Tim Almond

I had been trying to get a stable ubuntu running on my PC, after which I decided that it might be a lot simpler to try it on a laptop, a set of prebuilt components that someone else would have already tried it on. So I pulled out my old Inspiron 2500 and off I went.

Here’s a brief history of it…

1.  Took out my Ubuntu disk (free). Installed it. Realised that the CD was actually "breezy" and not "dapper".

2. Downloaded Dapper via Bittorrent from the Ubuntu website. Very fast indeed. Downloaded in about 20 minutes at a rate of 2500kbps. Burnt the ISO file to CD.

3. Placed Dapper disk in CD drive. The disk runs up as a "live CD" with the option to install. Opted to install. And the Ubuntu guys couldn’t have made it simpler. Select the country, language and keyboard type and tell it to zap the hard drive. Ubuntu installs and reboots.

4.  Opened up my new Dapper install. All very good. Except for no networking from my Belkin F5D7010 PCMCIA networking card.  

5. Scour the net looking for answers. Try new drivers, NDISWRAPPER, various config changes. Nothing.

6. Try and find another way to skin a cat. I look around and find that some cards are supposed to play real nice with Ubuntu. A little more looking and I come across a company called The Linux Emporium.  They sell all sorts of things, including wireless network cards that play nice.

7. So, a quick call and a helpful chat and £20-odd later, I’ve got a wireless card. Same as my old one in model #, but running a different chipset (RALINK).

8. Put the card in, and it’s there in my networking settings. I just have to enable it.

9. Still not connecting. Really puzzled, check forums some more.

10. Check networking. Router name is there, and ubuntu has found it too. Great. The card and router are talking. But pinging the router delivers nothing.

11. Check connected devices. Not there. Bum.

12. Check the accepted devices. Ah ha! The router has a list of acceptable MAC codes. So, I tell the router to check for others. And it finds it. I add it and bingo, we’re working.

So far, it’s very stable. Great. Just great. 

 

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Tags: Ubuntu //