What linux distro plays the best with WiFi??
 

this is probably a FAQ but i dont feel like looking throughout the forums for it so ill just ask here. I would really like to have a laptop to use when im not at home, because i never am, and i dont want to keep installing puppy linux into a VM when i want to use linux at school. What would be my best bet on a sturdy linux distro that i wouldnt have trouble with using a WiFi connection?

Instead of worrying about the distro, just get hardware that works with Linux. Ralink cards work out of the box, so you can easily replace your laptops mini pci card with a ralink based one or buy a USB card. Most Edimax branded cards use ralink based chipsets.

Ahh yes, true. What would you think would be the better laptop of choice though, ive heard many different things about pretty much any desktops, accept dell... what would you consider?

I am not partial to any particular brand. I just buy whatever I prefer at the time. For example in our house we have a mix of Acer, HP and Maxdata laptops. I tend to avoid ones with ATI graphics (Intel and Nvidia graphics seem to cause less hassle).

If you get something mostly Intel based, you should be fine. Intel has great wifi drivers for Linux, Atheros is pretty good, but the latest card that they have been putting in nearly everything isn't fully supported yet. If it has Intel video, audio, ethernet and wifi, it is a pretty good choice for Linux.

I have a mostly Intel based Acer laptop and love it, the only thing that isn't Intel is the Atheros wifi card, which just happens to be the AR5007EG that isn't officially supported yet, but works well with ndiswrapper and the Windows drivers.

Laptop Wifi Distro
 

The best distro I have used where you don't have to configure anything is Mepis. Get the 7.0 version, and you can connect from the live CD using the Mepis script in the KDE menu. The GUI has worked flawlessly for me, using a toshiba laptop and HP laptop with broadcom driver. If you like it it has a nice installer as well and you can use synaptic then to install additional packages from debian.

MANDRIVA ONE 2008 was the best in my experience for my Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094. Wifi was automatically detected and connected with the signal-strength bar fully-functioning.

The other one that worked after some "offline" (nothing to download) configuration was FEDORA 8 LIVE. Just had to click on the active visible network and click on connect.

I've tried SimplyMEPIS 7.0 and it did not work-out for me.

On the second try of openSUSE 10.3, it again did not work.

Good luck!

Toshiba and Mepis 7.0?
 

My Toshiba uses the atheros card, and Mepis worked with a few simple clicks using the Mepis Network Manager. Mepis has its own developed script which opens a GUI, and all you do is type and click on the appropriate buttons and...voila, you're connected. The GUI even allows you to check mark if you want wireless to start automatically at boot, and configures everything auto-magically.

Linux Mint

It has a card detector and configuration program. They have a good reputation for getting wireless working.

Regards
John

In my experience,Pclinux,Suse and Mint have always been and still are the best

ones in wifi recognitztion and compatibility and i particularly suggest you Pclinux Kde.

If you would read my thread regarding my wifi out-of-the-box experience with my Toshiba M115-S3094,... those that work out of the box are:

1) Mandriva One 2008 LiveCD
2) Fedora 8 LiveCD
3) PCLinuxOS Mini Me LiveCD
4) OpenSolaris LiveCD

You can try them out too.

To my disappointment, Ubuntu, Xubuntu and OpenSuse 10.3 did not work out of the box.

I'm trying to set up a Compaq Presario 700AP, have tried to run from LiveCD Mint, Puppy, and PCLinuxOS-Gnome, all with no success (PS2 mouse and WiFi are the main problems).

Just downloading Mandriva now, we shall see!

clemenzina

I just went thru this with 2 different computers with 2 different results after trying about a dozen different distros.

Sabayon worked best with my Asus WL-138-g WiFi card. In fact it was the only distro that worked perfect with all the hardware in that box.

OTHO my friends computer with a Zonet ZEW-2501 WiFi adapter worked best with Mandriva and Kubuntu.

Mint was VERY slow to boot.
MEPIS worked but it was inconsistent.

As you already know Puppy works really well with WiFi.

I've been using sabayon for a lot of time too..but ITS ONLY DEFECT in my opinion is that is based on gentoo and so,everytime you install something from its Packet manager,it needs CENTURIES TO INSTALL IT BECAUSE IT DOES COMPILATION !

Anyway,for the rest it's a really very good distro and has a fabolous wireless compatibility and recognition.

As you may have seen in my other posts, I just bought a new Toshiba Equium A210. Good price and good performing laptop, but the internal wireless (Realtek 8187B) is not supported yet. I am forced to use a cheap Belkin USB stick to get wireless with Ubuntu Hardy. Also, this is the only distro that would provide sound in this laptop.

Bob