I am trying to get my system to work I just installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on my old Dell Inspiron 1501 and it is giving me some issues with connecting to a wireless connection. I didn't know if I needed to update drivers or if possibly my computer was just to old and I was stuck. But either way I was hoping someone here could help. I know quite a bit about Windows OSs but absolutely nothing of Linux based systems. Thanks in advance for the help!

holdend,

Welcome to LQ.

With this old laptop, you really need to use a lightweight Linux distribution such as antiX or puppy.

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ro-4175598569/

Your Dell 1501 has a Broadcom wifi card which is often a "problem child" in Linux.

antiX will usually recognise and enable most Broadcom cards automatically.

Failing that, it may need a minor tweak.

First look at post #13 for details of the 32 bit .iso image download etc.

Further info is in posts #22 and #27.

Hi...

As beachboy2 suggested, if you're experiencing system sluggishness using Ubuntu, you might want to consider using a lightweight distribution of Linux. Lubuntu and Xubuntu are derivatives of Ubuntu and might fit the bill if you want to stay within the Ubuntu family.

However, If you want to continue using Ubuntu, you might be able to get your adapter working using the instructions here next to the green and white checkmark. There might be an entry in "Additional Drivers" that lists your Broadcom adapter and allows you to install the proprietary "wl" driver. However, this will depend if you have a chip that is compatible with this driver.

Regards...

Thank you ardvark71 and beachboy2 I think I may just switch to a more lightweight version of Linux. Beings I have a pretty old system a lightweight distro doesn't sound like a bad choice anyways. Thanks again I'm just trying to get the most out of Linux.

If you can get a temporary wired connection you could do this: Press the windows key to get the dash menu to pop up, start typing driver, you should see an "additional drivers" pop up in dash, click that. When it opens you should see your Broadcom card, install what is needed. You will need your password. That should do the trick.

You're welcome, let us know how it goes.

Regards...

Jkirchner that was actually my first step and I believe I downloaded the necessary proprietary driver but it still didn't work. That's what led me to ask on here but maybe I'm not doing the right thing I'll have to look into it a little further when I get off work. I will let you guys know how it goes.