WIFI not working on DELL D610 - HELP -
Dell Latitude D610
Did the install from CD, everything went great. But after boot I noticed that the wifi hardware was not detected and not working. Blue-Tooth works and I believe wifi and Blue-Tooth are part of the same hardware. Only Ethernet is working and I am unable to figure out what is happening.
Any one see this before or have suggestions?
Your Wifi chipset probably requires a proprietary firmware, which Linux-libre (hence Trisquel) does not include. We may be able to confirm that if you give us the output of that command (to be executed from a terminal):
$ lspci | grep Network
The recommended solution is to buy a replacing hardware at ThinkPenguin, the only reseller that guarantees the device will be handled by Linux-libre. Besides, by using the link I gave, 25% of the profits made on your purchase will be donated to the Trisquel project.
Unfortunately, it is possible that your laptop does not allow replacing the Wifi PCI card. Indeed, Dell now practices "treacherous computing". As a consequence, you had better acquire a USB Wifi dongle.
Here it is:
03:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
Anything?
I have been doing a bit of reading and it seems this card is supported and that I may not have the driver...does this seem likely?
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The Intel card requires proprietary firmware and thus will not work with the kernel provided in Trisquel.
Is there a card in the Trisquel store that will fit the slot and does that card also have Blue-tooth?
I am reading that the driver is standard in Ubuntu...is not Trisquel a derivative of Ubuntu?
Ubuntu includes the nonfree firmware. Trisquel doesn't, because it aims to be a completely free distribution.
Regarding wifi cards, like others have said, it's very probable that the computer will actively prevent you from changing the wireless card, but http://libre.thinkpenguin.com does have a wireless card that will work with 100% free software (including Trisquel) if you want to try it. Otherwise, you can get a USB adapter which will work from Think Penguin (you may want the old one if you don't need the small size of the new one, because Trisquel doesn't include support for the newer, smaller one yet; you'll need to install a newer version of Linux-libre yourself to use the newer one immediately).
Will this work in my computer as a replacement to my old card?
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-half-height-mini-pcie-card
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I think you have mistaken two different issues. The "Trusted Computing" issue is separate from the digital restriction issue on the PCIe / wifi slot. The "Trusted Computing" issue is more so about entertainment and control of ones hardware.
The simplest work around is to go with in this instance is a USB G wireless adapter. This isn't really a great solution as you can't install a USB adapter inside the laptop like you would a normal wireless card. However it will allow you to re-gain Internet access and usefulness of the system. The only adapters which will work are those with RTL8187B, RTL8187, RTL8187L, and AR9170 chipsets. At least 'out of the box' right now. They should work with all recent releases of Trisquel.
You can get one of these Penguin Wireless G USB Adapter for GNU / Linux from us here (better to go through libre.thinkpenguin.com though as 25% of the profits then go to the Trisquel project):
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapter
If you wanted to upgrade to jxself's kernel (also maintaining Trisquel's kernel) and install the ath9k_htc_open firmware you could do that also and get a USB N adapter. In that case get the Penguin Wireless N USB Adapter for GNU / Linux (TPE-N150USB).
That card will work with Trisquel if it works with your machine.
I use a Dell Latitude D610 and the wifi always worked fine for me.
The chipset is 03:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02).
I bought this laptop especially for it compatibility with the wifi. That's ode to find a Dell D610 with a different wifi chipset.
Different wifi card, different results.
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Model numbers don't equate to chipsets. It's not uncommon to find a dozen different chipsets used in a product. Particularly over time. It is one of the things that makes h-node's database challenging to use (this is not just h-node though- any similar database for a distribution or GNU/Linux will have this same problem). You can never be sure about the reliability of the data. It's useful to the extent you can afford to buy/return stuff and are looking to purchase large quantities of something. Beyond that though it becomes a real hassle.
badspell68, you may have to use this one:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-mini-pci
The D610 is an older laptop, and I'm not sure it used a mini pci-e... Make sure and check it out first, also if it does, it may be full-height rather than half height like this one:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-mini-pcie
Grimlok
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I'm pretty confident this system has a Mini PCI card slot so the Mini PCIE or Mini PCIE half height cards will not work. Given the age of the system and the manufacturer there is a higher chance of the system not containing digital restrictions on this slot.
The card which can be installed in the laptop and has a high chance of working is the following:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-mini-pci
The other card that might work is:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-mini-pci
It has a slightly lower chance of working though as these systems were generally designed to work with G cards. However I don't think there should be any problems in theory with installing an N card.