Hi, I just installed SUSE Linux 10.1 onto my new laptop and i'm wondering how I am going to be able to connect wirelessly to my router.

You see, the laptop I'm on, Compaq's Presario V2000, has been designed for Windows XP/Vista. The keyboard is for Windows, the sound buttons I think was for the Windows (or Hp) sound software (a driver, I think), and the wireless indicator (another on/off button) was most likely for Hp's wireless driver (for Windows only, as I have dishearteningly found just a couple minutes ago). I actually called Hp/Compaq's Tech Support and this guy told me I couldn't even get rid of Windows Xp because of the computer's "configuration" (as he put it)... I don't think he knew much about what he was talking about. Well, despite his discouraging remarks, I hung up on that guy tried to do it regardless of this computer's "configuration".

So, I went on Hp's main site, looked for downloadable drivers and software for my type of notebook, and, as expected, i found only drivers for Windows.

I was wondering if any one else had the same experience as I have had with Winows-designed computers. I was wondering if anyone could help me out, maybe hook me up with some nice, free software.

Your help is greatly appreciated,
Vince

If you're lucky, you just have to plug in the network settings (as you would in Windoze) and it works. But even if not, you've got a good chance to make it work - regardless of what that HP guy said.

Second best thing to try is Suse-specific documentation.

If that doesn't turn up helpful info and you want to read up a bit about Linux and wireless networking, you can try the Wireless HOWTO.

If the last one was too technical or you have some specific problems / errors turning up, come back here. Preferably with some details about your WiFi card.

Good luck!

Can you tell, or show me how to plug in the network settings?

SUSE uses a tool called YaST to set up things like that. You should be able to start it from the menu, at least if you log in as root. Search for network or wireless LAN settings. You should be given more or less the same options as on Windoze, hopfefully with sane defaults.

Sorry I can't give you more details here, but I've never used SUSE and those things tend to differ slightly between distros. If you don't know what to plug in or you get errors, I can probably help you out. As to where to plug it in (if the above doesn't help), please refer to the SUSE docs (especially the administration guide (pdf), which is for SUSE 9.3 but worth a try).

For SUSE-specific problems (like YaST won't start or where does it store its configuration), there's also a Suse/Novell forum here on LQ.