Ubuntu 13.04 – Wireless / Wi-Fi Not Working

richardsplanet — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:53:15 +0000

These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Interface.

They may be the same or similar for other versions, but no guarantee is made.

There are a lot of reasons why your wireless / Wi-Fi connection is not working, but the most common is lack of a driver.

A driver is a piece of software that allows the operating system to communicate with a piece of hardware (in this case, a wireless device).

While Ubuntu (and other Linux distros, in general) provide good support for a wide variety of hardware devices, there are various reasons a particular device is not supported, but the 3 most common are:

the device is newer and support is not provided in the default operating system.
the device and the driver for the device is proprietary, in which case it cannot be part of the Linux kernel (Linux licensing requires that all software that is part of it be openly available, so proprietary software (commonly called closed source cannot be part of it. Nothing prevents proprietary software from later being installed, though).
the device is proprietary and no driver is provided for it and no documentation exists that would allow someone to write a driver for it (over time, if a device is popular enough, people may reverse engineer it and write a driver for it).

For example, on my laptop (2 years old – bought in the Summer of 2011), Ubuntu does not support the built in wireless device (nor any other Linux distro I’ve tried).

Fortunately, Ubuntu makes it quite easy to install a proprietary device driver – as long as Ubuntu knows about it (so, you might still be out of luck for very new devices).

Getting an Internet Connection

Ironically, to fix the problem, you need an Internet connection.

The easiest way (but not necessarily the most convenient) is to use a wired Ethernet connection:

You connect your computer to your wireless router. There should be a number of Ethernet ports on the back of your router:

Using an Ethernet connection should be a simple case of plug-and-play.

Alternately, you can use a wireless card or USB device that you know works with Ubuntu (assuming you have one):

In my case, it is a D-Link DWL-G122 wireless USB device.

Using an alternate wireless connection, you will need to go to the settings and connect to the device:

1) Click on the network icon (shaded in yellow) and select your wireless device:

2) Enter your wireless security code:

Once you are connected to the Internet, follow these instructions for installing a hardware driver.

Note: in cases of very new, or obscure hardware, there may not be drivers available. In that case, you are back to searching Ubuntu and Linux help forums.

In that case, what you should try is:

go to the manufacturer’s website and see if they have Linux drivers for their devices
widen your search by adding Debian to your search terms. Debian is the Linux base on which Ubuntu is built – there are a number of differences, but if it works for Debian, it will probably work for Ubuntu. This should be done in the case you are not getting anywhere with searching for help with Ubuntu.

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Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Install / Update Drivers

richardsplanet — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:49:46 +0000

These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity interface. They may be the same or similar for other versions of Ubuntu, but no guarantee is made.

In general, Ubuntu does a good job providing drivers for your system hardware. However, sometimes a suitable driver is not available via the Linux kernel (which is what Ubuntu is based on) because either:

the hardware is newer and support is not provided for it in the Linux kernel
there is no open source (non-proprietary) driver available for your hardware – and for legal reasons cannot be included as part of the Linux kernel

Fortunately, Ubuntu provides an easy way to locate and install proprietary drivers for your hardware.

Note: there is no guarantee that this method will find and install drivers for your hardware simply because no driver exists for Linux. Or, if a driver does exist, it may be packaged in a way that is not compatible with this method – in which case, you would need to find and follow installation instructions on the vendor’s website.

1) Tap the Windows (Super) key to bring up the Dash panel:

Note: tapping the Windows keys means pressing it as though you intend to type it. It does not mean holding down the key (holding down the key does something else).

Ubuntu calls this the Super key

2) Type software & updates into the Dash search field:

3) Press the Enter key to launch the Software & Updates application:

Note: pressing the Enter key will select the first Dash entry. If Software & Updates is not the first entry, then use the keyboard arrow keys or mouse to navigate to the appropriate icon.

If pressing Enter does not launch the software and updates management dialog, then click on the Software & Updates icon.

4) Click on the Additional Drivers tab:

You will see displayed the available proprietary drivers for your hardware:

Note: drivers may not be available for all hardware.

5) Select the drivers you want to install and click on Apply Changes:

Sometimes there is more than one available driver choice – this will require you to search to see which one might be the better one.

You can always install one and if you are not satisfied with it, select the other one later.

6) Enter your password and click on Authenticate:

Ubuntu will then begin to install the drivers. How long it takes varies:

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Install / Update Drivers appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

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Ubuntu 13.04 – Wireless / Wi-Fi Not Working

Getting an Internet Connection

Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Install / Update Drivers