MEPIS Community Forum

Hi,

I'm something of an amateur when it comes to pc's. Previously I installed 1st Ubuntu and then linux mint on my pc (old pc that hates windows & responds with negative behaviours!!!). Loved linux from the off; all that free software;no crashes or freezes; no nasty viruses. Then when the eee pc came out I bought one of those - still use it but in truth I find it somewhat childlike in its presentation and feel thwarted by my lack of ability to change this!

Then majically my mum offered me her old compaq presario laptop which had windows vista installed, ran slowly, misbehaved, and was certainly not virus free!!! Truth is she couldn't wait to be rid of it!!!! Got it home, ready to install mint then thought - I'll just check out some other distro's - surfed the web and there it was - recommended to a gentleman who wanted to supply his son with an operating system free machine which had good support and documentation to play and learn with.

I was off, downloaded mepis, created live usb and ran it. Loved it so much from my 1st play that I shut down my computer and installed it as the only os right there and then. Everything about it is a thrill. I love the professional looking graphics. Love the sound on start up - so much pleasanter than the usual beeps. Love the selection of software. Love the manual which is written in plain english & points you exactly to were you need to go to get help (a failing of other distro's even the bigger one's)

Two negatives;
1) haven't been able to sort out my wireless connection (broadcom problems) yet but I know I would be having the same problem using any linux distro. In two minds as to whether to bother - use ethernet at home
2) hubby not happy - haven't spoken to him for 2 days!

Its been great to share this with you, WELL DONE MEPIS

lez

We can't help you with the hubby, but can with the wireless. Please open a terminal (Start menu > System) and paste in this command:Then highlight the output, right-click to copy, and paste it back here.

Not sure if this is what you wanted me to do? Never new you could copy output from a terminal before - in the past I've always wrote it down and then typed it!!! Get it shows my amateur status. Anyway here it is;

06:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g
08:08.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8C+ (rev 10)

Just need to know what to do with it now. ha ha

Thank you very much Jerry, I've written to so many other forums (ubuntu etc.) in the past and just had goggly gook responses.

Much appreciated,
lez

Good, thanks. Could you now do that trick again:

Gosh I'm getting the hang of this;

06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)


Does that help?

Yes it does. The numbers inside the brackets allow me to check on the Linux Wireless page whether the device is supported by the b43 driver that is in the kernel. Which it is.

You may have to install firmware, but let's first try to simplify the situation somewhat by blocking out any extra drivers. Please open System > MEPIS Network Assistant, and click on the Troubleshooting tab. Click on the 3 buttons: Scan Hardware, List Linux Drivers, and List Windows Drivers. Then take a screen capture (Start menu > Graphics > More Applications > KSnapshot, and take a picture of the Window under Cursor. Then post that back here.

ok done that but not quite how I intended, here is my effort - had probs with clipboard so had to copy & paste all drivers. Note all tabs appear to be available incl. disable ndiswrapper.

hardware:
06:00.0 Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)
08:08.0 Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ [10ec:8139] (rev 10)

associated drivers
8139too 14492 0
8139cp 13044 0
mii 2690 2 8139too,8139cp

THEN:
airplus driver installed
bcmwl5 driver installed
lstinds driver installed
mrv8k51 driver installed
net8185 driver installed
netr33x driver installed
prismnic driver installed
wlannic driver installed
wlwlipnds driver installed

maybe as root in terminal...> modprobe BCM4313 (enter) and then> ifup wlan0 (enter). JB

The module is named b43...

Try copying and pasting these two commands as root:Then reboot, and when it is all back up, follow the directions in the Users Manual on using Network Manager.

There may still be a firmware question.

entered the first command and got;

FATAL: Module bcmw15 not found.

so what do I do now?