hello,
I am trying to migrate over to Linux and my Intel Proset 3945ABG wireless network card is not being recognized in the major distros. I've tried Fedora, Debian Ubuntu, Kubuntu, & Freespire. Is there any hope for me?


Is there a distro that supports the following?

Realtek RTL839/810x Fast Family Ethernet

and

Intel Proset 3945ABG wireless

Could someone help me? I really want to move to Linux.... but seem stuck.

have you tried to install those with ndiswrapper?

forgive me for being a total noob, but how can you use NDISWrapper without an active internet connection?

it can be done as I did it...
I've been getting the required packages from debian.org (the distro I use) and copying them to teh linux machine using a USB drive. It's a long process but it's feasible

For wireless support no distro really stands out as any better than any other (although if wireless is a key element in your decision, I would tend to avoid Fedora). It would probably be better to base your choice on other criteria.

That chipset does have Linux support (see here for details) but it is likely to need a bit of effort on your part to get it going. In my opinion, ndiswrapper should be a last resort. Unfortunately since it tends to be a bit easier to set up, people use it first.

TheNewbie, I have updated your thread title to specifically mention the problem you were having.

You'd be surprised how many "Which Distro?" questions we get

I think almost all recent distributions with a kernel newer than 2.6.13 should work. A driver can be obtained directly from Intel:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scri...9&submit=Go%21

Thanks David for the update.

Well... ok I found the drivers and downloaded them onto CDs. Now what I am wondering is what distro should I go with? I want to go with Fedora Red Hat. Would my drivers work with that distro?

Source drivers will work (mostly) on any distro.

Some distros strongly suggest you do it "their way" - pre-compiled binaries. Fedora/Red Hat and SuSE are the worst in this regard. This thread from a key member of the Linux community might be of interest to you: https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedo.../msg01006.html

Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives offer some nice alternatives although, for my taste, they tend to rely too heavily on GUIs and package management.

Slackware is my personal preference - very open, "pure," customizable but lacks the hand-holding that is comforting to some.

Bottom line is that it's all personal preference. Read the ipw3945 docs carefully and install the components as described - you should be fine. At best, one or more distros will have already installed some of the pieces for you.

What about Ark Linux? That seems like a good distro to me.

If you like Ark, go with it. Like I said, wireless support doesn't really change much between distros so Ark is likely to be no better or worse than any other distro.

I had the same Intel 3945 ABG network card on my laptop and I installed MEPIS linux. It has detected and configured my wifi card just out of the box, I just opened up network manager and connected to my wireless network. I had OpenSUSE and I was able to configure my wifi card by installing ipw3945 related rpms and following procedure found on many forums.. try MEPIS live cd first to see, if everything works well..