your Dell uses. Check in your devices list in windows and see if you can round up the model of the wifi card. If you can't find it there, use your dell item code and see if you can get the info on Dell's website. Once you determine the exact model, go to ubuntu's forums and search that model - you may find someone else has already solved the problem.

Dell uses a lot of broadcom cards, and broadcom cards tend to be somewhat frustration. Bottom line is you may have to use a work around called NDIS wrapper. You can search that term on ubuntu also as there are many references and articles for NDIS wrapper. An example can be found HERE. I happened to have this link, because I went through the same problem with my Dell latitude (what I'm using as I write this) when I started with linux.

Don't give up - wifi can be tough with older laptops and netbooks, but it can be done. Once you have gone through the process, you'll be surprised how much accomplishment you'll feel.

As an aside, you might want to look at Linux Mint also - I find the desktop to be more user friendly - I use Mint 13 on my Dell, and Mint 15 on my desktop.

Mark

 

[skittle]

Need to determine what chipset your card uses.

Post output of

sudo lspci
sudo lsmod

The driver is probably included in ubuntu already but You may just need to download firmware files. The firmware files are "non free" so many times they cannot be included in the distribution by default.

 

[corcorand82]

I have the problem solved, ll I did was just buy a new wifi stick. it actually has betterrange and faster connectivity then the built in chipset. 20$ well spent

 

[markwp]

Yeah - the newer stuff is pretty much plug and play with ubuntu. The older stuff (like your dell) can be a pain.

Glad you got it going.

Mark

 

[corcorand82]

You have entered into one of the more challenging areas in unbuntu - getting wireless to work.

First you need to find exactly which wifi card your Dell uses. Check in your devices list in windows and see if you can round up the model of the wifi card. If you can't find it there, use your dell item code and see if you can get the info on Dell's website. Once you determine the exact model, go to ubuntu's forums and search that model - you may find someone else has already solved the problem.

Dell uses a lot of broadcom cards, and broadcom cards tend to be somewhat frustration. Bottom line is you may have to use a work around called NDIS wrapper. You can search that term on ubuntu also as there are many references and articles for NDIS wrapper. An example can be found HERE. I happened to have this link, because I went through the same problem with my Dell latitude (what I'm using as I write this) when I started with linux.

Don't give up - wifi can be tough with older laptops and netbooks, but it can be done. Once you have gone through the process, you'll be surprised how much accomplishment you'll feel.

As an aside, you might want to look at Linux Mint also - I find the desktop to be more user friendly - I use Mint 13 on my Dell, and Mint 15 on my desktop.

Mark

Thanks for your suggestion, but in the meantime (I have been inactive for some while) I have
1. Purchased an i/o gear dual band wifi USB antennae (December)
2. waited another month
3. taught myself quite a bit of terminal (I am a techie but theres a learning curve to everything right?)
4. Learned all (I mean ALL) the specs of my laptop (January)
5. Used

b43-fwcutter

by installing

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

6. Wifi works fine! Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

I have heard great things about mint, but I would rather purchase a new laptop and experimant with distros BEFORE partitioning my 150GB HDD.

Thanks a lot!
Daniel

 

[markwp]

Yep - b43-fwcutter was my first "make it work" experience with linux also. Took a little time, but was worth the effort. I suspect the more you play with linux, the more you'll like it. I've fully transitioned to linux, but still keep windows around for those rare occasions when I want to do gaming. Other than that, I have found open source programs to replace virtually everything on windows.

Good luck with your experimenting - the learning curve can be steep, but once you get the hang of terminal and how the various parts interact, it'll become second nature.

Mark