The next release of ubuntu. More wireless friendly?

So I have ubuntu installed on my older computer that has a wired connection to the internet. I would also like to install ubuntu on my notebook that uses wireless to connect to the internet. My problem is that I cannot get my wireless firmware while running ubuntu and thus my internet wont work.

Any chance that the next version of ubuntu will be more friendly to wireless connections? More "out of the box" connection so to speak.

Thanks

 

with every release comes new updated drivers, patches etc. so there is every chance that your wireless will have a better chance of working. I also hear that the next ubuntu 8.10 will see significant differences to its appearance / gui. does anyone have any idea what the new ubuntu will look like?

 

8.04 made no difference to 7.10 for my HP Tx2000, wireless did not work out of box.

 

Broadcom cards almost never work out of the box, if thats what you mean. They really need to put some developers on this, considering that more and more laptops are appearing with this chip.

 

yep, i have broadcom in my dell notebook. no issue with windows but its a ***** to get working in linux. i like linux over windows just need that damn wireless to work.

 

Have you looked into ndiswrapper?

 

Probably has, considering that all you can use is the bcm43xx-fwcutter or ndiswrapper. In any case, both are unreliable and yield unusable performance.

 

No amount of developers can make up for undisclosed hardware specs. What needs to happen is to have people stop buying Broadcom cards. If you use properly supported and documented hardware, things work.

 

yea, they are a little to messy for my taste.

 

agreed.

has linux tried to work with broadcom? does broadcom simply say get lost or what?

 

how do you find out what wireless card you have in your laptop?

 

I can help you with your wireless card.
Which one do you have?

 

i have a Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g wireless card. Seeing as its' not broadcom, will it easily work in ubuntu or any other distro?

 

Depends, I was refering to the OP.
It should work, maybe in indiswrapper.

 

i wonder, with dell shipping systems installed with ubuntu. what kind of wireless cards are they shipping them with?

i would assume the dell ubuntu systems are pretty much "out of the box" wireless correct?

 

Yep, they have intel wireless cards.

 

i guess for now i will stick to XP only on my main wireless notebook and ubuntu only on my older wired computer.

 

Ubuntu will run fine on a Vostro with broadcom, mine does.

 

i know but i am not so sure that my computer skills are good enough to install the things needed to get wireless running. the instructions for all that look pretty intimidating.

 

Its prett easy, just use fw-cutter, I did the same.
I can walk you through it on IM(MSN) if you want.

 

that would be great if you can do that.

will i be able to do that while running ubuntu from the CD instead of actually installing it on the system. i just want to make sure i can get it working on this notebook before i install it.

 

also, will this have to be done all over again when i install the next version of ubuntu or will the setting etc.. be remembered? thanks

 

The solution is simple. You have a laptop. Install linux on it, and bring it to some place where you have access to wired internet. If you have to, unplug your desktop. You can then use the package manager in Ubuntu to setup your wireless. There should be packages for both the fw-cutter and ndiswrapper methods, which will extract the firmware and install the card for you.

I have a desktop with a microsoft wireless card(based on a broadcom 43XG chip). Just last weekend I setup the wireless on it with no internet connection. It's a little more involved without an internet connection because you have to do everything manually, but it can be done, and in a short amount of time.

If you need any more help, feel free to contact me.

EDIT:

Yes, you can get the wireless working under the live cd, but you will have to set it up all over again if you choose to install ubuntu. If you update ubuntu rather than completely reinstall it in the future, you should not need to setup your wireless all over again.

 

well dont ask me what i did. all of the sudden ubuntu could see all the wireless networks in my area. i typed in my password and boom i have wireless! lol

 

Issuing the command "lspci" returns a list of all PCI devices in your computer, which includes your wireless.