Fresh install of Trisquel isn't finding my WiFi signal from my router
Hello,
I just finished installing Trisquel on my other laptop. Unfortunately, when I booted into the desktop for the first time, it isn't finding my WiFi signal from my router and automatically connecting.
Down in the system tray at the bottom right hand corner there's a "Wifi" symbol, but when I click on it, a pop-up menu shows the following: VPN Connections, Enable Networking (with a checkmark next to it), and an "edit" notepad". But this is all I get.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Only the signal of your access point or any access point?
In the former case, I encountered such a problem that disappeared mysteriously and came back: https://trisquel.info/forum/not-all-wifi-access-points-listed
In the latter, your Wifi chipset probably cannot work in freedom. For a confirmation, you can show us the output of the 'lspci' command (to be entered in a terminal).
I did as you suggested Magic Banana and entered an 'lspci' command in a terminal session. It gave me a long list of hardware specs. Unfortunately, I have no way of bringing that list into the laptop pc I'm currently typing this forum reply on. I see in the list it goes line by line listing different hardware controllers and whatnot. One of the listings shows an Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
In the line just below this one it lists: Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
There's some other things as well but I didn't want to copy the entire list over line by line manually by hand. Is there a particular item in the list I should look for in the list that I didn't include above?
Thank you
Unfortunately, I have no way of bringing that list into the laptop pc I'm currently typing this forum reply on.
No USB thumb drive?
Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
That is the Ethernet card (connection by cable).
Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
That is the Wifi card... and it does not run without proprietary firmware. The best thing to do is to get a Wifi adapter from one of the two vendors that guarantee it works with Linux-libre:
- http://libre.thinkpenguin.com/ (using that URL, 25% of the benefits made on your purchase are donated to the Trisquel project);
- http://tehnoetic.com/
You could buy an internal card as well. However, depending on the brand of your laptop, the mother may simply refuse to use it (DRM).