No Wifi with ubuntu 10.4 on Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop

Pointing out today is my first day with linux. so I know nothing .

I was reading somewhere that I have to use Ndiswrapper (I think thats how you spell it).

I downloaded it on my Windows Desktop and transfered it to my laptop via usb.

I tried follwing the install instructions but to no prevail.

I did
ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
the install guide says I should have at least 'include' directory and '.config' file.

I did not see the '.config' file

I then tried (tar zxvf ndiswrapper-version.tar.gz) and (tar zxvf ndiswrapper-1.56.tar.gz) and told me no such file or directory.

This is all over my head and would like to get my laptop up and running online so I can start learning more about linux.

Im thinking I need to update my kernal. but at a lost. Your Informative feedback is much appreciated.

also if there is a linux OS that would suit me better let me know

 

I never could get ndiswrapper working on my notebooks.

If I might offer a suggestion, since you know very little of linux, start with a wired connection. Most distros are able to use that out of the box. Once you learn a bit more about the structure, file system and where things are located in Ubuntu, you can try to set up ndiswrapper. (I have never installed Ubuntu so I can't offer much help in how to do things in that distro.)

 

Did the wireless work in Windows?

Here is a page that is dedicated to Ubuntu on the 1501

 

Do you know what the wifi card is in the laptop? If it's an Atheros chip, you don't need the ndiswrapper, you need the linux mad-wifi driver. That's the controller that I use because it seems to work best in linux although I don't run Ubuntu either.

If you don't have an Atheros Controller, you can usually pick them up on eBay for a few bucks.

 

It some cases you do not need ndiswrapper. Run the following command from the terminal. The terminal is located under Applications>Accessories:

lspci

look for the network controller line and post the results. The line should look
something like this:
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Device 4353 (rev 01)

This is done to obtain information regarding your pci devices, in this case your network device. With this information we will be able to see the chipset of your network card and can try to go from there.