How come I cant connect to wireless on ubuntu but mac is ok?

Question

So lately I have been travelling around San Francisco. I keep running into situations like this:

1. Free Wifi is available, i.e. SFO airport or at starbucks
2. Can't connect to wifi using ubuntu (even if I restart etc). No modifications to the network manager whatsoever
3. When I boot into OS X, (I am dual booting ubuntu with mac os x on macbookpro), connecting to the same network is almost instantaneous and without any problems.

What could be the cause of this problem? Could it be that ubuntu's wireless connectivity is crappy or runnning ubuntu on macbookpro is not fully supported (I follow the guide completely on ubuntu's official pages).

Why am I experiencing this issue? How can I go about debugging it?

I am using the latest ubuntu 10.10.

Answer 1

I have had untold problems with WiFi in 10.10. The Ubuntu forums refuse to admit that there is anything wrong with Ubuntu - it's perfect in every way.

The easiest cure I have found is just to use the Windows Wireless Drivers application to install the Windows XP drivers for the wireless card. Never had a problem since.

Answer 2

Wireless is always finicky in Ubuntu because many hardware manufacturers don't write drivers for Linux, but they do for Mac OS and Windows. If you search for your specific card on Google (include keyword ubuntu), then there will generally be a post already in the Ubuntu forums about that particular card. Here are some basic troubleshooting tips:

• Does the wireless logo appear?
• Do wireless networks appear?

Usually this is just a configuration problem. Another thing to try is hook into the internet via Ethernet and run Administration->Additional Drivers to check if there are any proprietary (manufacturer supplied) drivers. These generally work better than the hacks that the Linux community provides.

You can find out the type of card you have by running sudo lshw -C network. If you can't find anything, then post the wireless product you have.

Additionally, I've noticed problems connecting at my university, but hardly ever do I have problems at home. I think that it depends on the router.