wifi for linux

[neilmaclennan]

i am very green with linux and i need a walkthrough fort installing wifi for linux. when i install linux it doesnt wireless pre-installed. i am living in a hotel and dont have the option for wired internet. please can someone tell me what i need for an atheros wireless card and how to get the driver for it and the step by step instructions for installing it. i have madwifi but havent been able to make it work. i dont know terminal language much at all. i have also tried to install linux onto a usb stick but the walthrough i painstakingly wrote out some 30+ steps didn't work. half of it did then it was like error messages at this step:- mkfs.vfat -f 16 -n ubuntu 710 /dev/sdb1 said incorrect amount of fats and playing around with the numbers didn't help. also i got a bash: message unmount not recognized command too so i couldn't make sure i was unmounted when i tried to unmount from the drive prior to formatting and installing damn small linux and ubuntu i tried both to no avail. why can't i just have the security of linux and the ease of use of windows. is there an online course that gives the basics of terminal commands or a distro that includes wireless as a default networking alternative at the install l;evel. i want to use my old 250gb drive as a linux drive standalone. when i use a vm for linux bridging the adapters for internet is ok but the screen is so big i have to constantly scroll up and down to get the top and bottom of the screen which is a pain. i cant find a change screen size within linux. aarrgh. i know i just spouted alot out but i wont give up i will learn this linux gear if it kills me. please help

[rokytnji]

Howdy neilcmaclennan and Welcome. you will get better result for your query if you go to

Wireless Internet - Linux Forums

follow the instructions from
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html

to the letter for best results. Good Luck.

[D-cat]

Wireless for most common chipsets is enabled by default. The ones that aren't usually involve legal reasons, not technical (require closed source firmware to function which is not allowed to be included on the install media). Generally these extra files are a short download away... if you can connect some other way first. Else, you're caught in your catch-22. Your only other option is to import the files from another media.

In the latest Ubuntu (9.10 aka Karmic Koala), Atheros is (finally) supported by default. Depending on which card you have, the driver module will be ath5k or ath9k. Furnish the info rokytnji asked for and we'll be able to further help. We could also stand to know what version of Ubuntu you're running. Please note that there is no longer support for versions prior to 8.04 LTS (well, 6.06 LTS isn't dead yet). Except for LTS (Long Term Support) releases, Ubuntu support only continues for 18 months from a release date. Repositories may continue for a little while after support stops, but they can be dropped at any time. LTS release support is proposed to last 5 years.

mkfs.vfat -f 16 -n ubuntu 710 /dev/sdb1 said incorrect amount of fats

That's because of the space between ubuntu and 710... 710 got interpreted as a separate argument. If you need a separator, use a dash or underscore, but preferably you'd have simply no separation; you may find it just gets in the way. No spaces in a label name. Oh, and if 710 is a reference to Gutsy Gibbon, see above comment on support.

Also note that FAT16 has a size limit of 2 GB, so if your stick is larger than that, omit the "-f 16" (or replace it with "-f 32")

Probably the best source for information (and sometimes scripts) on making bootable Linux USB drives is
Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick | USB Pen Drive Linux

[neilmaclennan]

thanks i'll let u know if i can get any further. thankyou for being so quick

[neilmaclennan]

i managed to get the wifi working by downloading the relevant addons through the synaptics package manager. thanks for all your help now i can use my linux OS and toss windows because I have managed to get pretty much everything swapped over and working to my ubuntu windows is now just a fancy gaming console as far as i'm concerned the only regret i have is taking this long to take the time to get it all working smoothly and to a point where i can obsolete my windows drive yay!!!

[D-cat]

Slow and steady wins the race. Addiction (like to Windows) aren't broken over night. It may have taken half a year, but it's a good break in to get you used to things. I'm glad it's all working now and even more so you are happy with it. Welcome to the FOSS club!

[neilmaclennan]

Slow and steady wins the race. Addiction (like to Windows) aren't broken over night. It may have taken half a year, but it's a good break in to get you used to things. I'm glad it's all working now and even more so you are happy with it. Welcome to the FOSS club!

thanks and what does "FOSS" mean?

[MikeTbob]

Free Open Source Software, then there is OSS, which is just Open Source Software and finally FLOSS or Free/Libre Open Source Software
Deflexion.com: OSS, FOSS, and FLOSS

[neilmaclennan]

thanks for all the help