Sunday, May 4, 2008

stupid wireless in Ubuntu, plus Hardy Heron

As I have said before, I have been having problems with wireless in Ubuntu. I gave up with my old crappy SMC thing, and went on eBay and bought a D-Link DWL-G122 wireless adapter ($30, you can't go wrong). It's pretty much just a USB dongle, so it's about one quarter the size of my old one. It also doesn't have the connectivity problems (in Windows) that the old one had. With the SMC, every couple hours or so it would randomly disconnect for no apparent reason. It would just lose sight of our wireless network, even though the wireless network is always on. The only time it's ever gone off is during a power outage, or if I reset the router. Anyway, I've been suggested a few links to instructions on how to install this thing. I know it's compatible because it says so on the official Ubuntu site. But I got stuck at one part because the computer needed an internet connection (which I do not have without either wireless or a huge ass ethernet cable, and obviously wireless is not an option). I plugged the computer in to the ethernet cable, and a few updates pop up, including the distribution update (new version, Hardy Heron). So I am installing that, and it says now it's going to take like an hour or so. So, we're on a break from the wireless installation. The funny thing about this is that my brother has been using the ethernet cable for his internet, and right now I am borrowing it. When I borrowed it, I told him I would be about 10 minutes.

I have not used Hardy yet, obviously, but I am definitely looking forward to doing so. There are many new features it seems. Some of the changes listed include Firefox 3 Beta 4, which could be interesting. I've noticed that Firefox doesn't seem to get updated very often, but Mozilla favours Linux users... which is good. There is also things like a new BitTorrent client, and a CD burning program that looks pretty good. I'm also quite intrigued by the new feature that allows the display of different times for different time zones. I can easily keep track of what time it is where gaming opponents might be (eg. Japan, England). Please note that the link above is to the Hardy Heron Beta page. I am sure there have been more things added even since then. Since the point of beta is to test and change things. See this link for information on the alpha release.

There is also an important sound driver update that's coming out. Maybe it will fix my sound problems! Maybe it will fix the sound in Pidgin. I won't know until I get Hardy Heron (8.04) installed.

I know I am kind of rambling, but I am waiting for Hardy to install, which is another 1 hour and 8 minutes apparently. I guess I can leave and play Xbox or something...

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