I currently have ubuntu on my dell inspiron 17 which I installed myself last year with no IT or linux experience and spent 4 days sorting out the wireless with the help from some very patient people on here. A stupid 'friend' formatted my laptop and now I am without wireless again. I found the old thread that helped me set up the wireless last time but I just can't follow it. I believe it was bcmwl-kernal-source driver I needed. There was some mention on the thread of other distros having the broadcom driver I needed as default, does anyone know which ones?

AFAIK no distribution can have the Broadcom firmware by default due to licensing issues.
If you post your actual problems and what hardware you have I am sure we can help you.
For example, with Ubuntu it is as easy as plugging a wired connection in and choosing the driver in the Additional Drivers application.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-linux-804957/
If you have a flick through that you'll see it was not as easy at that, no idea why though. I just tried following some but I wasn't getting the same responses from the terminal so I haven't a clue. I need a broadcom driver but I have no idea how to get/install it.

Broadcom released its own linux driver some time ago, only thing is you have to build it yourself. It is fairly easy to do. And they provide you with some good instructions.

http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

Just make sure that you have your development packages installed. But the README tells you how you can verify that. I used to have the same laptop so if you have any questions just leave them here.

kyr0.

OK, I see that you have the Broadcom BCM4312 wireless device. Connect your system with a wired connection and launch this in a terminal:No you should be able to use the wireless device in your network manager.

1 members found this post helpful.

kyr0, I've read the readme, it's a foreign language to me but I'm gonna give it a go. I have no idea what development packages are though.

Before you do, try TobiSGD's version first. That is a whole lot easier

TobiSGD it says it can't find firmware-b43-installer. Also kyr0, how do I check if I need 32 or 64 bit?

Post the output of the following command:

katcos@katcos-laptop:~$ sudo uname -i
unknown

---------- Post added 06-22-11 at 12:55 PM ----------

I have absolutely no idea what the *!@# has done to my laptop

Right... try this:

katcos@katcos-laptop:~$ sudo uname -a
Linux katcos-laptop 2.6.31-23-generic #75-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 18 18:08:39 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux

That bit right there tells you that you are running the 32bit version of ubuntu. If you would have been using the 64bit version it would have said something along the lines of: x86_64

I've just read more of the readme and I don't stand a chance. Thanks everyone but I'm just gonna buy a new laptop, I was not meant to use linux.

Also, to install the developement tools for ubuntu and the kernel headers execute the following in the terminal: