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Idea #130: Include ndiswrapper on CD

Written by Quatroking the 28 Feb 08 at 18:38. Category: Internet & Networking. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
Its very annoying to carry a whole pc to a place where you can have LAN, just to download ndiswrapper so you can go further trough wireless internet. If it would be added on cd/install, it would take alot of annoyance away.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #130
Written by Quatroking the 28 Feb 08 at 18:38.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #130 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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will_in_wi wrote on the 28 Feb 08 at 20:09
I think that ndiswrapper should be integrated into the restricted drivers manager.

neon wrote on the 28 Feb 08 at 20:35
I thought it already was included. o-o; If not, this is a serious flaw and should definitely be fixed.

kmyers1us wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 02:20
I would like to see ndiswrapper more seemlessly integrated into the install process. I would like to identify my BC4318 (or whatever) card and have it automatically configure ndiswrapper to use it. Its painful to have to go sit near a wired line and go through the hookup process each time ubuntu is installed. I have to add that already ubuntu is so great I rarely run windows anymore.

Windsurfer wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 02:27
AptonCD. Burn it from another computer.

MLange wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 03:28
Kmyers1us:

You can use a non-free (native) driver for a bc43xx. Why would you want to use ndiswrapper?

djuniah wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 03:53
You would use ndiswrapper because the drivers that fwcutter (which i believe is the default) uses are not as powerful as those that ndiswrapper uses. I can connect to networks with lower signal strengths and with much more reliability using ndiswrapper than I ever could with fwcutter. This is with a bcm43xx.

hackel wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 06:33
Ubuntu cannot include copyrighted, proprietary drivers without an appropriate license. More effort should be put into encourage the use of open source drivers.

Brewboy wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 09:46
ndiswrapper is on the install cd, however you have to go into synaptic and install it from there. Synaptic will pull it from the cd if it's enabled as one of the sources.

It would be nice to just have it installed however.

Quatroking wrote on the 1 Mar 08 at 03:09
hackel, ndiswrapper itself isn't copyrighted at all, it depends on the drivers you use it with. As example, my Sweex 108Mbit WLAN PCI has driver on a cd, which I run trough ndiswrapper. Simply because there are no drivers on ubuntu available for it.

Dr_Deadmeat wrote on the 1 Mar 08 at 21:43
ndiswrapper is standard on the cd but not with a gui as far as I know. Last time I installed ubuntu on a computer with wireless I had to do a apt-get install ndiswrapper and use it from command-line. That is a bit annoying, and inexperienced users probably wont know about that.

Glaxed wrote on the 8 Mar 08 at 20:04
yeah, pop in your install CD and sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common, voila.

caljohnsmith wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 22:46
There is a GUI for ndiswrapper available in the repos: ndisgtk

Auzy wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 23:18
I have a 802.11n card with no atheros driver.. I NEED ndiswrapper included with the CD, and I'd prefer it with the gui

deanthegreen wrote on the 7 Nov 08 at 12:10
Yes, please put ndiswrapper on the original cd. I have had to boot install Ubuntu from USB and the run around I have had is too great. To install ndiswrapper you have to go to SPM, find it and install it from CD. Well the system I have has a cd player but no dvd player and won't recognise burnt cd's etc. The only way to install it is by finding the files from another computer, dragging them to USB and installing from the Terminal. Very time consuming and annoying. I sincerely love the concept of Ubuntu but there are some things that could be made easier for long time Windows users. I am not tech savvy as Windows has made me enjoy the view from the top rather than delve into the mud to find solid ground. I have been using computers since 1995 so I am not a newbie. I think there are many like me who really want to switch but give up because of simple, time consuming problems.


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