WiFi installation - is SUSE 10 that difficult?
 

I'm looking to install a Linux distro and have been searching for reviews. I read a very interesting SUSE 10 article and the only real objection was 'a long standing problem SUSE have with WiFi auto installation'. It basically said 'Don't expect SUSE to install your WiFi card and don't expect to find any SUSE utilities that will do it for you'. Is it that bad? If it is I'll look elsewhere because I do want something that will auto install the basics of my system.

Although some people have reported problems with SUSE 10.1, SUSE 10.0 installs wireless very well. I have posted parts of walkthroughs in this forum, but there is a more-or-less complete walkthrough available here. Just scroll down to the section entitled "Setting up a wireless card." Note: you will have better results with a desktop computer than a laptop. The laptop hardware is not as "standardized" and results can be more problematic with any distro.

Cogar is right, compared to other distros SUSE does a good job of installing wireless.

But now for my :twocents:. If SUSE does not install your wireless automatically, the program ndiswrapper is almost as good as having it installed automatically (obviously, nothing is as good as having it does for you, but its still pretty easy). Check out the SUSE instructions for setting it up: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...ributions#SuSE. All you need is your .ini file that came on your computer's drivers disc. Just copy this file to your local HD and tell ndiswrapper to use it. It works seamlessly (well, it did for me anyway with a Boradcom wireless card).

Good Luck,

~Justin

Thank you both for your advice. I'll give it a try!

i use a broadcom based card as well. beware non-suse specific ndiswrapper installation instructions. suse has simplified the ndiswrapper install somewhat, and other howto's will have you doing unneeded steps.