My rant on Linux

[Liver]

I have tried to install Ubuntu after reasding many posts that it is one of the easiest to learn and/or install.

I am installing it on a Dell notebook, and the wireless drivers worked just fine. However, I could not get it to recognize my WPA connection. Seems like a more secure connection like WPA is not natively supported in the Dell 700m Intel wireless chipset.

WEP is supported. That does not help me. I found out how to make it WPA compatible, but I had to learn many command lines and directory structure and many esoteric commands.

That is the point. I am willing to learn, but that was too much to fast. I just wanted the basic functions to work on the install and then I would learn the basics and move from there,

It is hard to learn the basics when the tools you need (i.e. a working computer) are not available or are crippled.

I am no elite computer user, but some dude trying to educate myself. I guess I am just frustrated.

Bit of irony that an unsecure OS like Windows easily configured WPA-AES, but a more secure OS like Ubuntu choked on it (out of the box).

I suppose it was easy enough to swap hard drives.

Liver

 

[bdoople]

Fedora Core 4.

 

[bersl2]

Read about wpa_supplicant, and how to install it.

 

[rmrf]

Originally posted by: bersl2
Read about wpa_supplicant, and how to install it.

I think he got it working, he's just complaining because he had to work at it.

 

[drag]

Yep.. Linux pisses all of us sometimes.

All OSes suck.. it's just that some may suck less then others. Plus they suck in different ways.

The amount of swearing that I do while using Linux is much less then what I do when using Windows. But of course your mileage may vary.

 

[Liver]

Originally posted by: rmrf

Originally posted by: bersl2
Read about wpa_supplicant, and how to install it.

I think he got it working, he's just complaining because he had to work at it.

Actually I never got it working. I got the WEP working out of the box, but WPA was too hard to get going.

I actually did not mind that the screen resolution was 1024x768 (when I needed 1280x800). At least the display worked and I could learn how to do that.

The WPA fix was way to long for me to figure out on my first day. Without internet access to help me along, I was I to learn?

You recommend Fedora? I read many postrs and somewhat concensus was to try Ubuntu first because it supported the most devices out of the box.

Hey I'll try it. I burned a copy at home. Nothing to lose.

Liver

 

[Brazen]

I think even if you switch to Fedora Core, you will still need the wpa supplicant.

 

[Liver]

Originally posted by: Brazen
I think even if you switch to Fedora Core, you will still need the wpa supplicant.

Doh!

 

[n0cmonkey]

There are better technologies than WPA. That's one reason some of the Free OSes don't focus on it.

 

[rmrf]

Originally posted by: Liver

Originally posted by: rmrf

Originally posted by: bersl2
Read about wpa_supplicant, and how to install it.

I think he got it working, he's just complaining because he had to work at it.

Actually I never got it working. I got the WEP working out of the box, but WPA was too hard to get going.

I actually did not mind that the screen resolution was 1024x768 (when I needed 1280x800). At least the display worked and I could learn how to do that.

The WPA fix was way to long for me to figure out on my first day. Without internet access to help me along, I was I to learn?

You recommend Fedora? I read many postrs and somewhat concensus was to try Ubuntu first because it supported the most devices out of the box.

Hey I'll try it. I burned a copy at home. Nothing to lose.

Liver

well, you're on the internet now, so you could print the guide off, download the appropriate software, and boot into your linux partition.

this is no different than using windows and buying a wireless network card. you would get the manual and the software with the wireless card. but, linux isn't technically supported by the card companies, so you have to do a one time workaround to get the system up and running.

and since you install ubuntu, did you go to the help menu for the "after-install" tweaks? I would try that as there is some interesting stuff in there.

edit: and your first day has nothing to do with it. I have people that have been using windows for years, and they call and pay me $40/hr to install anything from a patch cable to a network card. and btw, I tried the great tool that linksys sends out with their cards for getting a network up and running, and had a hell of a time doing it.

 

[Liver]

edit: and your first day has nothing to do with it. I have people that have been using windows for years, and they call and pay me $40/hr to install anything from a patch cable to a network card. and btw, I tried the great tool that linksys sends out with their cards for getting a network up and running, and had a hell of a time doing it.

Man, I had hell of a time finding the command line (was not where the guide said it was, but the guide was for 5.04 and the version I have is 5.10). Stupid? Yes.

I found the software on my WinXP machine, put it on a thumb drive, copied it to my Dell/Ubuntu and then followed the guide. I got stuck the directory structure then. The ethernet port worked fine, maybe I'll just use that for a bit, while I get my feet wet.

As far as using WPA and there being something better. Yea, you are probably right, but that is all I have access to.

Liver

 

[Brazen]

Have you tried "apt-get install wpa_supplicant" ? You may need to enable the universere or multiverse or whatever Ubuntu calls there repositories.

I'm a Fedora user, and about 30 seconds of searching found that I can enable the atrpms repo and "yum install wpa_supplicant" to get the program and then configure it with "wpa-gui".

 

[Nothinman]

Bit of irony that an unsecure OS like Windows easily configured WPA-AES, but a more secure OS like Ubuntu choked on it (out of the box).

Another data point is that in 99% of the cases WEP is "good enough". Sure, it's possible to crack a WEP key in a few hours or days at most, but unless yours is the only WiFi in the area no one will spend the time to do it, they'll just move on because there's almost always someone nearby with an unsecured AP.

I don't know if Ubuntu includes NetworkManager yet, but there is work being done in NetworkManager to handle WPA. I'm just guessing here, but if it's not in the current Gnome release it'll probably be in the next one.

 

[Markbnj]

I've got a neighbor down the street whose wifi net has been unsecure for two years. I even told him about it. Was going to connect once and hit him with a net send to freak him out.

It's like having a trailer park on the edge of town, and knowing that all the tornados will go there.