[Sussex] Linux wireless support - Realtek rtl 8187 B

[Steve Dobson]

Hi Steve

On Fri, 2008-08-15 at 10:22 +0100, Steve Redshaw wrote:
> I am writing again for some help advice!

Advice I can give.

> I am trying to get my daughter's laptop ( a pink Medion!!) connected
> to our wireless router through Linux (I have installed OpenSuse11)
> 
> I have been seeking help on the OpenSuse forum
> (http://forums.opensuse.org/network-internet/wireless/388302-rtl-8187-b-wlan-support-2.html)
> 
> the jist of it seems to be;
> 
> 1) that the present kernel does not support this particular Wlan card
> 2) I could build my own kernel to gain a newer version, however I
> might have problems with other hardware on the computer
> 3) I could use ndiswrapper - some advice on the forum not to do this
> or that it doesn't always work - this feels a bit involved for me at
> my stage of Linux experience (or lack of it)
> 4) I could wait for a newer version of the kernel to be incorporated
> into a distro , which is quite straightforward to install
> 
> I would value any thoughts advice - thanks

As someone who did build their own kernels I will say that is a
non-trivial task.  The processes will ask you lots and lots of questions
about your system and you need to get many of them right.  If you don't
have an understanding of networking, file systems, input/output devices
then you are going to struggle.

My only question for you is "are you wedded to OpenSuse?"

If you want to stick with the one distro (which is not a bad choice)
then just wait for the next release of Suse that does contain the
support you're after.

If you don't mind changing distros to try out new features then look
about for a distro that uses a kernel that does support the WiFi card in
the laptop.

Steve

-- 
Steve Dobson

Lavish spending can be disastrous. Don't buy any lavishes for a while.

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