Nightmare installing current Linuxes
Hi All, I'm slightly above a user level now. My computer is office equipment. Am not in an IT career. Was a tech back in the DOS and Win 3.x and Win 95 days. Been such a happy user of Fedora and Ubuntu for the past ~9 years. Now feeling pretty disgusted and fed up with all things Linux. Why? Just spent EVERY spare moment of the last 2 weeks just trying to get the current versions of 3 popular Linux distros to work on my new hardware system. Failure! Just built 2 matching desktop boxes: Motherboards: Gigabyte GA-B85m-HD3 CPUs: Intel (quad) Core i5 model 4440 at 3.1 GHz Memories: Corsair Value Select 8GB DDR3, single bank Disks: Western Digital WD3200BUDT 320gb SATA Wifi: ASUS PCE-N15 PCI-E Adapter They pass all the hardware tests with flying colours. (1) I like the old Ubuntu 10.4 on my laptop, so first I installed Ubuntu 14.04.1 on the above desktops: Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Unity sucks, heard of MATE, couldn't install (above wifi problems). Tried to dual-boot with WinXP-64. Microsoft's probable sabotage. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked. (2) Then tried Mint 17 MATE (Everyone's obsessed with Mint, and calling Ubuntu obsolete.): Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked. (3) THEN tried Debian 7.6 (If Mint depends on Ubuntu, which depends on Debian... then Debian must be a few months ahead of the others on certain bug fixes [e.g. Dropping down to single user mode, and the wifi glitch].): Cryptic, confusing and counter-intuitive install process. Very slow install -- repeatedly seizing up - fixated on my USB mouse! Insisted on a UEFI booting system. Crashed install -- Failed download of updates, when told not to try. First "successful" (?) install failed to boot up. Second "successful" (?) install has no GUI, and can't apt-get GUI. But at least Debian asked me during the install to provide... rtl8192cfw.bin and rtl8168e-3.fw ... in regards to my wifi adapter. This MAY be a hint to why Ubuntu and Mint can't stay online for more than a few minutes per boot-up. But I've got NO idea how to get either of those two files installed into Ubuntu or Mint -- particularly as how the second one is embedded inside a ".deb" file! Words of useful advice =greatly= appreciated. Carl Bayswater, Victoria
Basically your problem is the Wi-Fi, if you solve that issue you can choose whatever you want for a distro.You wouldn't buy a car to get the tires, would you? :P Hopefully someone here can give you some helpful advice on how to resolve the wireless issue. Otherwise, you can consider spending ($15)x2 on a two PCI-E adapters that work a lot better. I will usually pick out cheap models from a local parts dealer that I like such as Centrecom or Scorptec, and duckduckgo them with 'linux' to check what advice there is on compatibility. Fortunately compatibility issues are becoming rarer with Linux. It's worth double checking that it's not your network that's the problem too, just in case. On 4 Sep 2014 22:02, "Carl Turney" <carl@boms.com.au> wrote:
Hi All,
I'm slightly above a user level now. My computer is office equipment. Am not in an IT career. Was a tech back in the DOS and Win 3.x and Win 95 days.
Been such a happy user of Fedora and Ubuntu for the past ~9 years.
Now feeling pretty disgusted and fed up with all things Linux. Why?
Just spent EVERY spare moment of the last 2 weeks just trying to get the current versions of 3 popular Linux distros to work on my new hardware system. Failure!
Just built 2 matching desktop boxes: Motherboards: Gigabyte GA-B85m-HD3 CPUs: Intel (quad) Core i5 model 4440 at 3.1 GHz Memories: Corsair Value Select 8GB DDR3, single bank Disks: Western Digital WD3200BUDT 320gb SATA Wifi: ASUS PCE-N15 PCI-E Adapter They pass all the hardware tests with flying colours.
(1) I like the old Ubuntu 10.4 on my laptop, so first I installed Ubuntu 14.04.1 on the above desktops: Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Unity sucks, heard of MATE, couldn't install (above wifi problems). Tried to dual-boot with WinXP-64. Microsoft's probable sabotage. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked.
(2) Then tried Mint 17 MATE (Everyone's obsessed with Mint, and calling Ubuntu obsolete.): Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked.
(3) THEN tried Debian 7.6 (If Mint depends on Ubuntu, which depends on Debian... then Debian must be a few months ahead of the others on certain bug fixes [e.g. Dropping down to single user mode, and the wifi glitch].): Cryptic, confusing and counter-intuitive install process. Very slow install -- repeatedly seizing up - fixated on my USB mouse! Insisted on a UEFI booting system. Crashed install -- Failed download of updates, when told not to try. First "successful" (?) install failed to boot up. Second "successful" (?) install has no GUI, and can't apt-get GUI.
But at least Debian asked me during the install to provide... rtl8192cfw.bin and rtl8168e-3.fw ... in regards to my wifi adapter. This MAY be a hint to why Ubuntu and Mint can't stay online for more than a few minutes per boot-up.
But I've got NO idea how to get either of those two files installed into Ubuntu or Mint -- particularly as how the second one is embedded inside a ".deb" file!
Words of useful advice =greatly= appreciated.
Carl Bayswater, Victoria _______________________________________________ luv-main mailing list luv-main@luv.asn.au http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main
Hi All, Know it's not the network's fault, as old Linux laptop works fine at (not) the same time as new system failures. May need to buy two MORE new wifi cards. Will check the net for compatibility first, this time. Carl On 04/09/14 22:20, thelionroars wrote:
Basically your problem is the Wi-Fi, if you solve that issue you can choose whatever you want for a distro.You wouldn't buy a car to get the tires, would you? :P
Hopefully someone here can give you some helpful advice on how to resolve the wireless issue. Otherwise, you can consider spending ($15)x2 on a two PCI-E adapters that work a lot better. I will usually pick out cheap models from a local parts dealer that I like such as Centrecom or Scorptec, and duckduckgo them with 'linux' to check what advice there is on compatibility. Fortunately compatibility issues are becoming rarer with Linux.
It's worth double checking that it's not your network that's the problem too, just in case.
On 4 Sep 2014 22:02, "Carl Turney" <carl@boms.com.au <mailto:carl@boms.com.au>> wrote:
Hi All,
I'm slightly above a user level now. My computer is office equipment. Am not in an IT career. Was a tech back in the DOS and Win 3.x and Win 95 days.
Been such a happy user of Fedora and Ubuntu for the past ~9 years.
Now feeling pretty disgusted and fed up with all things Linux. Why?
Just spent EVERY spare moment of the last 2 weeks just trying to get the current versions of 3 popular Linux distros to work on my new hardware system. Failure!
Just built 2 matching desktop boxes: Motherboards: Gigabyte GA-B85m-HD3 CPUs: Intel (quad) Core i5 model 4440 at 3.1 GHz Memories: Corsair Value Select 8GB DDR3, single bank Disks: Western Digital WD3200BUDT 320gb SATA Wifi: ASUS PCE-N15 PCI-E Adapter They pass all the hardware tests with flying colours.
(1) I like the old Ubuntu 10.4 on my laptop, so first I installed Ubuntu 14.04.1 on the above desktops: Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Unity sucks, heard of MATE, couldn't install (above wifi problems). Tried to dual-boot with WinXP-64. Microsoft's probable sabotage. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked.
(2) Then tried Mint 17 MATE (Everyone's obsessed with Mint, and calling Ubuntu obsolete.): Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked.
(3) THEN tried Debian 7.6 (If Mint depends on Ubuntu, which depends on Debian... then Debian must be a few months ahead of the others on certain bug fixes [e.g. Dropping down to single user mode, and the wifi glitch].): Cryptic, confusing and counter-intuitive install process. Very slow install -- repeatedly seizing up - fixated on my USB mouse! Insisted on a UEFI booting system. Crashed install -- Failed download of updates, when told not to try. First "successful" (?) install failed to boot up. Second "successful" (?) install has no GUI, and can't apt-get GUI.
But at least Debian asked me during the install to provide... rtl8192cfw.bin and rtl8168e-3.fw ... in regards to my wifi adapter. This MAY be a hint to why Ubuntu and Mint can't stay online for more than a few minutes per boot-up.
But I've got NO idea how to get either of those two files installed into Ubuntu or Mint -- particularly as how the second one is embedded inside a ".deb" file!
Words of useful advice =greatly= appreciated.
Carl Bayswater, Victoria _______________________________________________ luv-main mailing list luv-main@luv.asn.au <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au> http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main
Hi Carl, Have you tried the Ubuntu or Mint Live CD or LIve USB? Your wifi card has Linux issues. See: http://www.linux-hardware-guide.com/2012-11-04-asus-pce-n15-pcie-802-11n-300.... I suggest you take it out, try a USB wifi dongle and see how that goes. Cheers Daniel. On 04/09/14 22:02, Carl Turney wrote:
Hi All,
I'm slightly above a user level now. My computer is office equipment. Am not in an IT career. Was a tech back in the DOS and Win 3.x and Win 95 days.
Been such a happy user of Fedora and Ubuntu for the past ~9 years.
Now feeling pretty disgusted and fed up with all things Linux. Why?
Just spent EVERY spare moment of the last 2 weeks just trying to get the current versions of 3 popular Linux distros to work on my new hardware system. Failure!
Just built 2 matching desktop boxes: Motherboards: Gigabyte GA-B85m-HD3 CPUs: Intel (quad) Core i5 model 4440 at 3.1 GHz Memories: Corsair Value Select 8GB DDR3, single bank Disks: Western Digital WD3200BUDT 320gb SATA Wifi: ASUS PCE-N15 PCI-E Adapter They pass all the hardware tests with flying colours.
(1) I like the old Ubuntu 10.4 on my laptop, so first I installed Ubuntu 14.04.1 on the above desktops: Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Unity sucks, heard of MATE, couldn't install (above wifi problems). Tried to dual-boot with WinXP-64. Microsoft's probable sabotage. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked.
(2) Then tried Mint 17 MATE (Everyone's obsessed with Mint, and calling Ubuntu obsolete.): Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked.
(3) THEN tried Debian 7.6 (If Mint depends on Ubuntu, which depends on Debian... then Debian must be a few months ahead of the others on certain bug fixes [e.g. Dropping down to single user mode, and the wifi glitch].): Cryptic, confusing and counter-intuitive install process. Very slow install -- repeatedly seizing up - fixated on my USB mouse! Insisted on a UEFI booting system. Crashed install -- Failed download of updates, when told not to try. First "successful" (?) install failed to boot up. Second "successful" (?) install has no GUI, and can't apt-get GUI.
But at least Debian asked me during the install to provide... rtl8192cfw.bin and rtl8168e-3.fw ... in regards to my wifi adapter. This MAY be a hint to why Ubuntu and Mint can't stay online for more than a few minutes per boot-up.
But I've got NO idea how to get either of those two files installed into Ubuntu or Mint -- particularly as how the second one is embedded inside a ".deb" file!
Words of useful advice =greatly= appreciated.
Carl Bayswater, Victoria _______________________________________________ luv-main mailing list luv-main@luv.asn.au http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main
<snip> (2)
Then tried Mint 17 MATE (Everyone's obsessed with Mint, and calling Ubuntu obsolete.): Wifi dies or slows down after a few minutes, so always rebooting. init 1 - crashes system, instead of shutting down to single user. telinit 1 - does the same thing. shutdown now - does the same thing. Sent Q's to relevant forums on all the above, no good replies. Googled my brains out trying to find solutions, nothing worked. </snip>
I'm a latecomer to this post but from experience I believe the problem is the wifi/internet. It doesn't matter which ISP one is with but for me Telstra internet is poor. The only way I can install linuxen is with eth0 cable to the modem and through a copper line to the exchange, and the process takes around 10 hours. My eth0/copper internet runs at 0.2 to 30 Kb/sec, with occasional bursts to 130kb/sec but mainly 0.2 to 0.9 kb.sec. Internet simply stops very frequently, I mean it's on and working but there is no exchange of data for hours at a time, System Monitor graph is flatlined. I do know folk in Millgrove/Warburton area have similar line speeds and failures. Other people in this town have the same problem. <Rant> I've had my Ubuntu 14.04 corrupted 4 times during updates in the past 2 weeks and this after losing everything due to corruption of Fedora, CentOS and Ubuntu 2 weeks ago and having to fresh install ubuntu from dvd, have this as my working system. To download Fedora 20 will take 7 hours just to get the dvd install. </Rant> May I suggest that if you can possibly get hold of a TG782t modem and a splitter, use wire and give it a try. Roger
Hi All, Thanks for the helpful ideas. That website (mentioned by Daniel Jitnah) said ...
As a remedy it is suggested to deactivate the hardware encryption of the card.
Hmm. The User Manual that came on the CD with the wifi cards suggest using the included (MSWin) ASUS Control Centre program to configure the card. There are some things about disabling encryption, and I will have to "study up" a bit to figure out what I'm actually doing. But I suspect that would only have effect while running Windows, and not toggle a persistent setting in the WiFi card's firmware. So I suppose I should look for corresponding network card control settings in the bog-standard utils that come with Linux. Right? In this case, the module has to be loaded by the kernel with additional options, which can be given in the file /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8192ce.conf:
/etc/modprobe.d/rtl8192ce.conf 1
options rtl8192ce ips=0 fwlps=0 swenc=1
I can look for that file and edit those changes. (Am on a different system right now.) Any comments on the above? THANKS. Carl On 04/09/14 22:20, Daniel J Jitnah wrote:
Hi Carl,
Have you tried the Ubuntu or Mint Live CD or LIve USB?
Your wifi card has Linux issues. See: http://www.linux-hardware-guide.com/2012-11-04-asus-pce-n15-pcie-802-11n-300....
I suggest you take it out, try a USB wifi dongle and see how that goes.
Cheers Daniel.
Carl, found these on the ASUS web site. Might help. http://www.asus.com/Networking/PCEN15/HelpDesk_Download/[1] There are linux drives here that you might be able to install. I'm in Upwey, if your still stuck I might be able to give you a hand. Peter. Director InfoTeq Pty. Ltd. 0412 174 230 On Thu, 4 Sep 2014 10:02:31 PM Carl Turney wrote:
ASUS PCE-N15 PCI-E Adapter
-------- [1] http://www.asus.com/Networking/PCEN15/HelpDesk_Download/
participants (5)
-
Carl Turney -
Daniel J Jitnah -
Peter Nunn -
Roger -
thelionroars