how to install a wireless adapter on ubuntu?

Question

getting wifi to work on my ubuntu is driving me nuts

I went to this site http://alstevens.co.uk/how-to-instal...rs-for-ubuntu/
followed all of the instructions and it didn't work.

I located the inf files for the windows drivers, and installed them w/ ndiswrapper. ndis then said hardware detected for the wireless adapters when i plugged them in, but the wireless adapters didn't shine the light that indicates they were on and when I went to the connection manager it said unknown usb device. When I go to the other connection manager window, it shows all the connection options whited out (the one that has connection, dns, and server tabs)

I'm using ubuntu version 8.04
the wireless adapters i tried are d-link dwl-g122 b1 and tl-link WN721N

Oh yeah, this is on a laptop i just bought on ebay. the disk drive doesn't work and theres an unknown BIOS password, so getting another OS on will be tricky. Also my first time trying ubuntu =P

Answer 1

Here is the Official Ubuntu Wireless Documentation



Cards Supported

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported



Troubleshooting/Howto/General

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WiFiHowTo



Here is the Official Ubuntu Ndiswrapper Documentation

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper



Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) User Guide

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy





LUg.

Answer 2

You can unlock your bios with a bios master password that www.unlockbiosrecovery.com for only $20 and they guarantee it to work or you money back. I use them a few times a month when I have to repair a laptop that has an unknown bios password or hard drive password and they have always worked for me. Thank goodness too it saves me so much time by not having to open up the insides of the laptop.

Answer 3

I find the drivers are often installed. You might just need to load it up



Type these commands



ifconfig (to see if wifi/wired adapters are loaded)



If not type



ifconfig wlan0 up