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Wireless networking has gotten better with Kubuntu &distro-rev;, however there
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are still problems for users who do not have a card supported natively. These
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issues are at times easy to overcome using utilities such as the
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<application>bcm43xx-fwcutter</application> for <emphasis
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role="bold">some</emphasis> Broadcom devices, or
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<application>NdisWrapper</application> for other non-native wireless adapters.
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The following help sections will follow a generic route for getting wireless to
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work with either <application>NdisWrapper</application> or
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<application>bcm43xx-fwcutter</application>. If neither of the following
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sections help with your issue, then it is recommended that you use another
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connection source to the Internet and read through the many topics for wireless
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connections. The following are just a couple locations to review.
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<ulink url="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs"/>
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<ulink url="http://www.ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=136"/>
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are still problems for users who do not have a card supported natively.
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If you have not purchased a wireless card yet, please take a look at the
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supported hardware at
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url="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported"/>.
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<sect2 id="network-connect-wifi-howdoi" status="complete">
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<title>How do I...</title>
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<term>...figure out if my wireless card works?</term>
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If your wireless card has been detected,
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<application>KNetworkManager</application> will have a menu entry listing your
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wireless device. You can attempt to connect to your wireless network by
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clicking on the System Tray icon and selecting your wireless network. If you
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are able to browse the network with the a web browser, you have successfully
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connected to the internet.
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<term>...configure encryptions such as <acronym>WEP</acronym> or
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<acronym>WPA</acronym></term>
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With <application>KNetworkManager</application> you simple click the
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application icon in the system tray and select the wireless network you want to
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connect to. When you click on a network that has encryption enabled, you will
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get a pop-up dialog to enter this information. Once entered, this information is
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stored within the <application>KWallet</application> utility. This allows you
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to connect to that network in the future just by entering your
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<application>KWallet</application> password.
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<term>...check if I have a Internet connection?</term>
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Open up <application>Konqueror</application>, and try to browse to
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<ulink url="http://www.ubuntu.com"/>. If this worked, you have a fully working
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If the above did not work, open up <application>Konsole</application>
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(&menukonsole;) and type <userinput>ping gateway_ip_address</userinput>
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(substitude gateway_ip_address by the ip address of your gateway. This
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address is usually 192.168.1.1, but may vary depending on the nature of
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your network). If you are able to ping your gateway, then the DNS on your
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computer is not being correctly. If you are not able to ping the gateway,
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then you donot have a proper internet connection.
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<term>...figure out which wireless card my system uses?</term>
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<term>...get help with my wireless connection?</term>
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It is recommended that you use another
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connection source to the Internet and read through the many topics for wireless
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connections. The following are just a couple locations to review.
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<ulink url="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs"/>
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<ulink url="http://www.ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=136"/>
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<term>...get my Broadcom wireless adapter to work?</term>
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Since kernel version 2.6.17, support for Broadcom wireless devices were
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included. This means that there are some Broadcom devices that work out of the
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box, however there are still many that don't. If your Broadcom wireless device
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isn't working then you have one of two choices;
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isn't working then you have two choices;
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<application>bcm43xx-fwcutter</application> or
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<application>NdisWrapper</application>. With the
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<application>NdisWrapper</application>.
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<application>bcm43xx-fwcutter</application> utility there are only a select few
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devices that actually work. To see the devices that are currently supported
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please review <ulink url="http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/?go=devices"/>. If your
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<term>...configure encryptions such as <acronym>WEP</acronym> or
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<acronym>WPA</acronym></term>
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With <application>KNetworkManager</application> you simple click the
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application icon in the system tray and select the wireless network you want to
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connect to. When you click on a network that has encryption enabled, you will
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get a pop-up dialog to enter this information. Once entered, this information is
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stored within the <application>KWallet</application> utility. This allows you
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to connect to that network in the future just by entering your
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<application>KWallet</application> password.
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<sect2 id="network-connect-wifi-ndiswrapper" status="complete">
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<title>Hardware Platforms</title>
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This method is only supported for users of the Intel and AMD platforms. Users
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of older iBooks and Powerbooks cannot use this method. However, users of
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MacBooks (Intel based) should be able to use this method.
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<application>NdisWrapper</application> is considered the wireless fix-all for
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Linux. A great percentage of wireless adapters that are not supported natively
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or with other utilities are supported with
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<application>NdisWrapper</application>. Installation is the same as it is for
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any other application in Kubuntu. If you are uncomfortable with installation
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<application>NdisWrapper</application>. Install
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<application>ndiswrapper</application> by using
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<application>Adept</application>. If you are uncomfortable with installation
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practices then it is advised that you review the <ulink
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url="help:/kubuntu/add-applications/">Adding Applications</ulink> document.
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Once you have installed <application>NdisWrapper</application> your next step
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would be to locate the Windows drivers either on a <acronym>CD</acronym> or the
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Once you have installed <application>NdisWrapper</application>,
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locate the Windows drivers either on a <acronym>CD</acronym> or the
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Internet. Drivers for Windows XP are preferred, however Windows 2000 drivers
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will usually work just as well. Once you have located the CD or the drivers on
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the Internet, you will want to copy them to a local folder on your system. In
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the Internet, copy them to a local folder on your system. In
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some instances, you may have your drivers in a <filename>driver.zip</filename>
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or a <filename>driver.exe</filename> file. If it the file is in a
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<filename>.zip</filename> format, you can unzip the file by either
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<filename>.zip</filename> format, unzip the file by either
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<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking on the file and selecting
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<guilabel>Extract</guilabel> from the pop-up menu. If the file is in a
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<filename>.exe</filename> format, then you will have to install the
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<filename>.exe</filename> format, then install the
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<application>cabextract</application> utility and open up
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<application>Konsole</application> to navigate the correct directory. Once you
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have navigated to the directory storing the <filename>.exe</filename> file, you
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would type <userinput>cabextract filename.exe</userinput>. This will extract or
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have navigated to the directory storing the <filename>.exe</filename> file,
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type <userinput>cabextract filename.exe</userinput>. This will extract or
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unzip the file to the directory you are in. The driver will be in the
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<filename>.inf</filename> format, so what you will want to do is type
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<userinput>sudo ndiswrapper -i filename.inf</userinput> and press