new laptops and Linux wireless

[jakamo]

Hi guys.
I was wondering if I could get some suggestions on what laptop(s)
might be good to get if I want to run nothing but Linux and not
have to deal with issues getting the wireless to work.
From what I understand, the wireless on the Intel 2200BG
will work out of the box, but the new laptops now all have
the core Duo processor that comes with 3945ABG integrated
wireless. I'm not experienced at doing kernel level debugging
so I would prefer not to have to deal with time consuming
issues. This has me in somewhat of a quandry.
There seems to be a project going on to develop Linux
wireless support for the 3945,

http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/,

but without knowing for sure that the wireless
will work running Linux on new laptops with the
core Duo processor, perhaps its better to settle for
one with the Pentium M instead ? I doubt you'd
be giving up that much in processing speed.

[seablade]

If you dont need access point mode, and just need to connect via wireless, then about any x86 laptop can work when combined with ndiswrapper to load the windows drivers.

Google ndiswrapper for more info.

Seablade

[abf]

ndiswrapper is a joke.... i could never get a good stable signal with it..it would drop every 5 minutes.

that said if ipw2200 is not an option, i have an Atheros card which uses madwifi drivers....atheros cards are already known to probably have some of the best signal strenghts, so adding it to the easy-to-configure madwifi driver should give you a good package.

[jakamo]

ndiswrapper is a joke.... i could never get a good stable signal with it..it would drop every 5 minutes.

that said if ipw2200 is not an option, i have an Atheros card which uses madwifi drivers....atheros cards are already known to probably have some of the best signal strenghts, so adding it to the easy-to-configure madwifi driver should give you a good package.

Theres also linuxant, which sells driver loaders - but I don't see on their website
that they're offering driver loader for the ipw3945 yet. Looks like they do have
support for all the Atheros drivers, so if the laptop used Atheros drivers, that
would work. Some of the company websites, ie Dell, dont list
exactly what type of wireless theyre using. The easiest thing to do probably
is to just go with a laptop where you know for sure it has ipw2200, which
means Pentium M instead of core duo, which unless Im going to be
writing multithreaded applications, wont matter anyway. The core Duo may
also be more prone to overheating. Thanks for the advice.

[jakamo]

I just saw that with some of the Toshibas, ie the Satellite P100, you can actually
customize it so that you opt for the Atheros wireless LAN instead of
the ipw3945. Do anybody think this would be an issue since its not
the centrino mobile technology ? (This one does use the new core-duo
processor. )
Here's a quote of the blurb about the wifi:


Mini-PCI/WiFi

Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Any products tested and approved as "Wi-Fi Certified" by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as interoperable with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with a "Wi-Fi Certified" product can use any brand of access point with any other brand of client hardware that also is certified.


So it seems like this would be an option. Just get this with the Atheros wireless LAN
instead and then purchase the driver loader from linuxant, which is relatively cheap.

[ExplodingLemur]

Ubuntu works fine with my Intel 3945 wireless adapter.

[seablade]

ndiswrapper is a joke.... i could never get a good stable signal with it..it would drop every 5 minutes.

that said if ipw2200 is not an option, i have an Atheros card which uses madwifi drivers....atheros cards are already known to probably have some of the best signal strenghts, so adding it to the easy-to-configure madwifi driver should give you a good package.


Sure thats ndiswrapper and not the driver used?

Personally while I havent used wireless much, last I used ndiswrapper I had not problem with it, stability or signal strength.

Seablade

[abf]

possitive it was ndiswrapper. i used the same exact driver on my windows partition @ the time and in windows it was flawless, under linux its another story...until i switched to the linux native madwifi where it started working as it should.

[theoak]

Ndiswrapper works great with my broadcom BCM4306 wireless. But ONLY if I use Suse or Kanotix. It did not work in Ubuntu at all. It would occasionally see my access point, but would lose it before connecting. Other distros gave similar problems. I am typing this from my emachines m6805 using ndiswrapper and Suse 9.3 now. It works flawlessly, but I have wanted so much to try Ubuntu (no distro is acceptable without wireless), that I ordered a new PCI wireless card by MSI that reportedly works "out of the box" with Linux. It should get here Tuesday.

This is the one I have ordered ( MSI MP54G4):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833158115
I'll let everyone know how it goes next week. Maybe I'll get to run Ubuntu after all.

[seablade]

Hmm it would be interesting is some distros had conflicts between their kernel and ndiswrapper....

Seablade

[abf]

well, if i am not mistaken ubuntu has its own ndiswrapper build....so i am sure they should have taken care of possible conflicts

[jakamo]

Ubuntu works fine with my Intel 3945 wireless adapter.

So what additional things did you have to do after getting your laptop to get the
ipw3945 adaptor to work with ubuntu ? If you look at this page

http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/

from Intel, there's an ongoing project to enable Linux support for the
3945 adaptor, but isnt clear that a bug free version is out yet.

[ExplodingLemur]

So what additional things did you have to do after getting your laptop to get the ipw3945 adaptor to work with ubuntu ?

All I had to do was install the Gnome network manager tool for WPA support, and I was up. Didn't have to mess with the ipw3945 module at all, it was loaded automatically.

[adewolf]

Ububty Dapper 6.06 has the native Linux drivre for the 3945 (ipw3945) in the base OS. Worked for me (Dell e1705) out of the box.

[abf]

Ububty Dapper 6.06 has the native Linux drivre for the 3945 (ipw3945) in the base OS.

yes ubunty FTW :laughing:

[adewolf]

OOPS LOL
UbuntUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[jakamo]

Well, thats encouraging news. I have no experience with configuring Linux,
so Im nervous about getting a laptop where I'm not sure if the wireless
will work out of the box with Linux. (I was thinking I might have to go
with a laptop that had the slightly older Pentium M that came with
the ipw2200. )
Now this opens up the possibilities to getting something
like the Asus A6J, which has the new core duo with the ipw3945

[bigtrouble77]

If you go with gnome you also may want to try Gnome Network Manager (http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/) It's not going to help compatibility, but it is nice when you get things working.

Makes connecting to wireless networks very easy.

[abf]

If you go with gnome you also may want to try Gnome Network Manager (http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/) It's not going to help compatibility, but it is nice when you get things working.

Makes connecting to wireless networks very easy.


i hate that program and stay away from it like the black plague. i tried it in Arch and Ubuntu and before installing it, just using the gnome network applet i managed my wifi just fine...as soon as that program showed up, my connection became unstable, and often wouldn't even connect and be ready to run on boot. :thumbdown

[bigtrouble77]

i hate that program and stay away from it like the black plague. i tried it in Arch and Ubuntu and before installing it, just using the gnome network applet i managed my wifi just fine...as soon as that program showed up, my connection became unstable, and often wouldn't even connect and be ready to run on boot. :thumbdown
Perhaps it's your laptop? I've never heard of anyone having as many wifi issues as you do. You admitted that ndiswrapper doesn't even work. To be honest, I have not had trouble with either ndiswrapper or the gnome network manager. Gnome network Manager will not work until you comment out the entries for your "physical" network cards (interfaces) in /etc/network/interfaces.

[theoak]

Well, the above mentioned MSI MP54G4 wireless PCI card arrived today. I replaced the Broadcom wireless in my emachines m6805 with this card, removed ndiswrapper (although it worked in Suse) and the laptop "saw" the new card, and let me configure it. I am using it right now to post this. Now, let me try Ubuntu. (Could never use it because ndiswrapper did not work well with Ubuntu.)

[NewDisciple]

My e1705 with ipw 3945 worked out of the box with Ubuntu/DapperDrake.

[ollywompus]

It's funny to me that people have so many problems with ndiswrapper. I've used it with every distro I have used (because current Broadcom support is TRULY a joke: I had to blacklist it from Kubuntu 6.06 LTS just to be able to use ndiswrapper). I've used ndiswrapper with my broadcom internal wireless under (K)ubuntu, SuSE, RHEL, Fedora, Mepis, Kanotix, Debian Sarge, Vector, Slack, and most recently Arch (though I'm now back to trusty Kubuntu which has been my favorite for almost 2 years now).

I have no dropped connection issues, everything works just fine.

-olly

[nadav2605]

I have the Dell inspiron E1405 with the 3946ABG and i installed Ubuntu and it worked out of the box perfectly. 100% signal, no drops, amazing speed (even faster then what windows gave me) and needed no configuration at all.

[abf]

...to each his own i guess oly. to me both the gnome-network-manager and ndiswrapper mean unstable signal and crappy speeds... might be the hardware... who knows what Gigabyte/Atheros does with their junk

[katorga]

ndiswrapper works like a champ with the old broadcom 802.11g card in my HP ZD7000. Great signal, up all the time.

What it does poorly is support encryption. I have not figured that one out yet. Luckily I like in the middle of nowhere, so I really don't have to worry about someone sniffing my wifi traffic and can run unencrypted.

[nfc26]

INTEL PRO WIRELESS 2200BG DOES NOT WORK OUT OF THE BOX!!!!!

I have tried ubuntu,kubuntu,xubuntu,pclinuxos,freespire,opensuse,mandriva,fedora and the only one that worked out of the box was Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop. Yeah it is $50 but for what it is that is a bargain!!!!

I would reccommend it, but i am a new to linux so i probally could of got it working but with some tweaking :(