[buug] USB wifi & Ubuntu

[Pewter Bot]

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 9:50 PM, Eddy Mulyono <eddymul at gmail.com> wrote:
> Try `uname -a` from the command line.

Yes, I just did that a little while ago...and also realized the kernel
# shows up on the boot screen.

zeke at zeke-netbook:~$ uname -r
2.6.24-21-eeepc

That is recent enough to have that Realtek wifi driver in the package. But:

zeke at zeke-netbook:~$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep CONFIG_RTL8187
gzip: /proc/config.gz: No such file or directory

So it's not there! I believe what Charles at our meeting said: that a
complete package is not off the ISO or the CD...it needs to finish by
downloading additional packages off the 'net. I do not have any place
for a LAN connect. I'm hoping to find a way to download via Windows,
then reboot into Linux, and install the remaining packages that way.

Also (I've been spending all day at Berkeley coffeehouses, learning
about wifi and Ubuntu and the eee PC), this site claims it's best not
to use a distro streamlined for my eee:

http://www.jasonlefkowitz.net/blog1archive/2008/12/howto_run_ubunt.html

--quote:

There is a special modified version of Ubuntu out there called Ubuntu
Eee (update: since I wrote this, Ubuntu Eee’s name has changed to
“Easy Peasy”, but it’s the same product) that claims to be a one-step
solution to running Ubuntu on your Eee. My advice: skip it. I started
this process by wiping the Eee’s disk and installing Ubuntu Eee; I
then spent several days trying to fix a range of problems, mostly
related to connecting wireless networks, without success.

Frustrated with this process, I wiped the disk again and replaced with
the “stock” Ubuntu distribution rather than the “customized” Ubuntu
Eee. Surprisingly, this proved to cause fewer headaches than Ubuntu
Eee did. So my advice is to not even bother with Ubuntu Eee; whatever
good points it brings to the table are outweighed by its problems.

--end quote

His instructions are for the Intrepid Ibex, which is what I just
downloaded (the ISO). He gives a  link to a program that allows me to
install the image to either a USB stick, or a partitiion on the HD.

The final step involves getting the remaining packages, including wifi
drivers..which involves hooking up to an ethernet port. I don't have
such access (no broadband at home, and unfriendly neighbors in my
large apt. building, or at best everyone keeps to themselves. I
actually have two friends there, but neither has a computer).

Here's the page described this last step:

http://array.org/ubuntu/setup-intrepid.html

Now, I don't know how to downloaded those packages via Windows, that I
may install them locally instead of via the 'net. Actually, they're
just two "wget" commands:

wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-intrepid.list

wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-apt-key.asc

The first command gets me a simple text line, when I load it in Firefox:

"deb http://www.array.org/ubuntu intrepid eeepc"

(Minus the open/close quote.) I went to that page

http://www.array.org/ubuntu

and downloaded the changelog of the stable version of Intrepid Ibex, which is:

changelog_linux-image-2.6.27-8-eeepc.txt

The second command points to a PGP block, which I saved as file
"array-apt-key.asc".

I have just completed the download of desktop Ubuntu 8.10, which is a
tad under 700mb.

Just not sure at this time, what commands I run to set things up w/o
the "wget" command.

I must pack thing up now, and BART on home, where I'll continue
figuring this stuff out. Live and learn, hack and burn!  :b

-- 
Intrepid Zeke
http://www.gay-bible.org
http://ezekielk.tblog.com