My campus lab has the Dell desktops. I am not sure the model, but the network devices are Broadcom BCM43228. As a result, after installation of the Ubuntu (they were not installed by me), Ubuntu cannot get WiFi connection to online.

Since my student mentioned that Windows can use the ethernet cable to share the wireless network, I asked him to help to share the wireless network from Windows on the other Dell desktop, and connect to the target Dell desktop.

There is quite a long time that I do not submit any post. Today, I would like to talk about my experience of using Linux Mint.

Ubuntu, the number 1 open source OS (based on what I know from DistroWatch.com), I used it and I liked it. Because it has about 37000 precompiled packages (Wikipedia). Ubuntu is based on Debian, one of the major distribution just like Red Hat. Then, number 2 is Linux Mint. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. That means, from Debian to Ubuntu, from Ubuntu to Linux Mint. One might think that, the parent is better than the child, just like C is better than C++. But if you try to use C++, then you might like it as you like C.

Linux is a great OS. Open source and free. Can work as server or desktop. There are a lot of applications: office suite, internet web browser, email client, image editor, 3D modeler, games, online games, software development tools, etc. Using Linux, I can almost do anything I want just as I am using proprietary OS.

However, there is a drawback. If a computer cannot be used for playing games, then it will not be 100% perfect. Yes, Linux has a lot of free and open source games, but I feel that there is still a gap between free games and the commercial games. Though I may not use Linux to play the latest game, at least it should allow me to play my favourite game.

Yes, again. HP Mini 1000 series, small screen, lightweight, RAM is not big. I like Ubuntu Desktop Edition, though there is Ubuntu Netbook Remix, it is not my favourite. Because I use the netbook just like a desktop, got a lot of developers’ tools, GIMP, etc.

Ubuntu, using GNOME as the desktop environment. I like GNOME because I like GTK+. I like GTK+ because I like C programming. Then, I read an article about Xfce, which is more lightweight thant GNOME. Which is also using GTK+. So I tried it.

This is not an easy work for me.

1. Firstly, I download the Ubuntu 10.10 alternative CD ISO.
2. Then, following upgrade using the shell script by following this article.
3. Restart

No wireless device detected, cannot connect internet through WiFi. What the X?! I used this method before by upgrading from 9.10 to 10.4, but this time fail.

1. Then use the broadband connect to the internet
2. System > Administration > Additional Drivers
3. Download and update certain things, I don’t know what are they
4. Found “Broadcom STA wireless driver”
5. Activate
6. Failed! Ask me to check /var/log/jockey.log

Then I think I need to update everything, so I run System > Administration > Update Manager. Then I asked for “Partial Upgrade”, and needs to download about 200Mb data. Not the good solution. Search solution online. Then I found this.

Compare to the Firefox, I prefer to run Chromium in my netbook. This is because the screen of the netbook is small, and the resolution is low. Using Firefox, the toolbars and file menu already occupies half of the screen. I think Firefox 4.0 will solve my problem.

Then, using Firefox on the netbook with Ubuntu, playing Castle Age will make Firefox slow down. May be the reason is the netbook memory is smaller than normal laptop.

When I was using Windows to manage my files, I always open a lot of windows to move my files. Even the window is already open, I will open a new window.  Because it is difficult for me to find the opened windows. And my taskbar will full of tasks.

So, I tried to find a Windows Explorer replacement. Tried all the best free file managers by Gizmo’s Freeware. Then, only FreeCommander fulfils my needs. There is no need to open a lot of windows.

I was using Huawei E220, a very old USB Modem. Yet, running on Ubuntu does not have any problem.

Then I tried the new Huawei E1552 on Windows. Nicer interface. Newer is better. But when I tried it on Ubuntu, yes, Huawei Mobile Partner icon is on the desktop. Can open it. But I cannot connect to internet.

So, in order to solve this problem, I tried to search from Internet. Right, I need USB_ModeSwitch to solve this problem. Reading the page, you will find a lot of steps need to follow.

Ubuntu, in my opinion, is a great Linux distribution. There are several ways to let you try out Ubuntu. After download the CD, I can burn it to the CD and boot from the CD. I can try Ubuntu as a LiveCD. I can also boot it from a USB pendrive like a CD.

When installation, I can create a new partition on my harddisk. I can install it on the logical partition and boot from there. Unlike FreeBSD, which needs to be installed on a primary partition. Not only that, I can also install Ubuntu side by side with the same partition with other OS (such as Windows). This is special.

I found the following message when I was trying to install CVS on Ubuntu 10.04 with synaptic,

Please insert the disk labeled: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS _Lucid Lynx_ - Release i386 (20100427.1) in drive /cdrom/

I am not sure why is this message appears. But my Ubuntu 10.04 was upgraded from Ubuntu 9.10 with the alternative CD. Fortunately, I got the CD image. Thus, to solve this problem, I mount the alternative CD to the “/cdrom/” drive. Then, there is no problem for the installation.