Picked up a nice used Acer 3002LCi over the weekend, but its a bit above and beyond the regular model: Sempron 3000+ (1.8GHz, vs. 1.6 originally) and a DL DVD writer.

Everything is going* using my MEPIS 3.3.1 distro except the wireless (and the extra buttons...). I had trouble with the NIC initially, but I fixed it somehow (either via apt-get updates (usb adapter) or through trying to get my wireless working...)

Anyone have experience with a Broadcom 4400 internal wireless card? I tried running
and it said the alias is loaded, but I can't get MEPIS to see it or the light to turn on. (The wireless has been left "on" when exiting XP due to reading somewhere that it could be a software key thing not available in linux)

I am new to ndiswrapper, and I hear its a dirty way to go, but internal wireless sounds nicer than buying a new external wireless card or usb stick. Any ideas or experience with this Broadcom?

FYI, Acer loads "Linpus Linux" on the machines sold in Asia; I cannot seem to get a real distro (the live CD boots into a command line and startx doesn't work; i get lost at that point) but the source code is available:
http://www.linpus.com.tw/Downloads/default.htm
might I find useful things there?

*yeah I'll do a HCL writeup!

Yeah - windows puts the card in "sleep" mode. Try the reverse approach: switching the machine all the way off (and unplug the power) before rebooting into linux. Upgrading the bios may fix this too. It is just possible this will fix your access problem.

have you used the iwtools (iwlist, iwconfig, iwspy)?

Note: a search of LQ, using "broadcom 4400 wireless" as the term gave 12 threads. Though none are specific to MEPIS there will likely be clues in there for you. There is even an ndiswrapper HOWTO to check your method against.

I was sceptical about your card at first - I thought the Broadcom 4400 was a 10/100 wired ethernet controller.

if all else fails, you could try the linuxant wrapper.

hmm maybe it is, and thats what got my ethernet card to work...? but i thought ndiswrapper was for wireless... I thought that I had found the driver for the wireless in the c:/windows/80211bg (or similar) folder, but maybe they're all there and i missed something? still, i had downloaded drivers form the acer website too, and ran ndiswrapper on these...

ok i guess i have more digging to do. thanks! anyone else have ideas or experience with this laptop, lemme know!