Huh, well Thanks for the new info. First I'm aware of it. Guess they must have come to some agreement to be able to include the driver. Sure makes sense!

TobiGSD,
In response to your "So you mean that it would be totally OK to break Broadcom's licensing for your convenience?", Totally OK, hardly! How about a better way? Yeah. Apparently IT IS possible since it has been included in the Ubuntu 11.04 Live CD. It is this kind of innovation that Linux needs to be able to grapple with getting people on board with Linux. Or am I all wrong?
Cheers, Rick

I have a Dell Mini Inspiron 1012 netbook with 2 Gb RAM and a 160 Gb hard drive. The wireless card is, according to "lspci" as normal user, not sudo or su,...:

"07:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)", also,

"07:00.0 0280: 14e4:4315 (rev 01)".

OpenSuse could NOT even detect the wireless card. Under Fedora 15, it detected the wireless card and said the firmware was missing. When I installed the wireless driver, it STILL said the firmware was missing and it still would NOT connect to the internet.

Right now, I am using Gnome 2 or even XFCE if I have to...but, if push comes to shove, I will return to Windoze 7, and abandon Ubuntu for good. We shall see...

1 members found this post helpful.

Seems your situation goes back to the issue of proprietary hardware and the inability (whatever it is) to include appropriate drivers and/or other software needed to operate common hardware.

I can appreciate your situation and wish there was some sort of solution I could offer beyond my sympathy.

It still said the firmware was missing...because it is.

This should get you going with BCM4312 + fedora 15-

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=239922

1 members found this post helpful.

I have tried and tried to like Unity. But I don't. I normally don't have an issue adapting to whatever desktop is placed in front of me. Before KDE broke i.e. prev4 I used both Gnome and KDE with a bit of Fluxbox on the side. No real problem. But unity just seems so impossible clunky. Everything seems to take 3 times as many clicks to get at.

I did my best but its classic mode for me now.

2 members found this post helpful.

Right now I am running Ubuntu 11.10 alpha 1...and I refuse to use Unity. I don't like it, in fact, I HATE it. I will NEVER accept Unity...so they better stop shoving that trash Unity down my throat. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people have already left Ubuntu over that Unity trash. I will never accept it...that is my final word on the matter. I am right now using Gnome Classic Desktop-no effects. I removed Compiz, which I hate, and Unity, also, which I hate. I refuse to use either one of them. They are NO good!!!

Before I will accept Unity, I will return to Windoze 7...bad as I hate Windoze. At least the drivers work under Windoze 7.

Why not just choose one of the other DEs instead of going to Windows? You don't even have to leave Ubuntu for that, you can use Xubuntu, Kubuntu or Lubuntu. Or you go for one of the other distributions.
I would say that they are rather not down your throat, you have chosen to use Ubuntu. If you don't like what they do, just don't use it. It is not like you have paid for the OS.

1 members found this post helpful.

While I agree with the message you are giving here 100%, I do feel that the Ubuntu are "shoving" Unity on folks.

I have been in testing for Ubuntu for some time. The input from testers was, at one time, welcomed. Now it is not. The policy is that you agree, blindly, with Ubuntu or you are every welcome to leave.

I will probably not be using Gnome Shell when it has moved into the default for gnome. I will be, probably, using xfce. One thing I will not be using is Ubuntu or any member of the Ubuntu family. Their attitude toward the Linux community has never been that great. Now their attitude toward their users is at about the same level.

Fine with me. This is Linux. We have choices we can make. I made mine. Debian testing.

I can enjoy the same things I did in Ubuntu testing by having an install or two of sid and adding packages from experimental. Not only do I enjoy it but I may do some good for Debian. At least they seem somewhat interested in working on bugs.

1 members found this post helpful.

...I am checking out my options. I used to like Ubuntu, but the way they are doing folks so dirty, I am checking out other distros. I am even going to check out the versions of BSD and even Open Solaris, if possible. We shall see.

Right now, Windoze 7 works real good. I have 2 registry-cleaning programs that keep it tuned up and running lean and mean. I keep Windoze 7 for a backup, and for 2 programs that I cannot get under Linux.

I am seriously thinking Fedora 15...depending on if I can get the drivers up and running. Debian could not even detect my wireless card, yet Fedora did and so did OpenSuse. AptoSid, formerly Sidux, could not even detect my wireless card. Why bother with a Debian-based distro? Maybe I can try Slackware or even Gentoo?...we'll see. Whatever I can get to work, will be the distro that I go with. I have always liked Red Hat Linux aka Fedora Core Linux. I also learned to like Debian. Slackware and Gentoo, I have NO experience with...one day I will try them out. I have tried out 1 of the BSD ones, but it could not even detect my ethernet card...shame, huh? OpenSolaris, I will try also...we'll see.

Those programs are a fake. You can write tens of thousands random keys to your registry and that will not affect performance.

You should better inform yourself about the distros you try. Debian (and AFAIK aptosid, too) will not deliver non-free firmware in a standard install. You have to install it manually. That has no technical reason, it is their ideology.

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes, I know about Debian and AptoSid, formerly Sidux...but they still could NOT even DETECT my wireless card where Fedora 15, DID, and so did OpenSuse, and Ubuntu. Those are the 3 linux distros that could detect my wireless card. Slackware and Gentoo, don't know, but will find out one day. OpenSolaris, I will try one day and I will try one of the BSD distros, too, one day. Then I will decide which one to choose.

Hardware detection is superior under Fedora 15, OpenSuse, and, hate to say it, Ubuntu. Debian, love it, but it could NOT even detect my wireless card...it did not know that it even existed...same for AptoSid, formerly Sidux, it could not detect my wireless card...and, in fact, did not know that my wireless card even existed. It and Debian, for sure, did not even know that I had a wireless card. No messages about missing firmware, just NOTHING...nothing at all about a wireless card...just NOTHING!!! What a SHAME!!!...that Debian, and Aptosid, could NOT even detect, and I said, DETECT, my wireless card, where Fedora 15, OpenSuse, and even Ubuntu, were able to DETECT my wireless card, and did so. Why can't Debian and Aptosid detect my wireless card? Any ideas or answers?

As TobiSGD said, they do not supply any non-free software. There is some stuff that comes with the kernel that they remove. This is in the non-free repo of Debian.

Ubuntu puts it back. Fedora never takes it out.

It is all a matter of the policy of the distro. Debian may seem radical to you but is not considered a "free" OS by the free software bunch because they enable you to install the stuff from repos they control.

I am on Debian right now. Everything is fine. If you ever install Debian again, look at this thread on these forums;
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...e-list-330913/

This will give you some idea of how to set up your repos.

1 members found this post helpful.

..Umm, all those questions are copy pastes from a site.

This one actually : http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php

<_<

I heard alot about it beforehand so I wasn't expecting much but I like it.

The shortcomings I've found I can fix. For example by adding a third party menu for when I just want to browse to see what I got.

I don't like the way the collapsed icons disappear before I get a chance to select though.

In general I like it. I don't like too much configurability, I find it leads to confusion. That said there should be an alternative to this Apple-like way of thinking.

I like the extra screen space and for me I've never used many of the bells and whistles anyway. I runs most apps full screen or 2 windows max on screen. The drag to the side to half screen is very handy and reminds me of when I was testing ion wm. I use f12 for fullscreen