Internet is dying - diagnostics

[Liam Proven]

On 29 October 2017 at 23:39, Eddie G. <eoconnor25 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Off Topic:

No, it is not just off topic, but you are also hijacking someone
else's thread. That is extremely bad manners and you should never do
it.

> Ok so I apologize for this, but it seems my repeated cries out to the
> developer communities are just falling on deaf ears.

Well, if they are anything like this rant:

* What wifi chipset?
* What firmware version? Did you check if it was current?
* Did you try other distros? If not, why not?
You have not provided enough info for anyone to fix anything. Maybe
you did before or elsewhere; I cannot tell.

>  he's
> recently decided to try Linux

How? With a live DVD/USB? That's the obvious way. Then you can try
multiple distros, non-destructively.

> ,....where he lives there's only a wireless
> connection and not a wired one.

A wireless access point could turn that into a wired connection. A
Raspberry Pi can do this for $35 or so.

> I spent the better part of an afternoon and
> early evening trying to help him get his wireless working. He tried
> everything, from installing the b43-fwcutter installer to the Broadcom 4311
> wireless drivers, and everything in between.

How was he getting these things to install with no internet connection?

> Nothing worked. Was he
> installing on some esoteric or exotic piece of machinery? No. It was a
> somewhat older Dell Inspiron 15 inch laptop.

You do not specify the exact model.

Did you try Googling for "[exact model number] wifi linux"?

> In the end he had no choice but
> to go install Windows 10.

So what was on it before?

> I feel for him, since he's not in a place where
> there's a lot of help. And I won't get into any more particulars about that.
>
> What I want to say/ask is this:
[...]
> computing and science. YET.....THERES NO WAY TO BUILD A LINUX OS THAT COMES
> WITH THE NECESSARY DRIVERS SO THAT WIRELESS CAN WORK OUT-OF-THE-BOX?

They do for me. But I buy Thinkpads, because I trust them. They work
on almost everything I try. My work laptop gave me some difficulty
because I didn't have the Linux firmware BLOBs package installed for
some reason. Once I did that, bing, everything worked.

> Like
> how is that even possible from a "Spock-Vulcan-Logic" perspective. Doesn't
> the demand FOR it "demand" that SOMETHING  be done?

No.

Because, as your rant says, Linux is a _server_ OS. Servers don't tend
to run Wifi.

Linux on the desktop has failed. Linux for private individuals means
Android, which means every device has its own bespoke custom OS.

If you want a personal computer -- desktop or laptop -- and you want
to run Unix, buy a Mac. That's what they excel at.

If you are too poor or too cheap, run Windows.

All PCs are _built_ to run Windows. They have kit made only to work
with Windows. They run drivers only written and tested for Windows,
based on secret, proprietary tech. Docs are not available for free,
and if purchased, they only cover Windows and contain secret info that
means FOSS code can't be written based on them.

There are 4 major platforms:
* Windows, mainly on desktops, plus some servers for Windows desktops
* Mac OS X, which sadly totally failed in the server market, so
survives in desktop and iOS forks.
* Linux, on servers and embedded into appliances, and on phones as Android.

Everything else is a rounding error.

And since the PC industry is massive, commoditised, and extremely
price-sensitive, nobody serves the rounding errors because it's very
hard just to make a living from the major profitable markets.

That's why stuff doesn't work. Because there is no money in making it work.

> I consider us a "family" of sorts,
> and we "lost" a family member to Windows.....WE LOST HIM TO WINDOWS!

Did you do your research first? Did you find the exact model of kit,
check what if any distros worked on it, and make sure he had something
that would work?

No?

Because that is how a community based on free software works. There's
no profit in it, so you do some legwork, and research, and check, and
test.

 > I cannot fathom how someone can install
> Xubuntu....Kubuntu...Ubuntu....Linux Mint....and a slew of other OS'es and
> NONE of them have the necessary drivers to connect to the internet

Did you check?

I did a test install on a blank desktop PC with a USB Wifi card in it
this summer.

Ubuntu: just worked.
Fedora: just worked.
SUSE: couldn't find the wifi, and with no cabled connection available,
I couldn't add the driver.
TrueOS (FreeBSD): could see the device but not drive it. No connection.
Windows: needed a driver installed for this old USB device.

IWO, distro support varies. You need to try a few and check.

Also, _always update the firmware_. From Windows, before you begin.

I'm sorry you couldn't get your friend's setup working, but I'm
willing to bet /some/ distro could have driven it, and what you needed
to do, I'm afraid, was to find out what and whether and how _in
advance_ before you began.

Shouting at developers, or worse still, ranting in a support list, won't help.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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