getting wifi to work on Lenovo G550 w/Linux

[whackbangdeadly]

Hello,

I've been a windows user since forever and have used/experimented with Linux distro's since 2003.

The main thing I have struggled with is wifi. Never a problem with LAN, but my current home set up means I am wifi only now.

I'd like to use a small, slick, fast Linux distro, like Puppy, for messing about online, browsing, bulletin boards, etc and keep windows for the boring stuff, like having to use Word.

I'd probably run it from RAM or a DVD (perhaps a frugal install?) as I save a lot of stuff to the cloud (Dropbox, Google drive, use Chrome to sync bookmarks etc), but, I need wifi.

Any recommendations? Which Puppy/Puplet? What do I use to get wifi working (as I just know it won't 'out of the box')

All advice is good at this stage as I know next to nothing...


thanks in advance
WBD

[ardvark]

Hi...

Wifi out of the box with Linux is still, in my opinion, fairly spotty. The chipset your system is using is critical. By any chance do you know what yours is? Not just the manufacturer but the model number(s) as well.

As far as which Puppy, I personally favor the ubuntu based versions like Precise Puppy 5.7.1 available here. Compared to Wary, they have a LOT more software to choose from (in the Puppy Package Manager.) However, I haven't tried Slacko to see if there are any similarities.

Hope this helps.

Regards...

[bigpup]

To start, you can let Puppy detect what Wifi hardware you have and activate it. With Wifi there is some settings that need to be made by you.

Here is a good guide to setting up Wifi the normal way.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=65346
Try this and see what happens.
If it does not work explain in detail what you see.

If your Wifi hardware is not detected it is probably a driver issue.
Puppy comes with drivers for most Wifi devices, but not all.
There are ways to add drivers if needed.
It also has the option to use a Windows driver by way of ndiswrapper.

[cthisbear]

whackbangdeadly:

Welcome to Puppy mate.

First thing is >> supply your specs....
and we can advance with more certainty.

Lucid was a great Puppy.

I use Frisbee these days.

""""

In Lucid and some recent Pups Frisbee was not setup, but the
Frisbee Pet file >> ( Puppy installer ) might be under Network or Internet
in the menu.

Click on it...it quickly installs.

Wait for it to finish...20 -30 seconds

Now click on the Connect icon.

Your network should show up.

Add your Network password ( router password )

and it should be working in at least another 20 seconds.

:::::::::::

Some hints if Frisbee can't connect....my experiences.
Look at my posts.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... &start=435

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=88509

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 6&start=15

""""""""

Review....but use Frisbee....>> ignore his wireless setup

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/puppy-5-28.html

Chris.

[Flash]

Whack, the fastest and surest way to answer your question is for you to download one of the latest versions of Puppy and try it. Does your computer have at least 256 MB of RAM and can it boot from CD? If it can boot from CD, do you have a program that can burn a bootable CD from an ISO file?

[gcmartin]

Hi @WhackBangDeadly
One G550 Specs shows

Code: Select all

Processor 	All Intel processors were 64bit
Processor clock speed 	2+GHz
Memory 	4GB 
Wired network ports 	1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support 	802.11a/n 

This is a very nice 64bit Laptop with quality components.

There are several very nice distros this year which should provide great service to all applications you endeavor to apply. And, they will have little problem discovering the peripherals built-in to the motherboard of your laptop, OOTB.

The 2 64bit PUPs in the kennel are FATDOG and LightHouse64, an enhanced version of FATDOG.

An ISO burned to a DVD would give great operations without ever needing to "touch" your hard-drive (HDD) for anything other than data. I have NEVER exhausted any DVD that I have used for booting and maintaining any given PUP distro. All of the system files, and programs are save by the distro onto the DVD for you. Puppy runs in RAM so it would run the same, no matter where I boot from.

Advice would be to create an 8GB partition on your HDD and format it for Linux SWAP no matter which PUP you settle on. And, you should be able to run continuously for years unscathed.

There are many other 2013 distros also available with tremendous stability and a goodly mix on utilities OOTB.

Wifi cards are problematic in some of the distros....64bit or 32bit, while some distro perform without a hitch. Unless another member has a G550 or a lappie with similar chipset steps forward, you'll have to give a try to see what happens. (I myself, have had issues this year with getting my own lappies to work WIFI OOTB).

Should you have problems, post on the distro thread any problem you have and someone in the community will try to give guidance.

Here to help

[whackbangdeadly]

oooh, excellent - replies!

I'm just on my way out now but I will try this tonight.

I will report back with my findings, fails and wins, later

thanks for the assistance - very good of you all, cheers

WBD

[whackbangdeadly]

Hi there,

well, I've been on holiday hence the delay in trying this out.

I've just booted Precise 5.7.1 from a usb stick and used Frisbee to manage the network connectivity and BINGO - online first time.

This has never happened before. I can only assume that in my time away from Linux/Puppy that 'things' have become easier for users.

Thanks for all the help on this - much appreciated.

Next things on the list are:

• install a better browser
  go Frugal so I don't have to faff around with a usb stick
  learn some command line shortcuts for my most used programs
  look into word processors

cheers
WBD

[Galbi]

look into word processors

Interesting:
http://wps-community.org/download.html