On Wednesday 08 March 2006 20:06, Juanjavier Martínez wrote: > >On Tuesday 07 March 2006 21:16, Juanjavier Martínez wrote: > >> >On Tuesday 07 March 2006 06:15, Juanjavier Martínez wrote: > >> >> Does anyone know what chipset uses this laptop for wireless? > >> >> > >> >> Is any specific kernel needed? I have got 2.6.8-2-686 (for Celeron) > >> >> kernel installed. > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> Just asking. > >> >> > >> >> Cheers, > >> >> > >> >> Juanjavier Martínez. > >> > > >> >lspci is your friend here. It will list all the PCI attached devices > >> > on your laptop. But it is possible that the wireless chip is either > >> > USB in which case use lsusb or is behind an "enable wireless" button. > >> > The acerhk package might help with the enable wireless button, > >> > otherwise more extreme methods may be needed. > >> > >> Is there a way to know if lspci or lsusb is needed? Apart from try and > >> error, y'know...:-) What about the "enable wireless" button? What is > >> that all about? > >> Where can I find information on this? You know, I've just purchased the > >> laptop and feel naturally worried....:-) > >> > >> Thanks in advance... > >> > >> Juanjavier Martínez. > > > >Firstly the button. Look in the manual (there will be one online if you > >do not have a physical one). > > Where? > > >(...) is worth installing the acerhk package to see if it enables the > > button. > > I found it in the «unstable» debian repository in www.kanotix.com. > > I am currently running «sarge» on the notebook. Is there any chance I could > install it w/no updates? > > >lspci and lsusb are very general utilities. The first one to try is lspci > >and look in the output to see if there is anything that looks like a > >wireless card. > > lspci told me I have got a Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [Airforce One] 54g > 802,11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02), as you can see in the attached > lspci.txt file. > > >David > > So the questions stays still there: How do I install acerhk? As I recall acerhk is installed using modules_assistant. It is shipped as source so you will need a relatively recent kernel and then you can install. To get this sort of function working you will find unstable much better than stable. Almost certainly it will not work with a 2.4 kernel, but you might be lucky. I have only tried on a 2.6 kernel (.12 I seem to recall). There is a web site which describes acerhk, Google will find it for you.
Unfortunately the Broadcom wireless chips are badly supported by linux due to Broadcom not making the relevant information available. There is a closed source driver which has been around for a while, but there is also an open source one which is being reverse engineered. I am not sure of its state. David > > Thank you so much, > > Juan Javier Martínez.
