Part 1 | Part 2

As we discussed last time, getting the once working RT2500 chipset working again is obtainable after all. But even with all of this, there are still some remaining questions that many of you will have. They include:

  • Obtaining a IP address from your router without any issues.
  • Is all of this also needed within the off-shoot distro, Linux Mint?

Today, I will break this down for you, in addition to opening up the line for any questions that you might have to get your wireless Internet working with Feisty.

Starting off with the grabbing of an IP address.

In both Ubuntu Feisty and Linux Mint, I have had instances where getting an IP address assigned was problematic with certain routers. Generally this occurs with WiFi Radar alerting me that an IP address cannot be given and to try again.

So here’s the deal, because WiFi Radar run from the command line (see previous article for executable) provides some great detail as to what is happening in the background, troubleshooting is a lot easier than the default ZeroConf nonsense.

Still no love with the assignment of a valid IP? Keep trying WiFi Radar. You may even find that restarting the computer or ejecting the card itself will yield some help with getting that IP assigned. I have found this helpful with troublesome hotel wireless in some instances.

If it is your router on the other hand, try restarting the it or even adding an extra allowable IP address in the 0-whatever range of numbers to be assigned. Often, this will save you a lot of headaches.

The Linux Mint side of the fence.

For the most part, Linux Mint is superior to when it comes to wireless card support. So you may find that you are able to get Network Manager to display your wireless card and that you can even see the available networks – but as of the beta for Linux Mint Cassandra, RT2500 chipsets were still not actually connecting. So you may wish to use part 1 to this series for some help there.

Also, with the home network, you should find that once you connect with the help from part 1, your notebook should remember your network settings from this point with each boot.

Do you have an Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Simply Mepis, Linspire/Freespire or PCLinuxOS related question? Perhaps you are just burnt out on writing on the walls with crayons? Whatever the comments may be, drop me a line, and you too can “Just Ask Matt – Linux Edition!

[tags]linux, network adapter,wireless adapter[/tags]