Fernglougher
December 17th, 2009, 02:51 AM
First of all, I am excited to be a new Ubuntu user, but I concerned that I am not yet able to get Ubuntu to the point where it can do useful things. For instance, I am writing this on the Windows partition of a machine that dual boots a Windows OS and Ubuntu 9.04 because I cannot get Ubuntu to connect to the Internet. I have noticed that there are a lot of posts in this general category, but was disappointed that was not able to find anything that related to my problem connecting to the Internet.
The Gnome interface seems to provide some programs called Network Tools and Network Connections. These are Gnome-based user interface tools that I assume are supposed to be helpful to people like me who are just getting started, but unfortunately they were really not that helpful. For example, in Network Tools, when I clicked on Help, I get to a page that says, "Introduction. This is only a template to get the documentation done. It should not be translated." Another words, a dead end. In Network connections, there is no help at all (which is probably better than offering help and then disappointing).
The first place I looked was in the Ubuntu Help Center Under Connecting to the Internet, then Wired (LAN) and then to Static Connections, which is how the network that I am connecting to works. I followed those instructions, but was dismayed to find an instruction that said "Enter your details and click OK." I took this as a hint that if you had no idea what "your details" meant, you should go back to using Windows.
So, then I went online to the Ubuntu documentation site, clicked on documentation for 9.10 (which is what I have), then Internet, and Wired LAN, and got to the same "enter your details" message.
So, just flying by the seat of the pants, entered 192.168.1.42 (my static IP address), 255.255.255.0, 192.168.1.1 (my gateway) and 208.67.222.222 plus 222.67.220.220 as my IP address, submask, gateway and DNS servers for eth0 and clicked accept -- assuming that's what "your details" meant, but was never able to ping to anything past my router using the Ping tab in Network Tools.
And just for fun, I launched FireFox and typed in "www.ubuntu.com" as well as "www.google.com" and got nowhere fast.
Then I looked at the online documentation under #5, Wired Troubleshooting, and did a ping to ubuntu.com, just as the documentation suggested, but no graph showed up and I got a bunch of zeros. The documentation says that "Your computer has a very bad connection, or is connected to an access point or router which is not connected to the Internet." Well, I am not sure what "bad" means, but I am using the same connection now through the same router and the same PC through Windows, so I suspect that the author of the documentation was probably a little short on time and didn't have time to list some of secret reasons that this might be working that only the experts know about.
It quickly became apparent that the Gnome interface and the "tools" it includes were kind of like a movie set: they appear real to the casual viewer, but are really facades and the only way to get something to work would be to delve into the terminal and grapple with learning enough arcane command-line based tools to get any further. I think this is also the point where a lot of people decide to go back to Windows or buy an Apple computer.
Anyway, pressing on, the online documentation suggested that I try going into the terminal program and trying ipconfig eth1 and also ipconfig eth0 (which is what I configured in the Network Connections), but I was dismayed to get the succinct response "bash: ipconfig: command not found."
At that point I realized that I was in a very unhappy place and that I would need to learn a lot more about how Ubuntu and Linux worked then I ever really wanted to as an end user if I was going to get connect my computer to the Internet, even just to open Firefox and browse a Web site. However, before I ran out and bought as may shares of Microsoft and Apple that I could afford, I figured I would try out this community support thing and see where it got me.
So, I am sure there are some very knowledgeable people who might think what I am puzzled by is child's play and may even being getting a chuckle that I cannot find the release for the snare that trapped me here, but I could use a few pointers to set me in the right direction again.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. And if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Although, it looks like I will have to boot my Windows partition to read them.
The Gnome interface seems to provide some programs called Network Tools and Network Connections. These are Gnome-based user interface tools that I assume are supposed to be helpful to people like me who are just getting started, but unfortunately they were really not that helpful. For example, in Network Tools, when I clicked on Help, I get to a page that says, "Introduction. This is only a template to get the documentation done. It should not be translated." Another words, a dead end. In Network connections, there is no help at all (which is probably better than offering help and then disappointing).
The first place I looked was in the Ubuntu Help Center Under Connecting to the Internet, then Wired (LAN) and then to Static Connections, which is how the network that I am connecting to works. I followed those instructions, but was dismayed to find an instruction that said "Enter your details and click OK." I took this as a hint that if you had no idea what "your details" meant, you should go back to using Windows.
So, then I went online to the Ubuntu documentation site, clicked on documentation for 9.10 (which is what I have), then Internet, and Wired LAN, and got to the same "enter your details" message.
So, just flying by the seat of the pants, entered 192.168.1.42 (my static IP address), 255.255.255.0, 192.168.1.1 (my gateway) and 208.67.222.222 plus 222.67.220.220 as my IP address, submask, gateway and DNS servers for eth0 and clicked accept -- assuming that's what "your details" meant, but was never able to ping to anything past my router using the Ping tab in Network Tools.
And just for fun, I launched FireFox and typed in "www.ubuntu.com" as well as "www.google.com" and got nowhere fast.
Then I looked at the online documentation under #5, Wired Troubleshooting, and did a ping to ubuntu.com, just as the documentation suggested, but no graph showed up and I got a bunch of zeros. The documentation says that "Your computer has a very bad connection, or is connected to an access point or router which is not connected to the Internet." Well, I am not sure what "bad" means, but I am using the same connection now through the same router and the same PC through Windows, so I suspect that the author of the documentation was probably a little short on time and didn't have time to list some of secret reasons that this might be working that only the experts know about.
It quickly became apparent that the Gnome interface and the "tools" it includes were kind of like a movie set: they appear real to the casual viewer, but are really facades and the only way to get something to work would be to delve into the terminal and grapple with learning enough arcane command-line based tools to get any further. I think this is also the point where a lot of people decide to go back to Windows or buy an Apple computer.
Anyway, pressing on, the online documentation suggested that I try going into the terminal program and trying ipconfig eth1 and also ipconfig eth0 (which is what I configured in the Network Connections), but I was dismayed to get the succinct response "bash: ipconfig: command not found."
At that point I realized that I was in a very unhappy place and that I would need to learn a lot more about how Ubuntu and Linux worked then I ever really wanted to as an end user if I was going to get connect my computer to the Internet, even just to open Firefox and browse a Web site. However, before I ran out and bought as may shares of Microsoft and Apple that I could afford, I figured I would try out this community support thing and see where it got me.
So, I am sure there are some very knowledgeable people who might think what I am puzzled by is child's play and may even being getting a chuckle that I cannot find the release for the snare that trapped me here, but I could use a few pointers to set me in the right direction again.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. And if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Although, it looks like I will have to boot my Windows partition to read them.