I've searched and Googled all week and can't find an answer. I am a Windows user trying despirately to switch to Linux as my OS of choice. I'm new to linux and know next to nothing. I'm from the days of MSDOS so I'm comfortable around a command line.

Problem: I tried some Live CDs on my laptop (Dell Latitude 600)to see which ones work the best. I tried Knoppix and everything worked perfectly. Wifi and everything. Unfortunately, when I did an HD install, the Wifi didn't work. Kwifimanager says I have a connection but when I go to a browser I get nothing. When I boot with the live cd it works, when I install the OS the the HD it doesn't work. So, I spent the better part of last week installing different distros. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Debian. The Wifi didn't work right out of the box on any of them like it did with the Knoppix live CD. The last distro I tried, and still have installed, was Kanotix. Again the live CD worked perfectly, wifi and all. When I did the install, no dice. I've been Googling all week and couldn't find an answer to my specific problem. Please help, I'm trying to convince my friends of the benefits of Linux and this is kind of hanging me up.

Most of the Dell cards of that vintage are Broadcom.

I suggest you use ndiswrapper. Instructions here:

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m....php/Main_Page

If you get stuck on any of the steps listed in the wiki, post details. "Doesn't work" isn't easy to troubleshoot.