I Give Up!

[benjgvps]

I installed xubuntu 6.06 on my iMac G3 a while ago and I couldn't get my USB Wifi dongle to work so I installed 7.10 on it and attempted to boot but it only got a tiny sliver in the progress bar before exiting to the shell (I then through the install disk Frisbee style to the trash can) . It may not seem like I went through much, But oh did I ever. Days of wasted time trying to get the ZD1211 drivers to compile. I GIVE UP! Nothing should be so damned hard. Once they come up with a GUI compiling program that tells you what goes wrong in English, call me. All I was trying to do was INSTALL A DRIVER! In Windows you can do it MUCH easier than that. Linux is Silly!

 

[chris]

Well of course you can do it much easier in Windows. The dongle is DESIGNED for Windows.

Also, most drivers aren't hard to install. A quick Google reveals many with similar issues, but, going out on a limb here, why not just go out and get a confirmed-working-with-binary-driver-package-hyphen-hyphen-hyphen $20 wifi dongle, instead of futilely trying to make something work that doesn't?

Again also, why would you think that compilers can output in English? It's like trying to describe something that doesn't translate. There simply isn't any easier way to say most of the things that a compiler does without actually stripping the information out.

And why not just stick with Xubuntu 6.06? There aren't any problems with it, and Debian allows you to simply and quickly install a new version without a CD. That'd be 'sudo apt-get dist-upgrade', by the way.

The 'Linux is Silly' comment wasn't necessary. It isn't, and just because it isn't working on this one issue doesn't mean it is.

 

[QuadSix50]

Why didn't you just use NDISwrapper? It's even easier in Ubuntu when you install it along with ndisgtk which is a graphical front-end for NDISwrapper.

I used to have to use NDISwrapper for the Broadcom chipset back in the early days of Ubuntu. It seemed to work just fine, although I was joyful when they finally included the native driver for the bcm43xx chipset.

You have to also remember that not many companies are willing to write drivers for open source operating systems because they fear that they will lose their intellectual property in regards to the firmware or drivers, which I think is just silly. You can't really fault the OS because the company doesn't want to provide the necessary software for it or support the community to write its own. REmember that most of the modules in GNU/Linux are for the most part reverse-engineered and it takes a long time to redo the work that was already done without infringing on IP because the company just didn't feel like helping the community out.

Just like with Windows, if you stick to a hardware compatibility list then you'll have no problems.

 

[benjgvps]

There was a Linux driver on the included CD and there are some dependencies that were needed by ndiswrapper that were i386 only. I upgraded because I think when I was compiling the driver it complained about the kernel being old or something. Plus 7.10 has better Wifi support.

 

[QuadSix50]

There is a 7.10 Ubuntu for PowerPC:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/gutsy/release/

 

[II2II]

As a general rule of thumb, you either have the wrong distro or you have the wrong hardware if you have to compile something.

As for calling Linux silly, well, would many people on these forums call Mac OS X silly if it didn't work with a Windows only piece of hardware? Why should Linux be any different? (Aside from the fact that kernel developers work hard in order to ensure that the Windows only hardware will freuqently work in Linux. And for that we should be grateful.)

 

[conceitedjerk]

(Aside from the fact that kernel developers work hard in order to ensure that the Windows only hardware will freuqently work in Linux. And for that we should be grateful.)

Amen to that! I'm grateful most of my hardware (most) works well in my Sun Ultra 5 running Debian etch. A testament to their hard work and dedication!