Why is it so hard to get WLAN working on Linux? 😭😭😥

@Artemix what distro do you use? I dont know mine shows up when I type lsusb or lshw but it wont connect and many other commands fail because the device is not found or some functionality is not supported.. the driver installer is buggy too...

Many manufacturers are idiots and make WLAN sticks that aren't compatible with standard drivers. If you have one of those you're at the mercy of the manufacturer to provide (non-shit) Linux drivers, which very few do.

Gentoo user here and I haven't had many issues with (built-in) WiFi. Often times some things that cause issues on other distros become easier when you can recompile the kernel (eg NVIDIA), blablabla. Yes this can be done on other distros, it's just more "normal" to do it in Gentoo.

Might sound stupid but try install or update the bcmwl-kernel-source package from apt-get.

Fixed my driver issue :)

It's the chipsets not the drivers. Linux isn't Windows, it simply doesn't support that many WiFi chipsets....and that's why before buying a Linux machine ALWAYS check for hardware compatibility (for all the bits). @tiberius1900

@intromatt oh God, no.

I'm starting to recall the pain of getting WLAN (+hostap) working on the Wandboard upgrades at work last year.

@simulate, I half retract my initial statement, at least for embedded systems. WiFi can be an absolute horror on Linux, depending on your circumstances.

Yeah...WiFi is still a fickle bitch on Linux, even Ubuntu but if you are using a supported chipset and yelp out a little prayer before installing the OS you can be quite successful the vast majority of the time. @evanjs

@simulate Driver installer? On Linux? I'd never touch a manufacturer installer on Windows nevermind Linux. Find the chipset it uses and search around on the Arch wiki. There's bound to be some packages for it.

This isn't the 90s dude...you don't install drivers in Windows anymore..hah...I am in IT and I doubt I installed a driver (other than some obscure massive office printer driver) in the last 5-6 years...Windows handles everything automatically now..it has for many, many years.@CoreyD97

Microsoft even installs Apple's Bootcamp drivers automatically so you can nuke your MacOS partition on your Macbook completely and never have to fuck with the stupid Apple Bootcamp wizard or waste SSD space with MacOS. Just use a USB boot disk...it's seamless and the install takes less than 15 minutes even on my old POS Macbook.

@intromatt Don't forget about legacy or in-house hardware :D one case of that at work.

Most annoying thing about it is it's not kernel mode (or whatever Windows needs) signed, so we have to disable driver verification every time it needs to be installed. Bitlocker makes that part even more exciting.

I have an years old WiFi dongle. I had to install the drivers provided with a CD when I had to make it work on Win 7. No driver issues on my Linux machines for that particular dongle.

I don't, neither do my clients, waste time with old hardware/old computers. Things are cheap enough now not to have to struggle with 3+ year old systems...life is wayyyy too short + having clients who are unwilling to regularly update their software and hardware are clients not worth having. (of course there are some weird use case scenarios but I try to stay from those with an 30 foot pole..ie. a serial connected plotter from the 80s using software that hasn't been updated since Windows for Workgroups 3.11...thanx but no thanx)...@evanjs

Well, you are using a 15 year old (and awful) operating system....you should really stop doing that...Windows 10 isn't that expensive, dude.@emyu10

@intromatt oh for sure. A little more difficult when one of those is a product that is used with just about everything you sell, etc lol

But we deploy crap on Linux so the only time we have this "issue" is when we install it on employee computers, which are typically Windows outside of engineering.

What is this shit.
I read I should rely on the built in NetworkManager, because fiddeling with the terminal will most likely rather break stuff and the NM will overwrite any changes anyways. Now I have got NM to recognize my WLAN stick (It detects WiFi in my area *horray*) but when I type in the Password to my wifi it keeps asking me for authetication over an over (no errors, no connection) I really though linux was a bit more sophisticated by now 😡

Yeah NetworkManager is pretty nice when it works but absolutely sucks when it doesn't.
I don't know about your distribution but mine uses journatctl. Using -r allows you to see Logs including the ones from nw

@intromatt ya, not that expensive I know. I also know that GNU/Linux is cheaper. I tried Windows 10 too. I like what's improved but still couldn't bear some aspects of it. After using Linux for so long, Windows filesystem also doesn't make sense to me anymore.

I have Ubuntu VM to fuck with and it's certainly neat but I still feel it's awkward, incredibly 'breaky' and stuck wayyy in the past. Running Linux as a main OS is like those hipsters driving Ladas in my neighbourhood..it's cute and funny and they seem to have a lot of free time on their hands...great bunch of folk, really... @emyu10

@intromatt I feel the same way about Windows. How awkward.

holy ahit it finally works....
According to NetworkManager im still not connected and i dont even dare to open network manager anymore but i can load webpages without having my ethernet cable plugged in

VICTORY

I bet that's how the Lada guys feel about the BMWs and Bentleys that pass them by. @emyu10

@intromatt I don't know and I don't care if anything works for someone or not. But Windows doesn't work for me.

@intromatt Windows is for those who want travel ads for their lockscreens. Very professional.

Still using it for many things, though. Mostly because it's a more popular platform and thus has better drivers and applications in some cases.

It has better applications in ALL cases, literally ALL cases. Sadly I haven't seen a travel ad, ever... If you have, I would suggest getting your machine checked out...sounds like malware or some random travel app you installed. Also..if you are seeing games and weird shit that you didn't ask for please ask a computer technician to help you disable that (there is a little on/off switch in the settings that disables this crap).
It's no different than deleting the Amazon crap in Ubuntu or the Pocket spyware in Firefox. @electrineer

@intromatt ok, found it. This might help. https://lifehacker.com/windows-10-i...

@RantSomeWhere
WLAN > WiFi 😋

@RantSomeWhere
The term WiFi is more widespread than WLAN, so I doubt they don't know what you're talking about.

Technically speaking Wi-Fi is a series of WLAN standards. For example, the PS4 had WLAN. It didn't have Wi-Fi.

@RantSomeWhere but WLAN is the name for the networking shit. Wi-Fi is a certification. So saying "set up your Wi-Fi" doesn't make any sense.:b

It's dead easy - if you're using a DM. Without a nice gui which does everything for you it's a pain.

@intromatt On the contrary. I switched from windows 10 back to windows 7 (because W10 was horrible) and now to Ubuntu budgie.

It's a blast, compared to both windows versions I had before.
Nearly everything I do works easier, I have a software store with great, free applications for all purposes, I have control over every bit of my system, it looks and feels a lot more modern than W7 and a lot more slick and practical than W10.
Didn't notice any disadvantages aside from compatibility with games (which I solved with a W10 VM with gpu passthrough).

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