During this second step the terminal (entire OS actually froze) at the last command but when I cold rebooted voila I had both wired and wireless connections. Then running several lines of script to remove/load/activate B43 drivers. Removing/Loading firmware for the 4311 chip-set (I am assuming that firmware means the same in the Linux universe as in Windows and what I did was burn new firmware to the Broadcom chip-set). Decided to try cut and paste some terminal commands.
Came across a site with discussion of the problem. Using wired connection I googled the problem again. When I get to the Zorin computer I will post the info you requested. Any suggestions for a small usb wifi adapter that will work out of the box with Zorin (kind of like my generic wireless mouse for your prompt reply. I guess an alternative choice would be to identify a USB wifi adapter that would clearly be supported by current ubuntu core and make that information widely known. The end of support for XP represents an opportunity for linux to come to the desk top and the users migrating from XP may only have older (but still capable) hardware. How can this wonderful project come so close and still miss! I really want to like Linux but if it cannot address a problem as chronic (just do a web search of this issue) as this Broadcom chip issue widespread adoption will not occur. It recognized wifi device but would not connect and OS froze requiring reboot. I realized the fedora GUI would not work for the end users. It recognized wifi but not wireless mouse or ethernet connection. Then loaded a couple versions of Fedora 20. Repeated above with Zorin 6 and Zorin 8.1 edu.
I removed it and then it would not reinstall.ģd used terminal commands to remove existing drives and load drivers from Ubuntu repository. I was installed and only option was to remove it. Did not work because it said that ndiswrapper not installed.
Only recourse was to reload the entire OS.Ģnd used the windows driver install tool. This did not enable wireless but did break the Ethernet connection.
Hotkey disabled.ġst went to ubuntu software repository and loaded Broadcom wifi driver package for the 4311 chip which I have. Great Ethernet wired connection.īios up to date. Wireless mouse worked, usb ports all worked.
Installed Zorin 8.1 on hard drive as fresh install.
Then I tried to get the wireless to work. Beautiful interface and the closest I have seen windows in the Linux stable so I believed this would work well for the older user. Computer has the Broadcom chip (Dell 1390 pic wifi). Both ran live and installed without issue except no wireless. I wanted something that would represent the least adoption curve for them without spending $100+ on Win7.įirst computer was 7 year old Dell laptop. They are all retired and primarily really only use the web browser on their computers. This time my project was to replace win XP on laptops for older relatives who were facing windows XP end of support but had decent hardware for their purposes. So did my research and downloaded 6 distros. About every two years I say to myself "lets try linux".