Which versions of Linux work properly with RTL8187B?
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You mentioned wireless during the install?
Or after?
Is there Internet before you "installed"?
An Internet connection is almost mandatory these days to install Linux.
You mentioned wireless during the install?
Or after?
Is there Internet before you "installed"?
An Internet connection is almost mandatory these days to install Linux.
Sorry - forgot to mention history.
Bought laptop a few months ago for £30
Just before purchase Windows 10 was installed and tested - everything worked except the optical drive which is still intermittent
I probably played too much with Windows and the wireless stopped working
Wireless connectivity is an issue at my house because I try not to use DHCP and my router IP is 172.18.17.17 with a 255.255.255.240 mask
Not an issue with Macs but some versions of Windows refuse to connect unless I enable DHCP.
Since I bought the laptop to use with Linux I removed the Windows hard disk and installed Ubuntu 9.1 on a spare blank hard disk via an external CD drive.
I used 9.1 several years ago and preferred it to later OTT versions.
The laptop did not have a network connection during or after the install - from memory this version of Ubuntu originally worked without a network - my earlier experience was without the need for wireless - it was probably updated over the network (wired) a few days later. Could the laptop be short of critical components?
To which "hardware" do you refer when you mention "poor linux support", the computer or wireless card?
the wireless.
search term: "linux rtl8187b".
but the links provided by ardvark start early 2008, which suggests that the device is at least that old.
you should really have a good read with these links, the ubuntuforums thread is marked [solved], so that's good, no?
the wireless.
search term: "linux rtl8187b".
but the links provided by ardvark start early 2008, which suggests that the device is at least that old.
you should really have a good read with these links, the ubuntuforums thread is marked [solved], so that's good, no?
There was some confusion - I originally thought posts were saying the laptop was too old but I agree the wireless module is old - probably gave good service with Windows but fails to work with 64 bit Ubuntu.
My original post said: "I see that some use Windows drivers but I am interested to know which versions of Linux are known to work with their 'normal' drivers" so I discounted the link to which you refer as the only fully working solution I can find in its 13 pages uses a Windows driver.
Since there appears to be few other alternatives I may eventually decide to use this driver - now where do I find a method to do this without an internet link?
oops - sorry - now working on DHCP - I had not noticed that my routers's limited DHCP range used for a few problem PCs had all its IPs reserved.
I don't know why static IPs failed to work but it may be the same issue I have had with a few PCs which would not allow wireless to be set up with static IPs - I will investigate further later.
There is circumstantial evidence that setting up initially from the Panel icon and not Network Connection Preferences is faster and more reliable - delete any preferences first.
I may have given the wrong processor information before. The speed appears to be 2 GHz but I am not sure if there are 2 or 4 cores in total.
Does Ubuntu have a way to display the laptop model name?
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
Posts: 7,680
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For what it's worth I've been looking at a few laptop battery teardown videos on YouTube after having replaced a screen on one of mine using one as a guide. From what I can gather the WiFi chip is usually just clipped to the motherboard and to the antenna wires so it may well be possible to swap it just by buying another model with the same interface (likely USB). Luckily I don't need to do this so havn't priced it up for my machines but if there's something that looks right going cheap on eBay (or wherever people buy things nowadays) might be worth a shot if you're not afraid of a few screws and clips.
^ good point. esp. old laptops are somewhat more user-friendly in that respect, often there's even a convenient hatch specially for the wifi chip.
and replacing one crappy old wifi with another one with better linux support could be a zero investment, if you have the hardware lying around.
but beware: bios vendor lock-in might be present.
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