Wireless Card Drivers?
Hello all! I am relatively new to the free software scene, and eager to jump in with my first free OS! While testing Trisquel, however, I noticed that my laptop's wireless internet connection was not functioning. I am using a Toshiba Satellite L55-C5272, and after doing some research around the Web, which featured similar but not identical Toshiba laptop models, I believe the issue is with my wireless card, ehich apparently requires proprietary drivers, and none of which I can find for Linux (only Windows, via the Toshiba website). Please help! Is there any way to make the wi-fi on my laptop wotk with Trisquel running?
Acquiring a USB adapter that works with free software...
The most trustworthy way is to buy from http://libre.thinkpenguin.com which guarantees that the sold hardware works with free software. You can also buy a model that was recently reported to work with free software and hope the manufacturer has not changed its chipset in the mean time. Recently, ernesto wrote that the rather cheap TL-WN722N model works with free software: https://trisquel.info/forum/video-driver-newbie#comment-137029
I am a translator!
> Recently, ernesto wrote that the rather cheap TL-WN722N
yeah, so I bought 1 but ain't workin' for shit.. :'((((((
Hi, I have just installed Trisquel on a Dell Latitude D430 and have problem with Wireless. Seems the Wireless is DISABLED. I get the nbelow. Anyone can help, please?
Below code also attached for easy reading.
$ sudo lshw -C network
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
logical name: wlp12s0
version: 02
serial: 00:1b:77:d2:6a:33
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwl3945 driverversion=4.4.0-140-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg
resources: irq:28 memory:efdff000-efdfffff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
vendor: Broadcom Limited
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
logical name: enp9s0
version: 02
serial: 00:1c:23:18:b7:07
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.137 duplex=full firmware=5752-v3.27a ip=192.168.8.245 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:29 memory:efcf0000-efcfffff
Thank you.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| wifi.txt | 1.43 KB |
Most Dell computers don't have white-list restrictions for WLAN adapters. So just purchase one Atheros WLAN card and replace the original Intel one with it. Non-free firmware is not needed for Atheros WLAN cards.
Thank you for your advice. Is there any specification to consider when I buy that card?
The only thing that matters is the chipset... which is usually not even specified on the wrapping. Worse: the manufacturer may change the chipset on a same model, which may used to work with free or no firmware but not anymore after the change.
As far as I know, The only reliable way to buy a new card without testing it and to be sure it will work with free or no firmware is to buy from http://libre.thinkpenguin.com or http://tehnoetic.com (both ship internationally).
You may buy second-hand if the vendor indicates the chipset. The Atheros chipsets AR7010, AR9170, AR9270 and AR9271 (maybe others but not AR10k) are known to work. Some Realtek chipsets recently started to work too. For instance, my previous computer had a RTL8188EE chipset that started to work with the newer kernel in Trisquel 8: https://trisquel.info/forum/trisquel-8-codename-flidas-release-candidate-ready-testing?page=1#comment-130659
Your Intel 3945 card is a full-height, Mini-PCIe card, so just pick up a Mini-PCIe Atheros card. Full-height or half-height doesn't matter, because you can optionally buy one half-height to full-height Mini-PCIe converter, too.
For the Atheros card model, you can go to wikidevi.com to search for an arbitrary Atheros (but NOT Qualcomm Atheros) card with Mini-PCIe interface. For example, AR5424 or AR5418 should fit your notebook perfectly.
With the Atheros card installed, you can forget non-free firmware. It should be directly supported by free/libre distributions including Trisquel.
Thank you all for your advices. Much appreciated!