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I'm currently dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu (Hardy Heron).
I can only access the internet through the wireless card (Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card).
I have yet to succeed at connecting to a wireless internet connection because of my inability to connect to the internet some other way. I've read several guides, and all have require a previous connection (for lines of code with "wget", often to get drivers or ndiswrapper).
So, I need to know, without another access to the internet, am I doomed to an Internet-less Linux existence?
If not, please, any advice would be extremely appreciated.
I'm guessing you're saying you can get to the internet from the Windows boot?
If so just do the downloads while you're in Windows then boot into Linux and mount the Windows partition so you can copy the files into the Linux partition(s).
Alternatively you could see if there is LUG (Linux Users Group) in your area and ask them. Most LUG folks are more than happy to share to get others to use Linux.
It looks like the first url didn't get completely copied.
Unfortunately for you I am using Kubuntu so I don't know what wireless network configuration applications are available on Ubuntu with Gnome. On Kubuntu you can use KNetworkManager to configure wireless connections. It's pretty easy to use.
How much experience do you have with Linux? For example do you know what ndiswrapper is?
If you already have ndiswrapper on your machine then you should be able to use the Windows wireless driver.
I have enough experience with Linux to know basic installation, partitioning, etc.
I do know what ndiswrapper is, and have avoided using it, as per the advice pertaining to the success rate of it being compatible to my wireless card.
Thus, the previous attempts to connect I have cleaned the system, then proceeded to attempt to connect. Several times starting out I attempted to use it, to no avail.
Dell has a bit of a predilection for Broadcom wireless cards, which is unfortunate since Broadcom doesn't see fit to cooperate with the Linux world. However, before going off the deep end, lets get some data to be sure of what we're working with. Please post the output of lspci and lsmod and we'll go from there.
OK, that is you wireless card from your lspci, and from lsmod we see......
Quote:
b43 144420 0
Which is the native linux driver. What is almost certainly missing from this equation is the firmware. You might do some searching and see if someone has posted a firmware RPM for Broadcom wireless cards. CentOS can't distribute it because of licensing reasons, but someone else might. Otherwise, have a visit to the b43 site and have a read about how to install firmware.
Now do be aware that the b43 driver can be flaky since it was developed entirely by reverse engineering. A lot of people with Broadcom stuff prefer using ndiswrapper and the Windows driver. If you go that route, be sure to blacklist b43, and possibly ssb as well.
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