Installing without cable connection & which Ubuntu dilemma

Hello!

I'm getting more and more tired of Linpus even if it doesn't look like Linpus anymore... I'm in particular tired of fearing that any update could break something, the screwed dependencies, and that many libraries are installed in non-standard paths so that software won't compile and things. The problem is that Ubuntu is the standard nowadays, no doubts.

I never used Ubuntu, only installed it once. I was a Gentoo user, but I'm not that young anymore and don't want to cope with a complex "do-it-from-scratch" distro anymore.

I'd like to install Ubuntu, but I'm frightened by the need of internet connection to get wireless working, because wireless is my ONLY internet connection (don't ask me why...).

Would you suggest me how could I prepare myself with drivers and any other thing you'd think I need before the installation? How would you do that? Do you suggest a clean normal Ubuntu install and then changing the kernel to the custom one that's being popular here or what? I'd prefer Xubuntu, are there any special considerations in its tweaking that differ from these (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne110L), and is it REALLY faster? If it has lots of gnome libraries I would prefer Gnome at that point.

Last question, do you think it would be a risk to not enable any swap with only 512 mb of ram? Thank you!

 

Perhaps your best bet is to swap the wifi card for one that works properly. I've just ordered an Intel 3945ABG card. My understanding is that it works out of the box with Ubuntu and no need for messing around with drivers, etc. I paid $25 from Dell including tax and shipping. Search around to find coupons, etc.

The reason I suggest this is because after a few days of light usage I've already had the wifi hardware "dissappear" on me twice, with a power cycle needed to get it back.

Andy

 

Well, I'm not yet sure about opening my One and voiding the warranty, I'm far from home and it is my one and only (what a pun) computer, so I can't take risks.

Besides I might have found an answer to my problem right inside my question... What if I use the new custom kernel with builtin Wifi driver from the beginning? I put it on the external drive and swap the original with it. I should get Wifi support before needing the internet for anything whatsoever, no?

If anybody has any suggestions for which Ubuntu though, especially telling me some user-experienced lacks of Xubuntu compared to Ubuntu, I will be very grateful to hear them!

 

Computers are designed to be upgraded, so I don't see how swapping the wifi card can void the warranty. Not sure which country you are in but I am pretty sure the US doesn't allow this. Consider owning a car and doing the oil change yourself - it won't void the warranty. But if you put in the wrong oil then you'll have to pay the repair bill of course... The wifi isn't integrated - it's on a removable card.

Otherwise I think the only sure way is to find a way of connecting an ethernet cable...

Andy

 

So anybody else can confirm me that installing without connection and than switching to the wifi-supporting custom kernel previously backup-ed would be a dangerous thing to do?

 

I would back up the restricted modules packages, next to that kernel...

 

If you are using sickboys custom AA1 kernel, all you need is the .deb files to install and you will have working wireless. I have done the same thing twice. On my one, a 8GB model with 512 MB Ram, regular ubuntu works great with sickboys kernel and the tweaks from the wiki. Have fun installing

 

hardran3 is correct. If you have the sickboys kernel already saved, say to a usb key, then you can install without a wired or wireless connection, then run dpkg to install the kernel and reboot and you should have wireless. That's how I do it all the time. (if you don't want to run dpkg from the command line you can dbl-click the kernel deb file in nautilus and it will launch it automatically).