[Gllug] Wireless and Linux

[John Hearns]

2009/8/1 Johannes Lang <johannes.lang at btinternet.com>:
>
>
> The WG111T USB network adapter uses an Atheros chipset I think. All the
> web pages I have visited unfortunately tell you different things. One
> says "no drivers exist" and others say "it depends how you configure
> your system". Who would you believe.
Again, why not save yourself time and effort and just buy an adapter
which you know will work out of the box, without having to configure
ndis-wrapper?


> Please be patient with me, as I am a newbie at Linux. People say as a
> newbie, you should use Ubuntu, but I prefer openSuse / SLED. Besides,
> these disros use KDE and Konqueror rather than Gnome and Nautilus as the
> file manager (I digress though).
I'm sorry, but this is a canard. You can install both Gnome and KDE on
any desktop Linux distribution. When installing SuSE you just click
the boxes to install Gnome.
I prefer Gnome, and I'm sitting in front of an OpenSUSE 11.1
workstation right now, using Gnome.

Sorry to labour this point - but with Linux you get to choose. You can
run a completely command-line system, with no windowing interface. You
can run a lighweight X-windowing interface, such as fvwm. You can run
Gnome and KDE - all installed on the same system. Indeed, even though
I'm using Gnome I can run KDE applications on my desktop - all you
need is the relevant libraries installed.


My honest advice to you - get the OpenSUSE 11.1 installation DVD,
either by downloading it on a Windows PC and burning a DVD, but post
or by buying a Linux magazine.
Install it on your laptop, and use a wired (Cat 5) ethernet connection
to get started.
Follow the HOWTOs on configuring ndis-wrapper for your wireless adapter,
or just buy a different one.

ps. As someone who has been a Unix/Linux systems administrator for 15
years, my advice is worth something.
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug