Migrating to Linux thread

[pudly]

My apologies, I for some reason thinking it had on board wireless...let me get home from work and look at it again.

No problem. That's the fun with tech support: the details matter. While you are at it, please verify if it really is Broadcom or if it is Realtek as the MB specifications list. Motherboards do sometimes have multiple generations and change components. Again, your Windows device manager software should be able to tell you without opening up the box.

 

[Caleb]

It says Broadcom wireless g network adaptor....4318 look familiar?

 

[Magneto]

Mint has been nothing but flawless for me. Recognized everything on my laptop and even was able to install the wireless printer no problem. I had ZERO luck with getting Windows 7 to install the printer.

 

[pudly]

It says Broadcom wireless g network adaptor....4318 look familiar?

Yeah, it sounds like you have this network card. Can you check the back of your PC and see if you have that black antenna there?

Also, are you running Linux Mint from a USB drive?

 

[wtburnette]

Mint has been nothing but flawless for me. Recognized everything on my laptop and even was able to install the wireless printer no problem. I had ZERO luck with getting Windows 7 to install the printer.

That's the way it was for me as well, though my printer works in Windows and Linux both. Ironically it was MUCH easier to install on Linux.

 

[Caleb]

 

[Caleb]

According to community.linuxmint.com it should work perfectly....why it isn't is beyond me

 

[PistolBob]

According to community.linuxmint.com it should work perfectly....why it isn't is beyond me

Did you remove the antenna?

 

[Caleb]

Did you remove the antenna?

I did to take that picture....

 

[pudly]

Caleb-

Actually, it was good that you took a picture of the actual card. It was a different model than the one I had a link to and it led me to a better answer.

Good news: Looks like it should be fairly easy to fix if you have a wired network connection. Significantly harder if you don't have one.

This procedure looks like the fix:Broadcom B43 drivers - Linux Mint Community

 

[Caleb]

Going to try it in a bit...reinstalling linux for a fresh start (no more windows on my machine). You going to be up a bit if I have questions?

 

[Caleb]

I followed those instructions, no dice

 

[Caleb]

Pudly, I tried tk send you a message but it wasn't going through for some reason.

I removed the card again and put it back then, did a reboot...now it works. Glad that it's working but I feel I did it by accident....not sure I could do it twice. :P

Thanks for the help...

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Pudly, I tried tk send you a message but it wasn't going through for some reason.

I removed the card again and put it back then, did a reboot...now it works. Glad that it's working but I feel I did it by accident....not sure I could do it twice. :P

Thanks for the help...

The good ol' reboot... it solves a myriad of ills. It's always my go-to before I call for tech support (at work) because I know that's the first thing they're going to tell me to do with any problem.

 

[pudly]

Actually, that is a bad habit carried over from Windows. Linux/Unix machines will generally run for months/years without needing a reboot. You may have noticed by now that when you install software updates, you almost never reboot. It doesn't really hurt anything when on a single user workstation, but when you are running a server that is hosting dozens or hundreds of web sites or a database that is critical to your business, it is a big deal. In Linux/Unix, typically you restart a specific service instead. The reboot accomplishes that, but is overkill. For comparison, I've worked in very large businesses and the routine was to force a reboot of Windows servers at least monthly during off-hours just to keep them from becoming unstable.

 

[Expat]

This is the problem with the automagical route that Linux went. It is great for attracting new people but it causes problems like this. You were probably loading the wrong driver first, creating a conflict. In the old days, you had to know your hardware and set the init scripts to load the appropriate drivers. It was a PITA at first to get everything running, but once it was, it was rock solid and boot up was faster than all of this detection and loading stuff.

 

[pudly]

This is the problem with the automagical route that Linux went. It is great for attracting new people but it causes problems like this. You were probably loading the wrong driver first, creating a conflict. In the old days, you had to know your hardware and set the init scripts to load the appropriate drivers. It was a PITA at first to get everything running, but once it was, it was rock solid and boot up was faster than all of this detection and loading stuff.

Yeah, but not everyone wants/needs to be deal with a PITA OS. You need to design systems to be easy for non-experts as well to reach wide acceptance. Otherwise, you relegate yourself to a niche. That said, there still is no excuse for modern Windows servers to be so unstable.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Actually, that is a bad habit carried over from Windows. Linux/Unix machines will generally run for months/years without needing a reboot. You may have noticed by now that when you install software updates, you almost never reboot. It doesn't really hurt anything when on a single user workstation, but when you are running a server that is hosting dozens or hundreds of web sites or a database that is critical to your business, it is a big deal. In Linux/Unix, typically you restart a specific service instead. The reboot accomplishes that, but is overkill. For comparison, I've worked in very large businesses and the routine was to force a reboot of Windows servers at least monthly during off-hours just to keep them from becoming unstable.

Not to threadjack, but I was going to ask about updates. I've tried updating Adobe Flash Player (keep getting the annoying pop ups saying it's out of date), and it appears to download, but I can't find an executable to actually install it. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I even went to update manager and supposedly updated everything that was in the "list" that needed updating (which included Adobe Flash Player), but I still get the pop-ups.

 

[pudly]

Hmmm... Do you get the pop-up only when starting a browser? If so, which browser? Some have a built-in feature to check Flash to make sure it is up-to-date since Flash has been one of the biggest ways to get hit by malware.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Hmmm... Do you get the pop-up only when starting a browser? If so, which browser? Some have a built-in feature to check Flash to make sure it is up-to-date since Flash has become one of the biggest ways to get hit by malware.

I'm using Firefox and I only get it on certain websites, not at startup.