so I installed mepis, finally... But now I can't get the wireless to work, I followed the instructions on the mepis support site but when I click Apply, Ok and restarts the settings are back to default. I have and Atheros which is problematic according to the instructions.

Has this happened to anyone?

Which Atheros chipset are you using?

M.

Atheros 802.11

thanks for the reply

Sorry, that's not a chipset, that's the main part of the IEEE specification for WiFi... Open a terminal, type lspci and paste the results here.

M.

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI-X Root Port
0000:00:11.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 437A Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 4379 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 81)
0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI (rev 80)
0000:00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio (rev 01)
0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0421 (rev a1)
0000:02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5005G 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
0000:02:04.0 Communication controller: Conexant HSF 56k Data/Fax Modem

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI-X Root Port
0000:00:11.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 437A Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 4379 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 81)
0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI (rev 80)
0000:00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio (rev 01)
0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0421 (rev a1)
0000:02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5005G 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
0000:02:04.0 Communication controller: Conexant HSF 56k Data/Fax Modem

while we are on this theme of the drives...

how do I install my nvidia gforce 8500 gt video card driver and my ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 chipset driver? Bacause I had to boot on VESA to install it or else it asked me to pres ctrl-alt-f7 and it would just stay on a blinking line and would not take me to login screen. Thats pretty much what happened when I tried with X-Windows manager. It wouldnt load login screen.

thanks man

UPDATE I got the wireless drivers to work, its just the graphics now. See the graphics driver issue in the post above.

Alas, I'm absolutely no expert on this (I use obsolete or integrated hardware - as a hobby and a principle); I'm sure someone else will be, though. There are proprietary drivers that might be available via "non-free" repositories. This means that if you can get X with VESA you can probably even use Synaptic (or whatever MEPIS uses in its place) to search for them and install them. If that doesn't work, go to the vendors' websites and look for drivers. That's as far as I can go... I'm pretty sure that if you don't find immediate help here, the MEPIS community will be glad to help.

Did you use ndiswrapper to make WiFi work?

M.

MEPIS defaults to Synaptic, but has KPackage (which I prefer) available. Of course apt-get is available & aptitude can be installed. (Search LQ for discussions of the relative merits of each.)

Why do it the hard way? Just get Linux friendly hardware. Use an Nvidia graphics card. There is a wonderful free driver put out for Nvidia that is bundled with Mepis. Just use the opt in for Nvidia option. For wireless, first ensure that Linux sees your Ethernet port. Then get a wireless Ethernet bridge like a Linksys WET54G or a Buffalo Airstation if you need more then one machine or device hooked up. Be aware that Linux will treat this like Ethernet and not wireless. For example, you will say that your printer is hooked up to a network with Ethernet not wireless when installing a network printer.

A wireless bridge is driverless. Just plug it in to your Ethernet and a power outlet. I have mine plugged into a battery backup so that I have time to log off of my websites if the power goes out. You should also have your cable or DSL modem running off of a battery backup. Ditto for your router.

Linux doesn't like USB wireless very much at all IMO. It will barely tolerate wireless PCI cards. Besides, a bridge can be mounted away from the computer to get the best signal. They also seem to be more powerful in terms of broadcasting and they don't put such a heavy load on the CPU like USB or PCI wireless does. I suspect this strongly, but can't quite prove it.

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