Linux Distro

[AskTJ]

Hi. I am looking for a Linux distro, preferably Ubuntu, that has all the WiFi drivers, GUARANTEED to work, so I don't have to install anything. Just plug in and play. Would this be possible? 

 

I tried Ubuntu 16.04 but I had a hard time getting WiFi drivers and just gave up.

 

Tj

[TheGlenlivet]

10 minutes ago, tj_420 said:

Hi. I am looking for a Linux distro, preferably Ubuntu, that has all the WiFi drivers, GUARANTEED to work, so I don't have to install anything. Just plug in and play. Would this be possible? 

 

I tried Ubuntu 16.04 but I had a hard time getting WiFi drivers and just gave up.

 

Tj

LInux Mint 18.3 worked on both a laptop and desktop for me.  Mint is based on Debian/ubuntu and is pretty user friendly.

[PeterPorker3]

24 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

LInux Mint 18.3 worked on both a laptop and desktop for me.  Mint is based on Debian/ubuntu and is pretty user friendly.

I'm not sure that mint would be much different because mint is based almost directly off of ubuntu. One thing you can try is going into settings>device drivers and enable/install proprietary drivers which may solve the problem. If that doesn't work after a restart try is looking up the wifi card and seeing if there are any linux drivers available. I know that intel sometimes releases linux drivers for wifi chipsets that do not support linux natively. 

[AskTJ]

Just now, MineParker101 said:

I'm not sure that mint would be much different because mint is based almost directly off of ubuntu. One thing you can try is going into settings>device drivers and enable/install proprietary drivers which may solve the problem. If that doesn't work after a restart try is looking up the wifi card and seeing if there are any linux drivers available. I know that intel sometimes releases linux drivers for wifi chipsets that do not support linux natively. 

I have tried that multiple times with no luck. Just installed Ubuntu over it's old partition and it's all working beautifully.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

Did you check Additional Drivers in settings?

 

Also, what kind of WiFi adapter is it?

[AskTJ]

Just now, YamiYukiSenpai said:

Did you check Additional Drivers in settings?

 

Also, what kind of WiFi adapter is it?

Broadcom 802.11ac adapter. Installation of Ubuntu again fixed it. I think it's because I used the trial option for a while. Not sure though

[YamiYukiSenpai]

46 minutes ago, tj_420 said:

Broadcom 802.11ac adapter. Installation of Ubuntu again fixed it. I think it's because I used the trial option for a while. Not sure though

 

What trial option?

[wasab]

Don’t see how any distro can beat Ubuntu and mint for user friendliness. 

[AskTJ]

Just now, YamiYukiSenpai said:

What trial option?

I mean, I could try Ubuntu before installing it.

[AskTJ]

Just now, wasab said:

Don’t see how any distro can beat Ubuntu and mint for user friendliness. 

Was looking for an older distro of Ubuntu or possibly Mint. Fixed the WiFi issue by reinstalling Ubuntu

[YamiYukiSenpai]

1 hour ago, tj_420 said:

Was looking for an older distro of Ubuntu or possibly Mint. Fixed the WiFi issue by reinstalling Ubuntu

How old is old?

 

1 hour ago, tj_420 said:

I could try Ubuntu before installing it

oh. my bad.  I thought you got ripped off lol

[AskTJ]

17 minutes ago, YamiYukiSenpai said:

How old is old?

Just going back a few versions, to 14 something so ubuntu would have the same look and user interface, but have all the drivers preinstalled.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

1 hour ago, tj_420 said:

Just going back a few versions, to 14 something so ubuntu would have the same look and user interface, but have all the drivers preinstalled.

14.04 is pretty old, and would no longer be supported next year.  You should've gone for 16.04, or 17.10.  The driver situation will be the same, either way.  I have a Broadcom wireless on my laptop, and it's running fine on Kubuntu.

 

And if you picked 14.10, that's even worse since that's no longer supported since July 2014.

[AskTJ]

12 minutes ago, YamiYukiSenpai said:

14.04 is pretty old, and would no longer be supported next year.  You should've gone for 16.04, or 17.10.  The driver situation will be the same, either way.  I have a Broadcom wireless on my laptop, and it's running fine on Kubuntu.

 

And if you picked 14.10, that's even worse since that's no longer supported since July 2014.

I installed 16.04 again. Not 14.04.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

3 minutes ago, tj_420 said:

I installed 16.04 again. Not 14.04.

Oh.  That's good.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of machine did you install it on, and what flavor did you choose?

[AskTJ]

3 minutes ago, YamiYukiSenpai said:

Oh.  That's good.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of machine did you install it on, and what flavor did you choose?

Lenovo Yoga 3. 500GB SSD, Core M processor. Dual booting with Windows 8. Not sure what flavour.

 

I only have 5.2 GB of storage for Ubuntu and I don't know how to fix that. :?

[YamiYukiSenpai]

What I meant by "flavor" is if you chose Kubuntu (personal favorite), Ubuntu MATE, stock Ubuntu (which uses Gnome since 17.10), etc.

 

And how did you end up only having 5.2GB for Ubuntu?

 

Edit: as for resizing partition, you have to use the live disk. This should help you.

[AskTJ]

2 minutes ago, YamiYukiSenpai said:

What I meant by "flavor" is if you chose Kubuntu (personal favorite), Ubuntu MATE, stock Ubuntu (which uses Gnome since 17.10), etc.

 

And how did you end up only having 5.2GB for Ubuntu?

I guess I just clicked install and wasn't asked to select a partition size. Stuck with 5.2GB here

[jde3]

Ubutnu's WiFi system is extremely fragile. Trying to do some custom work on it I recently broke it on Ubuntu 17.10 and was unable to fix it after 2 days of work.. and that's saying something since I've used Linux since 1996.. It's a horrible scripted mess of garbage IMO. - I would avoid Ubuntu if I had to use WiFi and every Debian/Ubuntu derivative like Mint. There are plenty of other good distros out there.. find one that appeals to you is what I usually tell people. If you do deiced to use it, and you get it working don't hack on it and pray the glue holds.

 

WiFi also is kind of a walking disaster on Linux in general due to shitty devices flooding the market, tho most quality name brand cards work pretty well.

 

 

[Fleetscut]

you wont be able to find any distro that is "guaranteed" to have working wifi drivers for everything. Alot of chipsets like broadcoms have not been rolled into the kernel so every time there is a kernel update there is potential to break the wifi drivers until they can get patched. I used to play this game with the broadcom adapter on my laptop until i finally got fed up and replaced it with an intel adapter.

[Wild Penquin]

What Fleetscut said.

 

The problem here is proprietary and closed hardware, and manufacturers with stupid policies toward Linux (and open source in general). Those drivers probably never will be integrated into Mainline Kernel, and hence will break.

 

Licensing issues sometimes prevent from releasing distributions with *all* (Wifi) drivers, even if they do exist and work.