wifi trouble

[eyeneedhelp]

new here on Sunday. using ubuntu 12.4. getting familiar and like it. looking to get out of windows.
using a usb wifi adapter,cant stay connected to a net. my windows laptop next room connects fine.
ubuntu was ok the first day i used it,now not staying connected. help?

using the windows lpt now for this

[eyeneedhelp]

i'm new here but not new to computing. its easy to see that the wifi problem is not new to ubuntu.
i had hope of leaving windows but i dont want a new technical saga adventure like we had in the early days of win/io/interupts
etc,etc. so i wont hold out much hope!!

[QIII]

Wifi issues affect the broader Linux ecosystem, not just Ubuntu.

Unfortunately, until OEMs make Linux drivers for their hardware more common we will continue to have to struggle and find work-arounds.

It is not a wise business decision for many OEMs to expend the resources to maintain drivers that work for such a small segment of the market, so they concentrate on Windows. I don't blame them.

[kurt18947]

A good first step would be to report the output from one or both these commands. If your wifi adapter is internal, type this in a terminal:

lspci

If it's a USB 'dongle', type this:

lsusb

What we're looking for is something like this:

:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 07d1:3303 D-Link System DWA-131 802.11n Wireless N Nano Adapter(rev.A1) [Realtek RTL8192SU]
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0409:0058 NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 047d:2048 Kensington 
Bus 009 Device 002: ID 0a81:0205 Chesen Electronics Corp. PS/2 Keyboard+Mouse Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 04f9:01f3 Brother Industries, Ltd

There are families of devices that have similar characteristics and similar fixes. The actual manufacturer of the device isn't that relevant, what's relevant is the make and model of the chipset in the device.

[eyeneedhelp]

can i assume that there actually is a usb device that wsill work with linux,WITHOUT a hassle?
i have had my years of struggle/hard wiring and i just want to pnp!

[Hadaka]

Hi, to answer your question...YES there are....hassel free.
here is mine.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 148f:2573 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT2501/RT2573 Wireless Adapter
rt73 usb driver, already in the kernel.
its old,expensive, has an antenna so huge it could probably talk to alien spacecraft
the body is so big and runs so hot, I rest my cup on it to keep my coffee warm.
It has run error free....3 years...plug and play..unubtu 11.10 12.04 12.10
so plug yours in,open a terminal ctrl/alt/t and post the results of..

lsusb | grep -v root

and see if we can get it working for you.

thanks.

[eyeneedhelp]

sorry,i could'nt make use of the last post,item??
i took another chance,ordered asus usb n13, claims ubuntu function.
report back later

[eyeneedhelp]

sorry for confusion. in my newness i failed to mention my original usb wifi,"widemac'. it worked/works sometime briefly.
i ordered a new asus and im looking for drivers for the widemac.
im new,struggling! i am Not knowledgable in linux,learning slowly

[eyeneedhelp]

The plot thickens!
the seller uploaded a zip file with the driver disc data that i lost,my dvd "ate" the disc.
i copied the zip file to a folder on my win 7 comp.and also extracted the file to that folder. then copied both to a thumb drive,to my ubuntu comp.no matter what i try on ubuntu i get errors.
so,back to win 7 comp. i disable the internal wifi and run the realtek driver for win 7,THIS COMP,and i am now connected with the widemac/realtek usb wifi on win 7 so i know it works!!,but alas not on ubuntu??

i tried extracting on the ubunto comp but get errors when i run it??
so im lost again

[eyeneedhelp]

So i guess im in the same boat as many others, no answers,and i was very much looking to use ubuntu.
im using my usb wifi adapter on my win 7 comp as a very sucessful test. i think its better than the built in wifi in my laptop.
i installed the win driver and it works as you can see. (im on win 7 now)
i cannot get the ubuntu driver to setup. in fact cant find setup. when i extract the driver package on my linux comp and try anything i get errors that i dont understand.
the usb unit connects without the drivers but looses connection.
last call?