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Hardkap » Macpup - The beauty of Linux

1. 

   hulgar
   Member

   First, kudos to all for a great distro and thanks for continuing to work on this !

   I'm fairly new to Linux and trying to escape Windows as much as possible. I've distro hopped for several months looking for a version that best suits my needs/likes ; the sheer speed of Puppy has made it my favorite. I have no problems running on any desktop PC with wired high speed access, but I consistently get "stuck" trying to use wireless for laptops I may borrow when on the road. I've borrowed Dell, HP, and Gateway laptops and very seldom is the wireless card auto-recognized when I try to set up the network. I've never failed to automatically "see" an ethernet card (great) but almost never see the wireless card. I've looked on the Puppy forums and run across all kinds of suggestions for individual models/cards, but seldom am I successful getting a working solution.

   Macpup Opera 061 is my current favorite in the Puppy world. I would like to take this with me as I travel but the concern of not getting the wireless to work on a borrowed computer keeps me from it. Since I travel/the hardware frequently changes the easiest and most consistent solution would seem to be taking a USB wireless adapter with me. I'm willing to buy a portable USB wireless adapter to take with me, if there is one that would be recognized each time I ran the network set-up in Macpup Opera 061.

   Does anyone have any recommendations for a currently available USB wireless adapter (known to consistently work/not be buggy or lose connections) which I could purchase new (like on Amazon) which will automatically be recognized by Opera 061 on any computer I borrow with a working USB port ?

   Thanks for any thoughts ......

   Posted 2 months ago #
2. 

   Prit
   Pritlogger

   I am sorry, but I don't use USB wireless and hence not sure which might be best. Try searching the Puppy forums using the below link.

   http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html

   I know that wireless can be buggy in Puppy and several other linux distributions. If you can get the .inf file from the Windows installation for that particular wireless card, you can use Puppy network wizard and load the Windows driver. Ndiswrapper does this loading and makes your wireless card enabled in Puppy.

   Posted 2 months ago #
3. 

   runtt21
   Member

   What you're looking for is a usb router that will work with puppy 4.2.0 or 4.2.1 Cause that is what Opera061 is built on. I have never used one myself so I cant recommend any ,sorry . You could also try Foxy 3.0 it is built on 4.3.0 and has alot more drivers that Opera has. You can use the same themes and it will look just like opera...

   Posted 2 months ago #
4. 

   hulgar
   Member

   Thanks Prit & runtt21 for the replies. I'd searched the forums earlier, and have tried Ndiswrapper with varying success. But, when traveling and using so many different borrowed PCs and laptops (many with VISTA), finding XP files for Ndiswrapper for a given machine without internet access is difficult. Foxy 3 also didn't work on a few laptops I'd tried so it hasn't been the complete answer.

   I love running Puppy. But since (IMHO) Puppy's strength is as a portable system, and frequently pushed as such, not having a list of current commercially available wireless USB adapters that will be recognized with it seems a critical gap and major barrier to its wider acceptance - especially for folks hoping to convert from "the 'doze" environment. Most friends I talk to aren't really in love with their Windows machines, but they just want something that works so they bear with it/don't realize there are other options.

   Now, I'm a nobody - just a newbie to .nix wanting a better alternative to the Windows offerings, but I don't have much spare time between work and kids functions to learn the inner workings. Most people I know are in my situation as well. I have burned Puppy CDs and handed out to probably a dozen people - all are initially very excited/blown away when I show them the speed and different GUIs, and are extremely interested in the concept of surfing the net with greatly diminished risk of getting malware.

   But ... almost all are laptop users. When they try to connect and discover their wireless card doesn't work they just quit and give me back the CD. Really frustrating personally for me since I think Puppy is probably better suited to what a lot of these friends really need since they mostly just surf the net - and frequently pick up nasties on their computers.

   What to do ? While I surely can't add any value as technical contributor, I think I'll search through some of the USB adapters on e-bay, see which ones claim linux compatibility, then buy a couple of them and test them. Then I can post a quick review back here and on the main Puppy forums. Not much, but something that will add to the database of experience.

   Again, thanks and keep up the great work guys - Cheers.

   Posted 2 months ago #
5. 

   runtt21
   Member

   My Good friend WhoDo says to Try the list near bottom of the first post in this thread:

   http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47367

   Posted 2 months ago #
6. 

   hulgar
   Member

   Thanks runtt21 - I had run across this list earlier in my searches but had trouble finding some of these online, there were some links that didn't work, etc. - either not availabe as new, or not in my location.

   A quick update - I have had success as my first e-bay purchase of a wireless adapter arrived and it has worked perfectly !

   I've used a few versions of Puppy (4.1, 4.2, MacPup 4.11) on 2 different laptops (Dell Vostro 1000 and HP G60-519WM) and a netbook (Dell Mini-910)and all have worked/autorecognized when I ran the network set-up.

   So, the one that worked for me was the Rokman, listed on e-bay as being "plug and play in Backtrack 3" and I bought it from rokland ($17.97 + $3 shipping, USD, ships from Florida):

   http://stores.ebay.com/rokland

   and here is the exact item I bought -

   http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380183833682&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

   I still need to try Opera 061/later versions on it to confirm it works, but I'm hopeful since everything has worked so far. I'll try that next week and then will update this thread with that and later the second adapter when it arrives (China shipped, so will be a few weeks). Looking good ... Thanks again - stay tuned.

   Posted 2 months ago #
7. 

   hulgar
   Member

   Another update - I have confirmed the Rokland wireless adapter also works on MacPup 061, and have been successful using both WEP and WPA. Writing this using this and 061 on an older, borrowed laptop - a Compaq Evo N610c. So far, this wireless adapter has worked on every version of Puppy I have tried and all hardware.

   Posted 2 months ago #
8. 

   runtt21
   Member

   Thank you for letting us know !!!! I will post a link to this thread on the puppylinux forum !!

   Posted 2 months ago #

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