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Nice to know it does that for somebody. I'm using the x64 version of Ubuntu on a desktop with a USB wireless peripheral. Since I installed in March I've spent m

Nice to know it does that for somebody. I'm using the x64 version of Ubuntu on a desktop with a USB wireless peripheral. Since I installed in March I've spent months without a functioning wireless connection and several weeks without a functioning wired connection. Currently I have a length of cat5 cable strung out under my door, across a hallway, and into my roommate's bedroom where the router is kept. My Ubuntu laptop also no longer has a working wireless connection. It's slightly older hardware (3 to 4 years) and I've given it up for dead. I love using Ubuntu, but unless you luck out in the hardware compatibility lottery, it is a second job to get a system up and running. I actually did not have a functioning Ubuntu system until I quit my job and had the hours to devote to configuring everything over a period of 3 to 4 days, and then another 3 to 4 days when I updated to 8.04.

cdr 18y ago
I've accepted that you have to plan your hardware if you want to use linux. I purchased a USB wifi dongle for my laptop that I knew worked, because I knew the internal chipset would not.
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  I bought a new USB wireless adapter with an eye on compatibility. Unfortunately, no USB wireless adapter is well-supported. There are a few that work out of the box for an unencrypted network or that work with old versions of the distro, but will not work with the most recent version and WPA encryption.
elai 18y ago
Your mistake is using the x64 version.
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  Is the hardware support worse on the 64s than the 32s?
davidw 18y ago
> unless you luck out in the hardware compatibility lottery Try this site: http://www.leenooks.com http://www.leenooks.com It'll show you what to avoid, with the idea being that pissed off people have more incentive to go say "the damn thing doesn't work with Linux!" than happy people have to go fill in some information about how everything works smoothly. And incidentally, if anyone wants to help hack on the Rails-based wiki that runs it, or otherwise give me a hand with the site, I'd love the help:-)
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  I suppose the website you link to isn't entirely useless. If I were contemplating buying a new computer (and I am), I could check every component of a potential computer against the list. If one component were red-listed, then I would know that Linux would not run on that computer. I could then go to my next choice and check every component again. However, while lists such as these might help me weed out potential computers that won't work, it cannot help me find one that will work. I cannot avoid the compatibility lottery for two reasons: 1) the list is incomplete and 2) hardware compatibility varies from distro to distro and release to release. I suppose you could make a similar website for the last two versions of every popular distro. Then, I could take each potential computer I was considering purchasing and check each component's compatibility in each distro I want to use (if one system won't work in Ubuntu 8.04, then maybe it will work in 7.10). Please note that this consumer nirvana would only work if the lists were reasonably complete. What I would love is a website that links to computers from major manufacturers where the current version of a given distro works 100% after install. Perhaps Ubuntu could link to a set of major brand desktops and laptops that work with 7.10 and 8.04. That would be much more useful than a list such as this: http://tuxmobil.org/ibm.html http://tuxmobil.org/ibm.html which isn't exactly an easy-to-use Linux shopping guide.
  - davidw 18y ago
    I bought one of these and it works quite well: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=...
rthomas6 18y ago
If you're having hardware compatability issues, try using regular x86 Linux. It tends to have better driver support, and in my experience Flash and Wine also work better.

cdr 18y ago

I've accepted that you have to plan your hardware if you want to use linux. I purchased a USB wifi dongle for my laptop that I knew worked, because I knew the internal chipset would not.

Prrometheus 18y ago
I bought a new USB wireless adapter with an eye on compatibility. Unfortunately, no USB wireless adapter is well-supported. There are a few that work out of the box for an unencrypted network or that work with old versions of the distro, but will not work with the most recent version and WPA encryption.

elai 18y ago

Your mistake is using the x64 version.

Prrometheus 18y ago
Is the hardware support worse on the 64s than the 32s?

davidw 18y ago

> unless you luck out in the hardware compatibility lottery Try this site: http://www.leenooks.com http://www.leenooks.com It'll show you what to avoid, with the idea being that pissed off people have more incentive to go say "the damn thing doesn't work with Linux!" than happy people have to go fill in some information about how everything works smoothly. And incidentally, if anyone wants to help hack on the Rails-based wiki that runs it, or otherwise give me a hand with the site, I'd love the help:-)

Prrometheus 18y ago
I suppose the website you link to isn't entirely useless. If I were contemplating buying a new computer (and I am), I could check every component of a potential computer against the list. If one component were red-listed, then I would know that Linux would not run on that computer. I could then go to my next choice and check every component again. However, while lists such as these might help me weed out potential computers that won't work, it cannot help me find one that will work. I cannot avoid the compatibility lottery for two reasons: 1) the list is incomplete and 2) hardware compatibility varies from distro to distro and release to release. I suppose you could make a similar website for the last two versions of every popular distro. Then, I could take each potential computer I was considering purchasing and check each component's compatibility in each distro I want to use (if one system won't work in Ubuntu 8.04, then maybe it will work in 7.10). Please note that this consumer nirvana would only work if the lists were reasonably complete. What I would love is a website that links to computers from major manufacturers where the current version of a given distro works 100% after install. Perhaps Ubuntu could link to a set of major brand desktops and laptops that work with 7.10 and 8.04. That would be much more useful than a list such as this: http://tuxmobil.org/ibm.html http://tuxmobil.org/ibm.html which isn't exactly an easy-to-use Linux shopping guide.
- davidw 18y ago
  I bought one of these and it works quite well: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=...

rthomas6 18y ago

If you're having hardware compatability issues, try using regular x86 Linux. It tends to have better driver support, and in my experience Flash and Wine also work better.