Ubuntu 10.10 can't connect to wireless internet, but Windows can?

Question

I have a dual boot laptop. It has both Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows 7 running on the same machine. Windows can connect to the wireless flawlessly, however, Ubuntu seems to be so fuzzy. The first time, it can connect to the wireless internet in the dormitory. The succeeding days, the network icon just keeps on turning as if it's trying to connect. What's wrong? Is it because of the drivers? If that's the case, then why are there times when I can connect to the wireless internet? Any help would be appreciated. :)

Answer 1

It is in general hard to tell without getting any details :)

Driver problems are not uncommon though. Many vendors do not provide information about their hardware so the open source developers have to use some tricks (e.g. reverse engineering) to write drivers. The problem is that many vendors often change minor details during the lifetime of a product without making it public because they have bugs in their hardware or another component is cheaper to use. This can be compensated by the original driver which knows all details but a reverse engineered driver often does not and can only account for that when it actually hits a bug.