[K12OSN] New to K12Linux, Question

[Terrell Prude' Jr.]

murrah boswell wrote:
>
> One other thing, does K12Linux Live work out-of-the-box with a 
> wireless router? I guess I should try before I ask, but if there are 
> any lessons learned with wireless I would appreciate them.
>

Depends on the wireless card in your computer.  This is a kernel issue 
and will thus apply to virtually all distributions.  "lspci" and 
"iwconfig" can be helpful here.

Ralink, Realtek, yup, those'll work fine.  I love 'em.

Some Intels will work OK, but (on CentOS 5) the 3945 requires using the 
RPMForge repositories.  Fedora, with its newer kernel (2.6.24 and later 
have the Intel 3945 driver in-tree), is said to work out of the box with 
it.  I know from experience that Slackware 12.2 (kernel 2.6.27) works 
great with Intel 3945 wireless.

Broadcom, nope, so stay far, far away from those.  Broadcom, Inc. seem 
not to like Linux AT ALL.  If your laptop's already cursed with Broadcom 
wireless, then replace that wireless NIC if you can with something 
better (it's not hard at all), and watch for this with future 
purchases.  *CAN* you make them work?  Yes, and I have, but it's a hassle.

Note also that virtually all 802.11b cards work (e. g. Orinoco).  Yeah, 
I know, way back machine, but they work.  Saved my butt one day when the 
Broadcom piece of junk wouldn't work.  I popped my "old" Orinoco in, and 
boom, I had wireless.

The only way to find out is to actually try it.

--TP