New member and two questions

[John Dangler]

On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 21:32 -0300, Santiago Erquicia wrote:
> 2007/1/29, Chris Gilland <clgilland07 at carolina.rr.com>:
> >
> > 1.  I have an Intel Pro Set Wireless onboard wireless chip.  (Well, ok, I
> > guess it's a chip but any who...)  I do have an Intel Pro ethernet port as
> > well, however, mobility is important for me.  I want to be able to go online
> > from any room in my house, thus I need my wireless.  I know there is a
> > program called gtk wifi but do I really need it?  I didn't ask, is it
> > suggested to get, I said, is it *needed*  Again, I wanna keep this as simple
> > as possible.  so the less I gotta install extra, the better.  Secondly, if
> > Ubuntu will automatically let me connect without any extra packages etc.
> > where do I need to go to do so.  I'd rather do this through the graffical
> > interface than through a terminal window in a configuration file if
> > possible.  If that isn't possible, then please be sure to be incredibly
> > specific on what to do as configuration files are not my thing.  i know I'll
> > have to get used to them, and I will, but remember I'm new at this.  For
> > now, i just wanna get up and running.
> >
> 
> I would recommend you to install the package network-manager-gnome
> through synaptic (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager).
> I think it is on the main repository so you should find it easily. If
> it is not there, let me know and I will give you instructions on how
> to enable the extra repository.
> 
> The advantage of installing network-manager is that it will connect
> with your wireless network as soon as it sees it or if you plug in
> your computer to a wired network it will switch automatically. This
> doesn't happen with the official way to configure your network access,
> but is way easier to use once set up.
> 
> Once you install network-manager, restart your session. I will have an
> icon on the top left of the screen where you can select which wireless
> network you want to join. If your wireless network is protected, you
> will have to enter your credentials.
> 
> I don't think you need to install ndiswrapper to use your wireless
> card since it is an Intel one. Try first without installing it.
Caveat: I tried in vain to get IPW2100 drivers to work on my laptop with
static ip addressing.  If you're running dhcp, a simple setup
in /etc/network/interfaces works just fine without additional packages.
Otherwise, network-manager doesn't handle static ip addressing anyway.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Santiago
>