Help. I Thought Ununtu Was Supposted To Be Perfect And Simple.

So the latest on the wife's lappy.

Old (faulty) hdd is in a USB caddy.

Shiny new HDD in lappy.

Installued ubuntu from the USB stick I created last week.

Now trying to make it work and do all we want of it.

No1 problem:  It won't connect to the network wirelessly.  It will connect via an ethernet cable but we want to enable the inbuilt wireless adaptor.  Under network settings there's no mention of wireless.  So I guess I need to download something?

No 2 problem: she wants to use Google Chrome.  I see in the "Ubuntu software centre" there is "chromium" available with a similar looking icon? is that the same thing?

In the mean time I browsed (with the default firefox) to googles website and chose to download Google Chrome for Ubuntu.  It starts to download. Then the lappy screen turns off. I mean turns off goes completely black. And it then just sits there forever. hdd light briefly flicks on every 10 seconds or so. so it's not shut down, it's "crashed" (I thought that was a word that did not exist in linux land)

I've tried the download twice now with the same result.

This Linux thingy is not yet living up to expectations (expectations are it will just work without pharting about)

Dave - Don't believe everything they tell you, yes Ubuntu is free, I have both and choose Windows 8.1.1 any day, never have any issues.

Its all about drivers and software that works in Ubuntu, then search for availability.

OK, Dave, it is a lot better if you run live first,

If you have that option, and connect to your WiFi from the live environment, then it will download all drivers it needs whilst installing,

If you need extras always try ubuntu software centre first,

You have my number, give me a call if you need some help,

I use uh Ubuntu / Linux exclusively these days , except for maybe once in 6 months when its easier to boot XP rather than a workaround for a one off thing.

Right here goes.

I have it connected via ethernet at the moment. So I can access the network and the internet okay.

I did some googling and found this, instructions to get the wirless working on my very laptop http://www.ehow.com/how_7324956_acer-wlan-work-ubuntu-linux.html

But those instructions are wrong????

It says "Click "System" then "Administration" and open "Synaptic Package Manager." Type your password to continue. This is a software manager that has access to thousands of free applications, drivers and patches for Ubuntu."

So I click "system" but there is no "administration" option.  Lots of options but not "administration"

There are settings for "network" but no mention of my wireless network and ne settings to enable the wireless.

I browsed the ubuntu software centre and found "common files for the broadcom STA wireless driver" (which as fara as I can tell is the wireless chipset used in this lappy) downloaded and installed it but it makes no difference. No wireless networking.

Help.

OK, top of screen you should see a sort of radar V shaped thing, or, as you are on internet it may be 2arrows, one inverted, click, it should show you available connection.

Broadcom wireless cards are inherently compatible unless you have an oddball, I have 2 lappies connect direct via vroadcom with no other stuff required.

I have an up / down arrow when the network cable is plugged in.

Clicking it I get:

Ethernet network (greyed iout)

Wired connection 1 

Disconnect

VPN connections

Enable networking (ticked)

Connection information 

Edit connections

the best I have found is under "edit connections" and trying to "add" a connection

I can pull down a menu of connection types and select "wi fi" then click "create"

I then have lots of options to fill in like SSID, BSSID, Device MAC address, Cloned MAC address etc etc.  the "save" option is greyed out presumably until I have filled in these options that I don't have a clue about??????

Yer, I'm downloading the 14 one now, I'm running 12.04 so some stuff may be different,

ie, no synaptic version since 10.04 , so it must a been brought back in 14

Thanks paddler.  That found the driver and enabled it.

Still no sign of how I actually connect. Do I now need to re boot?

I would, but I'm in the middle of downloading some stuff,

50+hrs in at 50℅

You might need to reboot to activate, although simply turning off and then on WiFi may work,

Oh, on my lappie there is a physical switch for WiFi, is that turned on,?

ProDave said:

Thanks paddler.  That found the driver and enabled it.

Still no sign of how I actually connect. Do I now need to re boot?

Click to expand...

Did you click to enable the driver?

There may be an icon at top of screen for non proprietary drivers.

This is wierd.

First time I followed paddlers instructions in post #7, it spent a minute or so searching for additional drivers, then found the driver for the wireless interface.  I ticked the box to enable it and clicked apply. It dd something with a progress bar that took a minute or so.

If I repeat that now, it goes straight to saying "no additional drivers available"

OK, so it means you have it installed, are there are no more you need,

Are you connected by Ethernet now?

If so, do

Ctrl+alt+t

Then type

sudo apt-get update

Enter your password

Once finished reboot.

Canoeboy said:

Mines rebooting - Updated to 14.xx

Click to expand...

I hope you have a separate /

I've done that steps.

It downloaded some stuff.

then on re boot right at the start a whole lot of text scrolled up the screen too fast to see and was only there for a second anyway. Is that what you expected?

still nothing changed.

If any of you have a working wifi connection can you tell me what you have for all those SSID parameters etc so I can try sme numbers and see if it will create a connection?

SSID  = your routers ID

is your wifi hidden?

could be something like " Prodaves wifi connection "  or whatever you have changed it to , default would be something like  " BT homehub 9103 "

canoe, is 14 a lot different to 12  ?

Canoeboy said:

Dave

Go to tools / settings > Network

Then in there

Is there a wireless network ?

Click to expand...

I know I must sound thick, but just HOW do I "go to tools / settings > network"

I'm working in an environment that's totally alien to me.

steptoe said:

SSID  = your routers ID

is your wifi hidden?

could be something like " Prodaves wifi connection "  or whatever you have changed it to , default would be something like  " BT homehub 9103 "

Click to expand...

And just how do I find that out?

I thought it was 192.168.1.1  Can I enter it as numbers in ubuntu like that?

PD, can you make sure your wifi is visible,

on a wired connection go to the browser and type

192.168.1.1   [probably] , then enter the user and pw for your router

Canoeboy said:

Its not much different to 13  -  can't remember what 12 was like :slap

Click to expand...

I only run LTS as its my main system, sounds like 13+ has reverted back to gnome,  :C

Yes typing 192.168.1.1 on the wired connection then entering the user and pasword got me into the routers setup screens.

from there I found a MAC address.

So I have entered 192.168.1.1 as SSID and entered the MAC address of the router.

this let me save the wi fi connection.

still gets me no closer to connecting through it.  It's still not listed in the pull down menu from that pair of up / down arrows.

you need to make sure your wifi is turned on and visible,

broadcom chipset is natively enabled in 12.04 , maybe canoe can confirm in 14,

in the arrows settings, try entering the SSID in the wireless settings