Kubuntu 8.04 on a Dell XPS M1330 laptop... how to get wireless working

[Derek Broughton]

Nigel Ridley wrote:

> Robert Menes wrote:

>> Most of the hardware works out of the box, save for the nVidia card and
>> the PCI wireless card. Installing the restricted
>> nVidia driver (nvidia-glx-new) worked and allowed Compiz Fusion to work,
>> but the PCI card is baffling me.
>> 
>> According to KInfoCenter, the card appears to be a BroadCom based card,
>> meaning that I may need the firmware
>> wrapper for Kubuntu 8.04. However, another page detailing an Ubuntu
>> install on the same model laptop
>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InstallingUbuntuOnADellXPSM1330 says that the
>> wireless PCI is in fact an Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini Card. 

Trust the hardware.  If KInfoCentre says it's Broadcom, it is...

> I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 with the Broadcom wireless card, whilst a
> friend that also has a Dell Inspiron 1525 has the Intel wireless card! I'm
> not sure why Dell installs different hardware on the same laptop models.

Because Broadcom is probably cheaper but smart Linux shoppers prefer Intel. 
When I bought my last (and I mean _last_) Dell, I think there were four
different options for wireless.
 
> Anyway, I manually installed the Broadcom drivers using ndiswrapper

So did I, for my current HP.  But there's something to be said for
plug'n'play - my wife's laptop (that same Dell mentioned above) has gone
through 3 wireless cards in its lifetime: the original internal ipw2200, a
cheap SMC using ndiswrapper, and now it's using an atheros based D-Link.  I
gotta say, I was impressed when I decided the problem she was having must
be with the cheap SMC, pulled it out and popped in the D-Link and
everything worked immediately.
-- 
derek