Broadcom BCM4318 – Ubuntu Intrepid
Posted: April 8th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Technology | 59 Comments »As many of you know and have seen from my little count down to the right hand side of this site Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 – the latest version of the user friendly linux distribution has been launched.
Now wireless support has improved greatly over the past few years with more and more native drivers emerging and new work arounds cropping up every day but I have always had a problem with my Broadcom BCM4318 in my HP Pavilion Zv6000. So fingers crossed I installed the new version of Ubuntu and booted up, no suprise it didn’t work!
Now I could have downloaded numerous files and used the new Bcm43xx drivers which I believe have been kind of reverse engineered but i’ve tried that before and its more of a pain that it is worth. So I am going to explain clearly with step by step instruction how I personally have got my wireless inbuilt card working!
File Link: http://www.sampbar.com/downloads
Also: International users, should make appropriate adjustments if they are using a language other than English to variables such as commands which contain the English word “Desktop”.
Step 1.
After you have installed Intrepid and booted up Re-insert the installation disk, wait for the icon to display on the desktop then double click the icon.
Step 2.
Navigate to the folder “pool” -> “main” -> “n” -> “ndiswrapper”
and then first install ndiswrapper-common then ndiswrapper-utils.
Step 3.
Now open a terminal and enter the following commands or run step3.sh which can be located in the zipped folder linked near the top of the post:
echo -e ‘blacklist bcm43xxnblacklist wl’ | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
mkdir ~/bcm43xx; cd ~/bcm43xx
Step 4.
Now you need to find the .inf file from your wireless driver, I have included the file which came with my cd in the zipped file which is linked towards the top of this post this file personally worked with my laptop and wireless card. Move this to your desktop, my file is named bcmwl5a.inf
Step 5.
Now open a terminal and enter these commands or use the step5.sh file I have provided in the zipped file at the top:
cd ~/Desktop
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5a.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -l
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces.orig
echo -e ‘auto loniface lo inet loopbackn’ | sudo tee /etc/network/interfaces
sudo ndiswrapper -m
echo ‘ndiswrapper’ | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
echo ‘ENABLED=0‘ | sudo tee -a /etc/default/wpasupplicant
Step 6.
Now I have included a wifi.sh file in the zipped folder near the top. You need to put this file in “/etc/init.d/” then type these commands in a terminal:
cd /etc/init.d/
sudo update-rc.d wifi.sh defaults
sudo chmod +x wifi.sh
This ensures the wifi starts on bootup!
Step 7.
Now enter your wireless network details in the network manager and reboot, hopefully it should all be working now!
If you encounter any problems please feel free to leave a comment!
Half a server?
Posted: March 1st, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Technology | No Comments »As a bit of a techie I decided last month to pick myself up a nice dedicated server. With the intention that if I didn’t get on with it or use all of it I would move all of my sites back to shared hosting.
Well! after a month of use i’m using less than a quarter of the space and bandwidth allocated to me.
So as a way to make the server economically viable I have decided to try offering to go halves with anybody who is interested in having half a server. The server spec is as follows:
- CPU: Intel Celeron 1.2ghz
- Ram: 1GB DDR
- HD: 250GB
- Bandwidth: Unlimited 100mbps connection
The current operating system is Ubuntu 8.04 with virtualmin gpl installed for a control panel. But i’m happy to change any software installed on the server.
Finally... the price for half the server would be £11.50 yes I did say £11.50! That is exactly half of what I am currently paying.
If your interested or would like more details just leave a comment or email me: samuelbarrett {a} sampbar.com
The key to business success revealed…
Posted: January 24th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Business | No Comments »Ok so not exactly, but it did catch your attention!
I’ve been thinking about what every successful business has in common, as a business studies student and a bit of a wannabe entrepreneur this was of great interest to me so I came up with one very obvious idea.
KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid
Most successful businesses start with one Very simple idea! Lets take Sir Alan Sugar for example. When he started Amstrad his main aim was not to the push development of his target area but to beat and undercut everyone of his competitors products prices.
So what was his Solution?
It’s very simple, all of his competitors at the time were producing separate units for each of the HI-FI systems they were selling. But… each of those units which were put together to make a complete HI-FI system were using the same duplicate components. So… by making one complete unit and only using one of each of the components required he could greatly reduce the costs to produce the unit! ISN’T THAT SIMPLE!
This can also be applied to situations such as Programming.
Lets now take Apple as an example. Once you have switched on an Apple Mac it has been designed as such that even a 5 year old could use it! The dock menu system is Simple the icons are self explanatory, their purpose is instantly obvious and pleasing to the eye. Program installation is easy simply download and drag to the location you wish to access the program from!
So… What two points can we take from apple to make a successful business or application?
A Five Year Old should be able to use your product or you should be able to explain how it works to one!
And…
It Just Works! should be your motto.
Now… I truly believe the open source community and programmers could take a leaf from some of the tactics the companies mentioned have used.
- Don’t make programs complicated, Keep Them Simple Stupid!
- It should be so nice and aesthetically pleasing a Five Year Old, will want and will instantly know how to use it!
- You shouldn’t need to install or configure other programs to get it to work, you should be able to label your program with a big bright yellow star saying: “It Just Works!“
I really do think the Open Source movement is moving in the right direction, but if these suggestions were implemented in every thing which is created (where appropriate) we would see growth in leaps and bounds!