Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
15727
Vostro 1000 Linux wifi
Is there any way to make the onboard wireles adapter permanently powered on? The only BIOS setting is to activate/deactivate the keys that power it on/off in run time. ("fn+F2")
The problem is this is a software switch that only works in windows. I use Linux (Mandriva 2008) and most of the fn+" combinations do not work. Most are no problem, but not being able to turn on the wifi card is a show stopper.
I have tried what seems everything, for about 2 months now, to no avail. If the durn thing would only be powered up and stay on any time the machine is on, I could configure the card to work with Linux without a problem.
I think not having a hard on/off function is poor design. It sure makes for the most Linux unfriendly machine I've yet encountered.
I mailed off the output of a command that provides developers with information about how well their software is working on given hardware. This was a kernel error. The fellow emailed me back and said he'd already concluded Linux was a no-go on the vostro 1000 in general.
I am using it at the moment, but I have had to buy a USB external wifi adapter in order to connect.
In the mean time, in various Linux forums I have been compelled to suggest people stay away from the vostro if they use Linux. Many of these discussions end up lamenting hardware manufacturers moving more toward a "winmodem" style of designing hardware. This vostro is very much like a whole-system "winPC," much of what makes it tick has been offloaded from the hardware into the windows OS space, that is the hardware is very much dependent of that specific OS.
I see that as a bad move, but then I'm a "jaded Linux fanboy," as they might say in the tech republic forums... :smileywink:
Please tell me there's something I can do to make the on board wifi adapter stay on all the time...
Thanks,
eek
The problem is this is a software switch that only works in windows. I use Linux (Mandriva 2008) and most of the fn+" combinations do not work. Most are no problem, but not being able to turn on the wifi card is a show stopper.
I have tried what seems everything, for about 2 months now, to no avail. If the durn thing would only be powered up and stay on any time the machine is on, I could configure the card to work with Linux without a problem.
I think not having a hard on/off function is poor design. It sure makes for the most Linux unfriendly machine I've yet encountered.
I mailed off the output of a command that provides developers with information about how well their software is working on given hardware. This was a kernel error. The fellow emailed me back and said he'd already concluded Linux was a no-go on the vostro 1000 in general.
I am using it at the moment, but I have had to buy a USB external wifi adapter in order to connect.
In the mean time, in various Linux forums I have been compelled to suggest people stay away from the vostro if they use Linux. Many of these discussions end up lamenting hardware manufacturers moving more toward a "winmodem" style of designing hardware. This vostro is very much like a whole-system "winPC," much of what makes it tick has been offloaded from the hardware into the windows OS space, that is the hardware is very much dependent of that specific OS.
I see that as a bad move, but then I'm a "jaded Linux fanboy," as they might say in the tech republic forums... :smileywink:
Please tell me there's something I can do to make the on board wifi adapter stay on all the time...
Thanks,
eek
jkserver
2 Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 14:00
Same experience for me on the Vostro 1000 dual boot with the Dell (Broadcom) adaptor in Kubuntu 8.04 KDE4. However, if the card was Intel, you could configure Mandriva to start the card automatically after boot. That's how I got the built in Intel adaptor to work automatically on my XP/Kubuntu8.04/Fedora9 triple boot Vostro 1500. There's a brief delay on boot when either Linux distro tries to connect to wlan0, but after the OS starts, KNetworkManager connects to the access point automatically with WPA.
The biggest problem I see are the Dell (Broadcom) drivers, which any out-of-the-box distro of Linux I have tried is not able to autoconfigure. Apparently, you must resort to ndiswrapper or madwifi workarounds that in my experience have been a real pain. For now, consumers are forced to buy a different adapter brand that is already known to the Linux development community (like Intel). Lots of good info about this topic out on distro-specific forums...
eekook
2 Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 15:00
Thanks for the reply. I should have come back and posted the solution.
Mandriva 2008.1 came out and the broadcom kernel drivers work perfectly, no need for ndiswrapper any more and no need for an external adapter. Onboard is working including the radio toggling keys. (and brightness, sound etc, Mandriva is the best with this hardware hands down)
The problem was the radio was off on boot, and nothing in Linux ad been set to turn it on. Basically I could set up the driver but not connect. The trick; I booted windows, which turned the transmitter on, then did a restart into Linux. The radio stayed on and the setup went perfectly, I connected using WPA. (and it picks up every network I frequent, on boot) This finally put the configuration in place which calls for the dang transmitter to turn on, which apparently dbus handles. I was in a catch 22 until it dawned on me to boot windows first and restart...
This Debian tutorial got me over the hump with the rest of the config back when I was running 2008.0 and having troubles, including a hack to get the transmitter on the right way:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cautiontape//vostro/
But anyone wanting dual boot on a Vostro 1000, Mandriva 2008.1 ("spring") is the way to go. Fast, stable, everything works out of the box.