Linux for an idiot

Does being an idiot exclude me from learning to use Linux?

I would really like to try Ubuntu. I'm open to other distros but have played with the live Ubuntu CD and Open Office and it seems to be fine for my purposes. All I need from a computer is (in no particular order) 1)Office/Open Office 2) email 3) browser 4) audio for music (eventually something like Audacity because I record music but I dont need that capability right away) 5) video (just for small clips, youtube and such, I dont game or watch tons of DVDs) 6) wireless and hopefully dialup modem

I have a Compaq c501NR.

When I first started looking at Ubuntu some 6 months ago I looked all over and tried to find drivers and such but became utterly frustrated. I never found a single one, or I never got a single one to work, so I'm obviously a complete idiot. I guess I'm not half the geek I thought I could be, so I'm humbled and humiliated but wanting to try again, but I will need a lot of help and I will need it dumbed down to my level which is lower than I thought. If I can just get my modem working (I have dialup at home) and my email+ browser going, I will find the determination to push on. I gathered from my previous research that getting my modem working with Ubuntu might be an issue, but I dont remember the details.

 

What specs does your machine have?

 

Wayne, just the fact that you're making the effort to use another OS besides windows proves that you're not an idiot. Linux takes time to learn, you'll get there. It's not a race man

I would suggest for you Linux Mint. I think ver 8 is in beta right now, but version 7 should do you very well. It shares the same codebase as Ubuntu so you'll be familiar with it, and already comes with everything included to make it media friendly (video/audio codecs, players, etc).

If you've still got the stock 512MB I'd recommend maybe going to 1GB (shouldn't cost more than $20 to do) if you think it's sluggish. Other than that, you're ready to go, the c501NR will be fine.

Linux Mint - General Info - http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php

They also have forums if you run into trouble and need some help.

 

Right now I've got a C (with XP and my programs on it) and an E storage drive, 25 and 75G respectively. Celeron M processor, 2G RAM. I've got plenty of free space in E that I could partition for an install, but I think I'd like to stick to live CD (or USB, which is where I have Ubuntu) for now until I'm sure I can handle it.

Here is my other hardware:

Thanks, I have not looked at MINT and it sounds like it has some of what I cant seem to find. I'll give it a look over. I hope it has a live CD version

 

It does, download the .iso and you choose to install or to boot into the live version.

 

What problems did you have finding drivers? You shouldn't need to find anything. With Linux all you need to remember is that it's not Windows and you should be fine if you have a strong mind. Ubuntu is very easily to get a grasp on but Linux Mint should be even easier for you.

 

Mint is fantastic. You don't have to worry about downloading proprietary drivers, codecs, plugins, etc., to get things working properly...

Avoid the 8 beta though. It is based off of Ubuntu 9.10 which is absolutely riddled with bugs...

 

Why would you want to try Crapbuntu?

Why not Fedora or Mandriva or even Debian?

 

Obviously, as someone with little Linux experience, I dont know the ins an outs of all the different distros. Crapbuntu is usually recommended over Mandriva for beginners. I have also played with Mandriva a bit, and I dont really have a strong preference for one or the other although Ubuntu seemed a bit easier. But I could not get anything except Ubuntu and Open Office to work despite hunting around for information on how to do so-no modem, no wirelesss, no audio (except the start-up Ubuntu sound), no video... I believe the same was true for Mandriva.

Anyway I think Mint is what I should start with until I understand a bit more about Linux. Unfortunately Crapwindows has rendered my machine virtually useless and I will have to go to the library 30 miles away just to download it.

 

I feel I am the same situation as Wayne. I tried installing Ubuntu last week only to have issues with drivers and end up uninstalling. Based on what your saying though maybe I just shouldn't have tried 9.10. The main issue was the GPU causing the fan to run constantly. I know that is a issue with the 8400m in my M1330 though. Maybe when I get computer without a defective GPU I'll give Linux another go.

 

Mint's based on Ubuntu, though, so they're just tweaking whatever Ubuntu's done.

I believe that Ubuntu has had poor integration of video drivers and anything to do with X. Just read the countless posts of Ubuntu users having problems with video drivers.

Some people who have tried Mandriva don't like rpm. I am not sure what to say about it myself but Mandriva 2010 seems to be a really good release. I was able to get 3D effects on an older machine whereas Ubuntu would just crash. You could give it a try. There's live CDs for both Gnome and KDE desktops.

 

I think this laptop is going to be problematic for two reasons.

First, the wifi chipset is made by broadcom. Ubuntu will allow you to download the firmware for broadcom...usually through the restricted drivers application. Sometimes it really works well but other times it doesn't work at all. It would disable the broadcom randomly and I would have to boot back into windows to enable it via hotkey. This isn't Ubuntu's problem...it's just that broadcom never wanted to release their code to developers so it had to be reverse-engineered.

Second, the same goes for your audio card I think. Conextant, if I remember, also refused to turn its code over to developers. I could never get my audio card/modem to work no matter how much I tried.

 

Get Fedora, Mandriva, Mint, and Opensuse, and try each out.

 

OK, I'm into Mint and I have video and clear audio!!!! Already an improvement over Windows and Ubuntu. Now if someone could just help me figure out how to get my modem working (Mint will work with modems, right?) I would be eternally grateful and able to surf the web for more info. Then, I can work on getting wireless up too but thats my second priority. I poked around the network area of Mint and found a tab for wired connections, but nothing about making my modem work or establishing a dialup connection jumped out at me.

 

I've used Fedora for a quite a while, but hate RPMFusion. Debian's (lenny) kernel is tool old for my equipment. Mandriva? I'll always have a softspot for Mandriva and Zenwalk.

Right now I'm using Xubuntu....it's awesome and runs like a raped ape on this Vostro 1220.

 

I really wanted to install Ubuntu or Xubuntu on my Thinkpad T41. Especially Xubuntu since some laptop owners, including older laptops like these Thinkpads, told me that xfce could be good for my laptop hardware. Maybe it would seem faster than Gnome or KDE. But, Ubuntu and Kubuntu both failed miserably and Karmic 9.10 was a disaster. Desktop effects couldn't be enabled. Editing xorg.conf would not help as I kept having the same lockups/freezes except that I'd then have flickering and all sorts of screen corruption.

I can't boot up at all unless I boot up in safe mode or if I do boot up using defaults, opening Firefox results in a complete system lockup. You'd think that the devs would realize this and do something or at least have a 'support write-up fix' or something. Nope. Ubuntu is nothing but marketing hype since it's operated or supported by corporate backing. Smaller distros like Mandriva get by on less and have a much nicer polished product that actually works. I can enable 3D, desktop effects and can run it! Also, flash is installed out of the box! I tried YouTube on the live CD of Mandriva 2010 and wow, it was working (flash installed)! Cool! It also seemed snappy on both the KDE and Gnome versions. Not bad at all. Meanwhile, Ubuntu was a bust!

 

I had a little issue getting WiFi going myself under Mint. All I did was plug a network cable in so I was connected to the internet, and then I went under Administration / Hardware and then it found my WiFi card and the connected to the internet to download the correct drivers. All was gravy after that, so if you have an Ethernet cable I'd just go about it that way.

 

Stick with ubuntu imo, always been brilliant for me, runs on very slow computers and rarely crashes

sry about the hackintosh thing, have now reread rules :/

 

[snip]

[snip]

The hardware specs of the Compaq Presario C501NR, look very similar to the Presario C300, so this Linux Laptop Wiki page provides a good starting point in terms of getting Linux to run on this range of HP/Compaq laptops. There is also this howto, this blog, and this blog, which describe similar efforts to install Linux on a Presario C series laptop, where you will at least have a point of contact for someone who has installed Linux on a similar laptop to yours. Worst case you can always ping the authors with an email to ask a specific question. The Linux Laptop Wiki page specifically describes that it is possible to get the analog modem on this laptop working under Linux, using the Conexant Linux HSF softmodem drivers, available from their Linuxant project.

There are some challenges with doing this. First off, this driver project is unlike others, in that Linuxant offers a free version of the driver, which is limited to 14.4k, and provides no fax support. If you want the full driver, you can pay for a license for 19.99, which will enable full speed, and provide fax support, or you can use the Dell version of the driver. (Dell licenses the full version of the driver for Linux users of their laptops). You can read about this in depth, at the Ubuntu Community Wiki page on the Conexant driver. There are great instructions there on how you can download either the Linuxant generic driver, or the Dell version, and compile and install it on your system.

However, this illuminates the second challenge here, in that installing the modem driver is fairly complex, requiring an Ubuntu system to have the build-essential package installed, as you need to compile and then install the driver yourself. Once you go through this process it will be pretty straightforward, but you will need to recompile and reinstall when you upgrade the kernel in your system going forward.

Lastly the third major challenge in using an analog modem to access the internet, is that getting the correct modem driver installed is only part of the process. You then need to configure the connection to your service provider, (which you should only need to do once). Again the Ubuntu Community Wiki pages on this subject are a great starting point for going over the process step by step.

So there you have it. It's a lot of reading, and a lot of typing, but it's definitely doable. I think that it's probably easiest for you to stick with Ubuntu, not only for the sheer number of users supporting it, but for your familiarity with it as well. The other thing to remember is that most of the folks you will interact with, have never seen their modem port with anything plugged into it, let alone configured their Linux, (or Windows), system to use it for internet access. In fact they probably can only tell you which of their ports IS the modem port, by first trying to plug an ethernet cable into it. So you may want to check into the Ubuntu user forums in the Networking and Wireless forum here, in case you need help throughout the process. For example, here is a thread about getting the most recent Conexant drivers compiled and installed, from that forum. We'll help here as best we can.

If you were to use a modem that was better supported under Linux, (like an Intel chipset based modem), you could avoid this licensing issue altogether. If you do want to find a better supported external modem, don't ignore external modems with serial ports, as you can always connect it to your USB port, using a USB to Serial adapter.

Good Luck..

 

....as always jas, __wow__

 

Thanks a lot Jas. It has occured to me during the Mint Process that I might as well be doing this all with Ubuntu, since I like Ubuntu from what little I've seen and it does seem more friendly to me. But if I go to Ubuntu the modem will only be the start of my troubles, then I have to figure out audio and video too which already work in Mint (or at least they did before my last bungle, which I dont have time to describe now).

Right now I just need to get SOMETHING up and running with a modem ASAP before my XP system stops working completely, and I estimate that wont be long. if I have wireless access this weekend I may install Puppy just so I have something while I read all this stuff and work on the rest. Right now I think I may stick with Mint till I get the modem working, because it seems it will be easy to get it working in Ubuntu after that (correct me if I'm wrong...)

 

For whatever it's worth, I think it's best for you to stick with one distribution for no other reason then switching distros while they can provide fixes for some hardware configurations, can sometimes introduce new problems, and trying to figure out what went wrong can be difficult. I would again advise you to stick with Ubuntu, and to first concentrate on getting your internet access working. Follow the Ubuntu/Conexant instructions to make sure you have the driver correctly compiled and installed, and then follow the Ubuntu instructions on configuring your Internet connection. Once that's done, you should be able to easily solve other problems, such as sound, WiFi, or anything else that comes along, as long as you can get online and search for solutions.

Good Luck..

 

would I be better off just getting an external modem, and if so, what specs do I need to look for to make sure it is Ubuntu friendly? I'll be honest, I'm not sure I understand all the instructions for getting my modem working, and I've already failed twice-once with Mint and once with Ubuntu. I think I can figure it out eventually but its a steep curve for me right now.

I already have Ubuntu 8.10. Is there any reason to d/l a newer version or should I stick with what I have?

 

i have an inspiron 8200, 1.8 p4m, 512 DDR 333 ram, 60gb hitachi 7k60, radeon 9000 graphics. As far as i'm aware its decently above the minimum for kubuntu, but it runs soooo sluggishly on it. when i click something have to wait 2-3 seconds for any response.

i'm not sure what im doing wrong? i downloaded the linux driver from the ati site, but i cant figure out how to install that either.

any help for this linux newbie would be greatly appreciated

 

Radeon 9000 cards are only supported by the open source radeon driver now. No need to download from the ati site as that is only for proprietary drivers that are supported by newer ATI cards.

I have a Radeon 9000 card in my laptop and in Ubuntu, if I try to enable 3D effects, I get a total lockup. Similarly, if I try to run the LiveCD, when I start Firefox, for e.g., I get the lockup.

I would heavily advise AGAINST using Ubuntu or any Ubuntu derivative, like Mint, with that laptop. Ubuntu doesn't care about such cards or implementing any fixes relating to it.

Better to try Fedora or Mandriva. If you must use a debian distro, then try Debian or sidux.

 

I don't see Ubuntu as being the one to blame for older radeon cards not to work. I see it more like blame Ati for not providing correct stable drivers. You can always compile the newer drivers that Fedora and Mandriva are using and you should be set.

 

yeah...install the rpm with Alien....I've never used stock Ubuntu drivers, they always lag behing...just update them.

 

Ok, the idiot is back again. I finally installed Ubuntu 8.10 to my HD after having problems with the 9.10 install. I had been able to get 8.10 to work well on USB, including wireless, so I decided to go with what worked. I installed to HD and activated wireless driver via ethernet, exactly as before. It activated, but does not see the wireless network like it had when I tested it from USB. I don't get it, and dont know what to do about it. I didnt do anything different, and I get a different result.

 

Hi there Wayne,
at first: thumbs up, dont underestimate yourself, from posts i read you don't have much understanding of linux, at this point i gotta say, if you have interest to learn more about computers, internet etc, linux is the way to go. Only, you gotta have lots patience and some time.
next:
we need to know something about your laptop - can you post here the output of following commands :
dmesg
lspci
lsusb
you'll need sudo to run these (except the dmesg) i believe.
I work with rpm based distros, so i'm not much friend with ubuntu (never tried that), but these commands's gonna show us what hw you got at your laptop ....

My question for Ubuntu users - i suspect some problem with NetworkManager (daemon taking care of network connections in latest linux distros) - could that be the case?

Anyway, what i'd try (as root or through sudo):
ps -ef | grep -i nm-applet
if it lists that nm-applet is running, kill it
kill -9 pid (pid = process identification number)
and then start nm-applet again from shell:
nm-applet &
do this when your network cable is disconnected form your laptop

gl&hf

 

The output from dmesg is 12 pages long....anything specific I should look for?
Here is an exerpt that may have what you're looking for, much of this repeats through the 12 pages. dmesg was run after restoring from hibernation, with no ethernet or wireless available, but as I said I had previously activated the B43 wireless driver.


[ 74.844692] ata_piix 0000:00:1f.2: PCI INT B -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[ 74.844698] ata_piix 0000:00:1f.2: setting latency timer to 64
[ 74.860066] b43-pci-bridge 0000:06:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 74.860237] b43-pci-bridge 0000:06:00.0: restoring config space at offset 0x1 (was 0x100103, writing 0x100107)
[ 74.928096] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 75.008882] ata2.00: ACPI cmd ef/03:0c:00:00:00:a0 filtered out
[ 75.008885] ata2.00: ACPI cmd ef/03:22:00:00:00:a0 filtered out
[ 75.009090] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/03:0c:00:00:00:a0 filtered out
[ 75.009092] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/03:45:00:00:00:a0 filtered out
[ 75.024439] ata2.00: configured for MWDMA2
[ 75.076643] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 75.083115] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 234441648 512-byte hardware sectors (120034 MB)
[ 75.083142] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 75.083145] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 75.083188] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 75.083256] pci 0000:00:02.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 75.084875] PM: Image restored successfully.
[ 75.138129] Restarting tasks ... done.
[ 75.153594] PM: Basic memory bitmaps freed
[ 75.967763] eth0: link down
[ 75.980985] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input11
[ 76.088198] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 76.091195] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 76.091206] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[ 76.154517] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input12
[ 76.224121] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 76.241655] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 76.241666] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[ 131.734182] type=1503 audit(1259589795.941:5): operation="inode_permission" requested_mask="r::" denied_mask="r::" fsuid=7 name="/proc/5754/net/" pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.820815] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 131.822841] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
[ 131.824230] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 131.826412] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:6): operation="socket_create" family="ax25" sock_type="dgram" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826425] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:7): operation="socket_create" family="netrom" sock_type="seqpacket" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826433] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:8): operation="socket_create" family="rose" sock_type="dgram" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826440] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:9): operation="socket_create" family="ipx" sock_type="dgram" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826448] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:10): operation="socket_create" family="appletalk" sock_type="dgram" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826456] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:11): operation="socket_create" family="econet" sock_type="dgram" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826463] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:12): operation="socket_create" family="ash" sock_type="dgram" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 131.826471] type=1503 audit(1259589796.033:13): operation="socket_create" family="x25" sock_type="seqpacket" protocol=0 pid=5754 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd"
[ 252.335351] PM: Marking nosave pages: 000000000009f000 - 0000000000100000
[ 252.335363] PM: Basic memory bitmaps created
[ 252.335365] PM: Syncing filesystems ... done.
[ 252.339370] Freezing user space processes ... (elapsed 0.00 seconds) done.
[ 252.341167] Freezing remaining freezable tasks ... (elapsed 0.00 seconds) done.
[ 252.341260] PM: Shrinking memory... done (0 pages freed)
[ 252.430393] PM: Freed 0 kbytes in 0.08 seconds (0.00 MB/s)
[ 252.430397] Suspending console(s) (use no_console_suspend to debug)
[ 252.431325] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 252.602333] ACPI handle has no context!
[ 252.602666] b43-pci-bridge 0000:06:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 252.616229] ata_piix 0000:00:1f.2: PCI INT B disabled
[ 252.616375] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: PCI INT A disabled
[ 252.616413] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: PCI INT C disabled
[ 252.616450] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: PCI INT B disabled
[ 252.616487] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 252.616611] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 252.632279] ACPI: Preparing to enter system sleep state S4
[ 252.639120] Disabling non-boot CPUs ...


here are lspci and lsusb


00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
06:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
08:08.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
wayne@Home:~$

------------------


wayne@Home:~$ sudo lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
wayne@Home:~$

 

Woohooo! Never mind.

 

Enquiring minds want to know how you solved the problem

Congrats Wayne99 on getting linux up ! You are now 50% of the way on to helping others with linux

Regarding the modem, yes, it will be better I think to get an external modem. The Linuxant software (paid) only support 30kbps or so.

 

I think all I needed to do was reboot to get wireless. I was doing the wireless activation yesterday at a motel that was kind enough to let me use their ethernet (I was not a guest). So when wireless didnt work right away after activating I left. When I tried wireless today it worked. So I assume rebooting is all that it needed. Not sure why, because it didnt need rebooting when I activated wireless on live USB, but there you have it.

I dont think I am going to mess with trying to get my modem working, there is too much potential for frustration there. I think I will either get an external modem or pick up an old wireless router or wiflyer that will work with dialup.

BTW, my all in one printer HP Deskjet 4180 was recognized by Ubuntu and worked right away. Another hurray!

 

Hi there Wayne,
i just been wandering what your kernel says during boot - those wall of text you see during boot of your computer at the early stage of boot (before the linux starts the OS services and deamons) - that's the 'dmesg' command for.
In your another (newer) thread you said your wifi's working already.
I am just wondering about this particular part of the dmesg that reports:
[ 76.088198] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 76.091195] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 76.091206] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[ 76.154517] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input12
[ 76.224121] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 76.241655] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 76.241666] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).

This looks like the kernel is not happy with the firmware you use for the wifi card. Is the kernel still complaining about it? Can you check it out? (just wandering) ....

 

The only thing dmesg says about the wireless now appears to be good:

[ 22.879125] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4311 WLAN found
[ 23.251586] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PLR, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]

[ 36.588280] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input9
[ 36.688125] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 36.743696] firmware: requesting b43/pcm5.fw
[ 36.788826] firmware: requesting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
[ 36.813871] firmware: requesting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
[ 36.941807] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
[ 37.116645] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[ 37.117557] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[ 37.118356] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio


A few other things caught my eye though I dont know if any are important:

[ 12.512613] sda:<4>Driver 'sr' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
-----
[ 30.129206] apm: BIOS not found.
---
[ 20.065942] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected 7932K stolen memory
[ 20.568083] ACPI Error (evxfevnt-0186): Could not enable SleepButton event [20080609]
[ 20.568089] ACPI Warning (evxface-0145): Could not enable fixed event 3 [20080609]

 

Hi there,
the apm = advanced power management and its responsible eg. for hibernationa etc, it is predecessor of acpi = advanced configuration power interface and is responsible for same things as apm.
If your system is using acpi (which i suppose does) i wouldnt take care about it too much - it just means that your kernel is able to use apm, but not finding it in bios (ur ntb doesnt support it)....
if you look:
ps -ef | grep -i acpi
it should list you up acpid (acpi daemon) that takes care about you battery status etc ...

as for sda needs updating ... not sure, only kernel warning, this could be taken out in new kernel i suppose ... try updating kernel, when new is out and available in your ubuntu distro ...

 

You know the huge irony is I use my Sprint phone for wireless internet access when I'm not near WiFi. It actually works FAR better than any internal analog modem.

The only time I really bother with an analog modem now is to FAX something away from home/office. It's still a huge hassle to find a physical phone jack, cost/charge, etc.

 

I have dialup and dont have internet phone, nor do I want (to pay for) it. But I bought a used Wiflyer that should arrive tomorrow and hopefully that will solve my problem and eliminate the need for a modem.