network using linux mint 13 and verizon wireless broadband hot spot
 

I have linux mint 13 cinnamon on a PC - HP Pavilion a720n
3200 + Athlon XP processor
512 mb pc2700 memory
200 gb 7200 rpm hard drive
the network adapter is a lynksys wireless g usb adapter wusb54gc

I am having trouble with the network
My network is generated by a verizon broadband hotspot.
my network is password protected and it' entered

It will not stay connected and sometimes it does not connect to the network. However on other computers and operating systems it stays connected including ubuntu 12.

There is a little network connection indicator on the taskbar with strength of signal bars that you click on and you get the netowrk information it does not always load the same way so sometimes you dont get the information your looking for when you try to fix it.

There must be a network setup somewhere that will help me since the little app at the bottom right is so seemingly inconsistant.
any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
Nate

I haven't used LM13 (I prefer the KDE editions), but can you get to a wired internet connection and plug in, do all the updates? If not, and the wifi will allow you to get all the updates done, do that first. Then check the power settings in the control panel (or whatever Cinnamon calls the old control panel). Sounds like it's shutting off the power to the network to conserve, and therefore closing the connection. Anyone else can jump in any time if there is something else I may not have thought of. Also, if you haven't used the package mgr to add Ubuntu Tweaks, that may have a setting in there that would fix it, but I can't remember what's in it.

I can use the same telephone to the usb connection. I get the network with the usb cable solidly but the wireless is really iffy. can you explain more what i need to do with the control panel? And I have not done the updates yet .. I will do that too .

I no idea what the control panel is in cinnamin

Thanks
Nate

As I said, I haven't installed LM13, so I don't know what it looks like. But you would be looking for the power setting icon. Someone else may know of some other things to check.
gentile

The "control panel" you speak of is called "System Settings" in Cinnamon. However, there is no setting there that directly affects what your wireless network is doing.

If the default wireless client is not working well for you, you might want to give wicd a try. It's available in the Mint 13 repository. Just start up Synaptic Package Manager and type "wicd" (without quotes) in the search bar. Install wicd and try using it to connect to your wireless network.

Hope that helps.

I looked in synaptic P M for wicd and found it but nothing is marked.... i get the message that it may not be safe to put on my system. Since I don't know how things work here in linux I was just here to ask for another easing of my mind before i actually put it on my system ... thanks .

Nate

This is exactly why ONE MUST BACKUP their system before messing around with other operating systems. The easiest way to do this is use another PC. If you live in a large city, you may be able to get an old PC at one of the charity organizations. Then you can wipe the hard drive, put which ever Linux you want on it, and give it a try.
gentisle

I guess I'm way past that .. i'm using linux exclusively on 2 of my 4 computers . I got the message in the previous post and wanted to know if it was safe..

thankyou very much Ginsu,
Nate

Well, I went ahead and installed wicd and it works . At first I THINK it was conflicting with the default network manager I do not know it's name and I would like to know how to disable it. Right now I think the reason wicd works is that it is set to not connect but there should be a better way of disabling it. I would think.
Also the perameters in wicd are correct as i can see but it does not connect automaticly, though it is set to connect to the right network automaticly I have to actually click on the connect button and then it takes about 5 seconds and it connects ....
I WILL MARK THIS AS SOLVED BECAUSE OF THAT


thanks,
Nate