[conspire] (forw) Re: Linux install at CABAL meeting

Thu Nov 12 00:02:56 PST 2015

----- Forwarded message from John Dwyer <juanito101 at gmail.com> -----

Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2015 00:00:30 -0800
From: John Dwyer <juanito101 at gmail.com>
To: installers at linuxmafia.com
Subject: Re: Linux install at CABAL meeting

First, thanks for all the replies, I wasn't expecting any, I thought it was
just informational to prepare for the installfest.

However one of the comments regarding Mint prompted me to try that, so I
downloaded and installed Mint 17.2. The best part is that it recognized my
eth0, so I had wired internet.

As for the wireless card, " lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net" revealed

0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g
WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge

Then I outsmarted myself and used the Admin/Driver section to install STA
driver (it said it was for wireless), which not only didn't work for
wireless, but killed my ethernet as well. I wasn't able to get it back, and
after a few tries and reboots, I re-installed everything new. A bit
extreme, but it worked.

I hope to make it to Saturday's meeting and get some help on getting the
wireless working...

thanks again,
john

On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 3:55 PM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:

> Quoting John Dwyer (juanito101 at gmail.com):
>
> > I read about "installfests" online, and found a local one and your
> > website...
> >
> > I would like some help in installing Linux on my old laptop...
> >
> > It's a Dell Inspiron 1520 with 4GB RAM, 160 GB HD.
> >
> > I was able to successfully download the Ubuntu 14.04 iso 64 bit and
> install
> > on the laptop.
>
> Looks like Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS currently the preferred installation.
> Is that what you have?
>
> > The main problem is that it doesn't recognize either the ethernet or
> > wireless, so no network connections. From Googling, I think it's probably
> > related to the drivers. (Broadcomm?)
>
> Some initial comments, and this is not intended to discourage you, but
> rather as background information.  Dell Computer is probably the worst
> practitioner today of what I call the 'chipset du jour problem'.
> Because they promote the 'Dell' branding as the information the customer
> is intended to rely on, they feel free to alter without notice what
> subassemblies and chips comprise each of their models.  Two Inspiron
> 1520 units may have very different subassemblies, and Dell is very
> vague about public information concerning the chipsets it uses.
>
>
> Anyway, my compliments for having googled to investigate.  In these
> cases, Web-searching on your make & model of laptop with the word
> 'linux' is invariably your first step.  In doing that myself, and
> digging a bit further to find the specific chipsets Dell used in
> designing your laptop, I come up with this brief... dossier, which I
> offer for your information:
>
> Ethernet chip:  Broadcom BCM4401-B0 chip compatible with the b44 kernel
> module.
> Wireless chip:  Like most laptop manufacturers, Dell uses a miniPCI
>    card in the laptop's miniPCI slot, where the slot is
>    customer-accessible and cards are in general quite cheap and
>    easy to swap in and out.  Accordingly, if the bundled miniPCI
>    card gives you problems, you _can_ end-run the problem by buying
>    one with better Linux support and selling off the original.
>    o  Intel 3945ABG.  Easiest, preferred.  Use ipw3945 module.
>    o  Intel 4965AGN
>    Drivers for these two Intel chips require installation of firmware
> BLOBs.
>    o  Dell 1390
>    o  Dell 1490
>    o  Broadcom BCM4311 chip requires the b43 kernel module.
>    o  Some other Broadcom chips required the b43legacy driver.
>    Both the b43 and b43legacy drivers require installation of
>    firmware BLOBs.
>    https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
>    https://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx
>
> Stuff that won't matter but may be of interest to you:
> CPU:  Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz
> Motherboard SoC:  Intel GM965
> DVD-RW: TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW TS-L632H 8X
> USB:  Intel 82801 UHCI, EHCI
> Bluetooth:  Broadom BCM2045
> Sound:   Intel ICH8 HD Audio - intel8x0 (Sigmatel)
> Graphics chip:  NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS.  Install the synaptic
>    package for the touchpad.
>    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_Inspiron_1520
> SATA chip:  Intel 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E family)
> Firewire:  Ricoh Co Ltd R5C83 controller
> SD card slot:  Ricoh R5C843 MMC Host controller, R5C592 Memory Stick Bus
>    Host Adapter, xD-Picture Card Controller
> HDD: Fujitsu MHW2160BH 160GB SATA
> Internal modem:  ?  (I'm not sure there always is one, and this
>    may depend on options selected at purchase time.)
>
> Useful pages:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2154459
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1974006
>
> http://drwho.virtadpt.net/archive/2008/02/19/linux-on-the-dell-inspiron-1520
>
> The first of those links has what is _prboably_ the solution to your
> problem.  It would be good to know from you what specific chips you
> have.   Please open a terminal console and get the results of these
> commands, and send that back to me.  (To do that, you can copy and paste
> from the terminal console into a text editor, save that to a file, then
> put that file on a USB flash drive.  If you cannot do that, and it's too
> many lines to transcribe accurately, take a photo of the screen and send
> me that.)
>
> lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
> lsusb
> lsmod
> ifconfig -a
> iwconfig
> rfkill list
>
>
> Of those, the first three commands are the most important.
>
> Anyway, sure we can help you at the CABAL meeting.  Advance preparation
> always helps, though.
>
>
> > I'm planning on attending the next meeting (Sat 11/14, 4:00pm ?), so
> > perhaps I could get some tips and help. (The Desktop is quite confusing
> to
> > me as well, quite a bit different from what I've used in other Linux
> GUIs,
> > like for Mint or Fedora that I had poked around before. Seems different
> > than what I had seen from Ubuntu as well, it sounds like there was some
> > type of change in philosophy in the Ubuntu fork)
>
> Yeah, I'm personally just not an Ubuntu fan in general, and think the
> Linux Mint variants are better options for people inclined towards
> Ubuntu for some reason.
>
>

----- End forwarded message -----