Put MINT 17.1 on USB and booted from it. Trying to establish internet connection???? Do not understand the terms used in the connection window?? (I'm not tech literate!!) HELP!!!

Try Every wifi connection has
1. An ESSID - it's name
2. A passphrase - It's password.

To get it up in linux, you have to put the passphrase through wpa_passphrase which transmogrifies it, and put the resulting string in wpa_supplicant.conf. An example:

Thanks Business Kid,,,but you lost me,,,,have no idea what those terms mean. About all I can do at this point of having LM running from the USB stick is ,,,,get to the terminal. I do know my router SSID 192.168.1.1 ,,,,and the name of the wifi network I'm on. I have a windows computer sitting right next to it that I have a connection on,,(it's the one I using here)

The SSID is the name of your WIFI network which you see when you scan for networks. For instance if you visit a library or a coffee shop which has free WIFI and they tell you their network name is. A made-up example would be "STARBUCKS-FREENET", and that's what is meant by SSID. You have your Windows system attached to some WIFI network? This would be the same name.

Do you have a Mint desktop environment? A graphical desktop, that is?

If so you have a few options to look for WIFI networks and attaching to them. We're also assuming that the WIFI network you do find, if there's a password, that you do know it. Please be aware of these things as you move forwards with this.

For instance if you are at home, have a WIFI network, then you should know the name and the password, if not, check with someone who should be able to tell you, or see if there's a sticker on your router telling you the defaults and try to verify with someone that those defaults are still correct. If you are attaching to another WIFI, public or not, be sure you know the name and whether or not there is a password for that network.

In the Mint desktop, there are main Menu->Preferences choices like "Network" and "Network Connections" which you can use to see and connect to networks. Also on the other corner (usually lower right) of the desktop, there should be network icons to allow you to select a WIFI network and attempt to attach to it. You will be prompted if a password is required, and as said before, you should double check what that password is in advance.

Hi...

If the information above doesn't help, please tell us the wireless adapter you're using. To do this, open a terminal and post the results of this command...

If using a USB adapter, use this command...

Regards...

from terminal I get
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0781:5598 SanDisk Corp.
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 413c:a005 Dell Computer Corp. Internal 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Man,,,it looks like Linux might not be for tech dummies like me????

Try the first (lspci) command, I don't see your adapter listed above.

You're not a dummy, besides, you got this far.

Regards...

03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Inspiron 9400 Laptop [1028:01cd]
Kernel driver in use: b44

0c:00.0 Network Controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN[14e4:4311] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge

Would you like to share the terms you don't understand which are displayed in the connection window then everybody can stop guessing and possibly give a useful answer you'll understand?

In which case the answers and suggestions above may prove beyond you when you're looking for a "KISS" answer.

Play Bonny!

Was typing this however noticed an additional post arrived, and have to say that I absolutely agree with Soadyheid.

I feel it would be infinitely easier for you who has noted that you have great difficulty with technical topics, to instead us the desktop connection manager to find and attach to your WIFI network.

Please provide some feedback to Soadyheid's post.

And "very well", thanks to the other commands, we do know you have a Broadcom 802.11b/g adapter.

Yes there are commands you can run using the terminal window, they are more complex than using the User Interface Connection Manager, however ultimately using the Connection Manager will allow the system to save the selected WIFI network and settings so that you do not have to enter commands at each boot, nor will you have to remember and recall those commands should anything go wrong where you need to get it working again.

All that said, please choose your preference.

well Soadyheid,,,,the truth at this point I can't even get back to the "connections window",,,like I said,,this this may very well be beyond my capabilities. However,,,I feel like if I can get on line,,and communicate with the www I can wade through the "shallow" part,,,,if there is a shallow part. Really all I use computer for is browsing, email,,,a little music/video etc.

Please try this https://www.ghacks.net/2015/03/27/ho...-installation/

Hi...

Thank you for posting the results. Since you have a Broadcom adapter, there's a good chance you're missing the firmware. Please open a terminal and copy and paste the following commands and press "Enter" one at a time....

The above is from the instructions here. Let us know how it goes...

Regards...

Hi...

I thought of the same article but the OP said he was running Mint live. Will those instructions work on a distribution not installed on the hard drive?

Regards...

Thanks rtmistler,,,that helped to jog my memory as to getting back to connection window. From that window I click "wifi" for connection type,,,then drop down menu for create ask for SSID,,,,??? Mode,,,???? BSSID,,,??? Device MAC Address,,,???? Cloned MAC Address,,,???? MTU,,,,?????