Back in the Saddle Again
Well it has been a rough semester, but I am still alive even though my blog appears to be dead and I want to pick it up where I left off! While trying to convince Jonathan to buy me a MAC-( since I can have boot camp now!) I will be playing around with various Linux distros once again on the ever obstinate Acer. I have tried many, only to come to the realization that liberation that Linux offers does not always mean a fuller pocket. I do not have a sophisticated enough system for the distros. Blame it on the wifi card (broadcom 4318 aka card from hell), blame it on the operator (don’t you dare) blame it on the brand (seems to be a 50/50 crap shoot with acer and Linux), it doesn’t matter why. It only matters that the end result is no Linux unless I change some of the hardware. So I give up…JZA, Mandeep, you were all correct, but I blame it on the penguins!
Those of you who were with me at the beginning of this endeavor, this painful, painful endeavor, know that I was hell bent on using Linux in an out of the box setting. I was promoting the use of this wonderful operating system through the eyes and experience of a new user. The object was to simply switch from windows to Linux. Unfortunately it is not so easy in the hardware department. I also ran into some flack from the geek department. Let me address the obvious statements that will be coming my way again as I start this journey - It is not about using windows since it is easier or because I obviously don’t need to run Linux, it is about discovering Linux- It is not about installing Linux on my desktop, been there done that have the dual boot t-shirt - and above all else it is not about changing my whole computer so that I can run a virtually free operating system. This is about finding a distro that is new operator friendly and being able to install it at a min cost (both financially and mentally).
Like I tell Jonathan, unless there is an easier way for new users, such as myself, to infiltrate the strict rules and rudiments of Linux etiquette then Linux will never be as widely accepted as it should be. And that would be a shame (picture penguins shaking there little down cast heads in shame).
So for all of those who have helped me thus far, I am back and ready for the next round! Come, bring into your Linux world! First stop……Have I tried Fedora?
December 20th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
I think it’ll be a while before the ndiswrapper and bcm43xx projects get better support for the weirdness caused by your Acer, so until then I’d like to suggest using VMware Player (or something similar) to run a full-screen virtualized Linux session inside of Windows.
I know that isn’t what we’re supposed to be searching for here, but I’m all out of ideas for the Broadcom wifi hardware. Inside VMware, a distro would be tricked into thinking your wifi was a wired network connection and Windows would do the actual talking to the Broadcom card. This way we’d get to hear your thoughts on actually using a Linux distro for normal desktop stuff. It’d be as good as the real thing, with the exception of no 3D graphics and a small performance penalty.
I hope the Broadcom works with Fedora, but it’s hard to be optimistic about it.
If I knew voodoo I’d go curse Broadcom. Alas, they never taught that stuff in public school. But I’ll try anyway.
January 9th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Unfortunately, you will not find a distro that works with a Broadcom chipset out of the box because there is no opensource driver that works without the proprietary driver. However, it would be nice if a distro would include a wizard driven system to load the driver as needed. My laptop also has a Broadcom wifi adapter and I run Ubuntu 6.10 on it with wifi mostly working…as long as I don’t hit the stupid button on my keyboard that disables it. I use the bcm43xx implementation, which requires extracting the firmware data from the windows driver and storing the resultant files in a specific location. If someone could do this, it could be easily implemented in a livecd distro, as long as the windows driver could be provided on something like a USB thumb drive. Of course, it would also be nice if Broadcom would permit redistribution of the firmware data so hacky stuff doesn’t have to be used to get their hardware working anywhere.
Broadcom has provided a linux driver for a specific wireless adapter, but that adapter is only found in linksys devices (wireless router, access points, etc).
January 10th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Mandeep, I hear what you are saying, it is not easy owning an Acer….I am familiar with VMware, in fact on an earlier episode of JaK I used it and critiqued it. So if I simply want to play with Linux, I have always had a way out. As you stated, it is not about just getting Linux on the laptop, it is about using the distro without a virtual aid….
Thanks!
K
January 10th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Beau, thank you so much for your insight, and I couldn’t agree with you more. A linux wizard = just to help with certain elements of implimenting a new distro = would help greatly.
I have come to agree with all of you. The fact is the combination of my laptop, hardware, and inexperience simply spells out failure for the penguins.
K