Yeah... there are about a hundred other posts here about that... I know. First of all, there's a typo in the title. I'm using Xubuntu. Sorry.

I'm sorry for asking such a dumb question, but nothing that any of the other posts put up made any sense. I see all this stuff about ifconfig and whatnot and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what's going on. Networking has always been my biggest weakness in computing.

I'm *pretty sure* that Linux likes my wireless card, because when I run Wifi Radar, I'm able to pick up signals. The thing is, whenever I try to connect to mine, it says I'm connected with no IP address. If I plug a cable directly into the router, I'm able to get online just fine, but whenever I'm out, nothing works. The little icon in the top right hand corner of the screen however, provides me with absolutely no help at all.

When I run iwconfig, it says that lo and eth0 are not doing anything, and eth1 is connected to my home network.

For technical specs (although I don't think you'll need them), I'm running a Dell Inspiron 1420, with a Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-card. Also, Xubuntu is being run via Wubi.

I need a step-by-step if anyone is willing to give it to me. Sorry to be such a Linux-challenged loser. It's late and I've been trying to get this working all afternoon.

I'm sure all you pros are just about fed up with this question, huh?

here is how I connect maybe it will help you. I do this as root.

# ifconfig eth1 up
# iwconfig eth1 mode managed essid <ssid> key <wepkey ex: 0000000000>
# dhclient eth1

then ping google.com to make sure it is working.
i dont have experience with wpa so this only works if you are using wep

I found that using gnomb ubuntu has a better wireless setup than kubuntu. Reboot and choose the gnomb desktop manager at the login screen. Then try the wireless utility on the upper right taskbar. You can choose to set all info for your wireless connection manually there as well . . .

... also sometimes linux wireless has problems connecting to WPA encrypted wireless routers . . . why I don't know . . .

The reason we ask for ifconfig and iwconfig is to see if the card is configured and working. You may get these results by going to terminal as root and hit enter after typing each one.

@romsieze

Thank you very much. I'm thanking you within Xubuntu wirelessly, so it obviously worked. XD

All I need to do now is set up my printers. Once that's taken care of, I'll be Windows Independent and in Xubuntu almost for good. I'll ask the community for help with that after I actually GET my printers (don't have one yet!).

You've been a big help.

I want to thank everyone for trying to help me as best they can, but it turns out I'm just stupid.

All I had to do was LEFT-CLICK the network icon. Not RIGHT-CLICK it. I'm sorry I'm such a loser.

I'm just putting this up in case anyone else can use it. What I've learned today: How to manually configure a network, and to always left click my icons before asking for help.

Too much Windows. It's rotting my brain...