I was recently given an Inspiron 3500 along with a DWL-650+ wireless card. I originally installed puppy on the computer and the wireless card worked right away for that by just plugging it in. I decided to try DSL as well but the wireless card is not working as simply. What do I need to do to install the wireless card on DSL? Since it was given to me I don't have the cd for the card (if there was one) but I'm sure I could find a driver online if need be. I'm sure there's a simple way to install it on DSL, I just don't know how. Thanks!

Puppy uses a newer kernel, DSL purposely sticks with an older, smaller one.

My solution is to run Puppy.

A combination of Ndiswrapper and windows drivers might work in DSL?

You might also try using Damn Small Linux Not. It uses a later kernel version than regular Damn Small Linux. It may work, or it might not. This is from wikpedia.

DSL-N: A larger version of DSL that exceeds the 50 MB limit of business-card CDs. DSL-N uses version 2 of the GTK+ widget toolkit and version 2.6 of the Linux kernel. The latest release of DSL-N, 0.1RC4, is 95 MB in size. It is not actively maintained.

ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distribu...dsl-n/current/



Or go the Ndiswrapper part with the Windows driver like lakedude said.

This blog tells how a guy installed a linskys driver using ndiswrapper in Damn Small Linux

http://www.terminally-incoherent.com...n-small-linux/

Thanks for the quick reply. I think I will probably just go back to puppy.

Was there something about DSL you liked? Perhaps the on screen system monitor?

Whatever it is that you like about DSL might also be available as an easy to install PET package for Puppy.

For example if you like the system monitor, it is called "Conky"..

Conky website (do not download from here):

http://conky.sourceforge.net/

If you like it download the PET package for Puppy here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=23280