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[ChairmanPoo]

After my ubuntu 11.04 fiasco, I've decided to try other "user-friendly" distros. I've set my eyes on linux mint. The question is: can I run the debian based-version without having to fear controller issues?

[optimumtact]

ArchLinux

[ILikePie]

Eww Arch...

Anyway, definitely go with Mint Debian. Its rolling release system means you don't need to reinstall your system every few months. Don't know about any issues, but like I said, it's nothing a quick reconfiguration can't solve.

e, I heard Debian itself has become much more user friendly with the release of Debian 6 (was it Squeeze? I don't remember), but Debian Stable tends to be years behind other distros.

[ChairmanPoo]

ArchLinux

considered it, but decided against it in the end.


Anyway, onto debian: apparently it doesn't carry a wifi driver for my 1015PEM's card by default, so I have to either pick a windows one (and I dont know where to find such a thing) or try and get the broadcom one ubuntu uses and make it run somehow (assuming it can)

[ILikePie]

Pop open a terminal as root, and post the output of "lspci".

[ChairmanPoo]

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation N10 Family DMI Bridge (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation NM10 Family LPC Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8132 Fast Ethernet (rev c0)
02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)


iwconfig


lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

pan0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=19 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

[ChairmanPoo]

ehm, *bump*


I've tried some odd stuff I saw in the linux mint debian forum concerning the broadcom driver... to no avail. I've uninstalled it and am about to try again, but extra input would be appretiated

[ILikePie]

Sorry, I was asleep.

It appears there are drivers for your Broadcom card in the mainline kernel, so we can cross out downloading and compiling a new one.
I'm not familiar with which kernel Mint Debian uses, I think it's a standard Debian kernel, I'll check. Also, try running "zcat /proc/config.gz | grep "B43" " as root and see if it returns anything.

e, also try "uname -a", that'll give some info on the kernel version and whatnot.

ee, Forget all that, it seems your chip isn't supported by the default kernel drivers.

[ChairmanPoo]

So what can I do, then? Upgrade or downgrade the kernel? I know that in ubuntu 10.10 my wifi works. Whereas in 11.04 and debian mint it doesnt. Would version switching help with this?


A tidbit

Ubuntu 10.10 (with which the card works) has this kernel version: Linux ubuntu 2.6.35-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:34:50 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

whereas debian mint has this one:

Linux 2.6.32-5-686 #1 SMP Thu Nov 25 18:43:34 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux







For the moment I'm updating everything updatable

[ILikePie]

Try asking around in either the Ubuntu or Mint forums, there obviously are some drivers for BCM43xx chips out there.

It wouldn't hurt to try enabling the b43 modules in your kernel. Get the Debian sources from here (Download the deb on Windows and move it over to your Linux partition.), and install with either gdebi, or by running "dpkg -i /path/to/linux-source-2.6.38.deb" as root.

You should have the kernel source code in /usr/src/linux/, or /usr/src/linux-2.6.38/.

e, Before you do that, does "zcat /proc/config.gz | grep "B43" " output anything?

[ChairmanPoo]

nope.


# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep "B43"
gzip: /proc/config.gz: No such file or directory

[ILikePie]

...

Okay, proc isn't mounted then. Try: "mkdir /proc", "mount -t proc none /proc" and then "zcat /proc/config.gz | grep "B43" ".

[ChairmanPoo]

Doesn't work, either. It says that folder already exists, is already mounted, but nonetheless cant find config.gz


I dont get why am I getting all this trouble with the wifi card. Ubuntu 10.10 recognized it allright. So did 11.04, except it suddenly stopped working, and hasn't done since. Debian mint is the same. *Urk*

[ILikePie]

Hurr, your kernel wasn't configured to create a config.gz file, which complicates things a whole lot more. /proc/config.gz stores your current kernel configuration, and without that, you can't reconfigure your kernel (Unless you do so from scratch, but nobody likes doing that.).

I'd give the Mint or Ubuntu forums a shot.

[ChairmanPoo]

I did. To no avail :/


I'm going to try reinstalling 11.04. And if that fails, go back to 10.10. All in all this is very frustrating, though :/