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The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

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Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#251

Post by TwiztidK »

lloeki wrote: post #224
deathanatos wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. It's possible to get advanced output from various command line tools in Linux, and it's possible to get networking information. It's much more difficult to do that on other OSs, especially Windows. I loathe debugging network troubles in Windows, because there is essentially no information. OS X has most of your standard tools, though some in some odd places, e.g., printing the routing table not being done…

airport -s is incredibly important in setting up roaming correctly with heterogeneous APs. You absolutely want SECURITY column to be identical, else devices won't roam. > There's no way I'll remember it I have history(1) and a symlink in a toolbox git repo. > you likely can't Google it "!g OSX airport command" works fine > route I found netstat -r is the most "Unix-portable" way of querying the routing table (Windows…

> > you likely can't Google it

> "!g OSX airport command" works fine

Of course. The parent was referring to a situation when someone lacks internet access, due to a networking problem they are trying to fix, rendering them unable to use Google to find the command.

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#252

Post by koffiezet »

deathanatos wrote: post #186
klodolph wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's opaque on Linux, but that's not the big problem. It's opaque on OS X and Windows as well, but nobody cares because it works . I wonder if we'll eventually get the kind of stability that we currently have with ethernet drivers... once the speeds are high enough that we stop upgrading, once the chips go into long-term production instead of changing every few years, once things settle down...

I disagree. It's possible to get advanced output from various command line tools in Linux, and it's possible to get networking information. It's much more difficult to do that on other OSs, especially Windows. I loathe debugging network troubles in Windows, because there is essentially no information. OS X has most of your standard tools, though some in some odd places, e.g., printing the routing table not being done…

On OSX, just press option and click on your wifi-icon. You'll see the signal strength, channel, speed, encryption type etc of the AP you're connected to expanded in the dropdown menu.

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#253

Post by antocv »

fragmede wrote: post #127
clarry wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you aren't blessed with luck, one might say that PulseAudio still requires you to be a hacker to get sound. Over and over again. Every time you think it's fixed for good, it'll prove you wrong.

On the large majority of laptops I've installed Ubuntu on recently, sound has just worked out of the box, so here's to hoping my lucky streak continues!

Try to plug in headset and have the sound out of it, plug it out and have the sound on the laptop speakers, without going all hacker on it, or for example just try to use your bluetooth headset. Yeah. Nope.

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#254

Post by antocv »

pjmlp wrote: post #232
antocv wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. But it is still my main OS everywhere, I refuse to bow to proprietary overlords. Despite these downsides.

I started working when proprietary overlords was the only option available, so it doesn't matter me that much.

What you mean?

I too perform work for enterprises, getting payed to work with and in all things Linux, Java and Python.

Just because its freedom software doesnt mean there is no money to be made or make.

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#255

Post by dheera »

pjmlp wrote: post #217
dheera wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 I tried for an hour to get PulseAudio to work with Bluetooth and A2DP and use my phone as a sound source. Decided I wasn't going to waste time on this. Gave up and ended up buying an external A2DP box off Amazon and plugged it into my Line In port.

It is this little things that made me move away from GNU/Linux as main laptop OS. The OS is great when it works, but then those little things are always around the corner, turning weekend actions into weeks.

All of my computers run Linux, but that's because I can deal with most of the flaws. This is definitely part of the reason why desktop Linux has never taken off with the general public.

Also, the people who manage Linux distributions seem to absolutely love suddenly getting rid of things that work and replacing them with incomplete alternatives, without any kind of migration of user data and settings. Those alternatives should be pushed out as developer previews until they either

(1) match each and every feature of whatever they are replacing AND capable of importing all settings

OR

(2) warn the user months ahead of time with a list of features that are going to disappear in the replacement

OR

(3) provide an easy, 1-click option to let the user continue using whatever they were using as their default, with continued support and updates

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#256

Post by pasbesoin »

makomk wrote: post #44
pasbesoin wrote: post #30

I recently helped a relative move an old Win XP machine to Ubuntu. I was going to move them to Lubuntu; however, the USB WiFi dongle they are using refused to cooperate -- or rather, the Lubuntu live disk I was testing refused to cooperate with it. The dongle's chipset was Linux friendly and had apparently worked without major problems up to about Ubuntu 10.10 or so. Google revealed the eruption of numerous reports o…

If it's a VGA monitor you probably need to hit the auto-adjust button on it. Different graphics cards and drivers produce slightly different timings for the same mode, so the monitor has to compensate, and it only adjusts its setting when you first get it or explicitly tell it to.

Thanks! I don't know about my relative's monitor, but the monitor attached to the T42 has a dedicated "Auto" button. I think I had waded through the separate menu choices without success, but I never tried that "Auto" button.

Pressing "Auto", the image futzed around for a few seconds and then apparently aligned properly. It didn't even mess up my brightness setting.

Sigh... I'm getting old.

I guess I'll add that for a long time, this monitor was dual boot, and I wasn't too interested at regaining the pixels in Ubuntu, only to lose them or their corresponding columns on the other side, under Windows. Nowadays, no longer a concern...

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#257

Post by pasbesoin »

liveoneggs wrote: post #42
pasbesoin wrote: post #30

I recently helped a relative move an old Win XP machine to Ubuntu. I was going to move them to Lubuntu; however, the USB WiFi dongle they are using refused to cooperate -- or rather, the Lubuntu live disk I was testing refused to cooperate with it. The dongle's chipset was Linux friendly and had apparently worked without major problems up to about Ubuntu 10.10 or so. Google revealed the eruption of numerous reports o…

You can probably fix your display issue with xvidtune

Thanks you; I'll have a look at that.

As I grumped in another comment, I'm getting old. One symptom of such is increasingly "putting up" with marginal cases. Starts becoming "easier" than finding/learning yet "one more thing".

TL;DR: Don't get old...

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#258

Post by pjmlp »

antocv wrote: post #254
pjmlp wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started working when proprietary overlords was the only option available, so it doesn't matter me that much.

What you mean? I too perform work for enterprises, getting payed to work with and in all things Linux, Java and Python. Just because its freedom software doesnt mean there is no money to be made or make.

I mean when I started working there wasn't open source as such.

Maybe the local computer club or some rich guys that could pay for BBS connections exchanging stuff.

Everything from hardware, text processing, drawing, music, compilers, editors,..., was provided by proprietary overlords.

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#259

Post by ac29 »

hippich wrote: post #211
ploxiln wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much appreciated tip, thanks. I've known some atheros chips had really good drivers, but this is more specific than my vague impressions. I suppose a major cause of the situation is that hardly anyone buys a laptop with the wifi chip as the first concern. Most laptops for sale don't clearly show the wifi chip, unless you go into the online configurator where you might be able to pay for an upgrade (yes I'm one of the…

thanks to previous comment i just ordered one card on ebay for under $10 to test my theory - any laptop with pcie wifi card can be "upgraded" to atheros card. and i might even get few bucks back, since usually laptop-specific cards cost more on ebay :)) in theory if pcie cards are completely interchangeable, i should be able just swap them in and out. will see if it work out.

Lenovo laptops tend to have BIOS enforced whitelists, so if you have one, dont be surprised if the new card doesnt work.

Re: The sad state of Linux Wi-Fi

#260

Post by hippich »

ac29 wrote: post #259
hippich wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks to previous comment i just ordered one card on ebay for under $10 to test my theory - any laptop with pcie wifi card can be "upgraded" to atheros card. and i might even get few bucks back, since usually laptop-specific cards cost more on ebay :)) in theory if pcie cards are completely interchangeable, i should be able just swap them in and out. will see if it work out.

Lenovo laptops tend to have BIOS enforced whitelists, so if you have one, dont be surprised if the new card doesnt work.

i have dell, will see how it work out. my current card work ok, so i always can go back
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