Debian/Ubuntu the difference autoconfiguration of wireless
Posted: 2008-09-21 00:39
Just a quick discussion/question about autoconfiguration of wireless. Some of the details -
main computer is Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. Currently running Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04.
Wireless card is the unfortunate Broadcom 4318 AirForce 1g
Recently I wanted to change distributions moving to the parent distro Debian instead of Ubuntu. The reason for this is because of the huge repository of packages. The only issue that has been a show stopper for me is the configuration of wireless connection for my laptop. I used to run Fedora prior to Ubuntu but after the "upgrade to Fedora 8" which was miserable given there were packages not ready for that release. My wireless as with every upgrade of fedora was disabled. It takes a min of four days to get it back and running. Ubuntu on the other hand detected the firmware right away and after an install and reboot the wireless was up and running. So the question is this - while trying to install Etch the overall install went well, however we return to the issue of configuring wireless for the Broadcom. I'm guessing Etch does not detect this card because of the proprietary firmware? What is ultimately maddening - no fault of any distro, is the various possibilities for setting up your wireless. In the past I have both configured using ndiswrapper AND bcmxxx both time consuming and frustrating. I'm hoping that as I upgrade my own laptop at some point the configurations will become, for a lack of a better word, seamless!
main computer is Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. Currently running Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04.
Wireless card is the unfortunate Broadcom 4318 AirForce 1g
Recently I wanted to change distributions moving to the parent distro Debian instead of Ubuntu. The reason for this is because of the huge repository of packages. The only issue that has been a show stopper for me is the configuration of wireless connection for my laptop. I used to run Fedora prior to Ubuntu but after the "upgrade to Fedora 8" which was miserable given there were packages not ready for that release. My wireless as with every upgrade of fedora was disabled. It takes a min of four days to get it back and running. Ubuntu on the other hand detected the firmware right away and after an install and reboot the wireless was up and running. So the question is this - while trying to install Etch the overall install went well, however we return to the issue of configuring wireless for the Broadcom. I'm guessing Etch does not detect this card because of the proprietary firmware? What is ultimately maddening - no fault of any distro, is the various possibilities for setting up your wireless. In the past I have both configured using ndiswrapper AND bcmxxx both time consuming and frustrating. I'm hoping that as I upgrade my own laptop at some point the configurations will become, for a lack of a better word, seamless!