On 09/09/12 20:46, Wolfgang wrote:
Hi I access the internet using Ubuntu 12-4, one of four distributions currently installed on my machine. All other distributions I regard as "experimental" until I become comfortable with them. Wheezy and sneeze are the two distros are installed but cannot currently access the internet, only because afaik the drivers for my wireless network are not installed. My fourth distro, Mandriva 11.4, is rather dated, for it I cannot get the necessary drivers. I have also tried the newest Suse and Mageia offerings, they install well, including wireless network - but forget that they have the right drivers installed the moment the installation disk is removed. This is a kernel issue, the daemon supposed to activate the drivers on system-start does not do its job; and it is beyond my knowledge to modprobe the workarounds. It will only be meaningfully fixed from 3.4 kernels onward, 8-12 months from now. Debian in their zeal for FOSS purity has removed non-free software from their installation disks, starting with squeeze. Unless I can learn how to circumvent that, I am stuck.
Alternatively, if Ubuntu will install properly, you could persist with that. As I said before, Ubuntu's default choice of Unity does not limit you to only using Unity - you are free to install any of the Ubuntu variants: kubuntu (kde), xubuntu (xfce), lubuntu (lxde). These are installable either as full distro iso installers, or by installing the appropriate -desktop package (eg, lubuntu-desktop) on an already installed ubuntu system.