Well first off let me explain the situation I am now in.

First off, I have an HP Laptop which has two HDD's. One serves as a recovery, and the other runs the OS (Vista)

Being the trusting, slightly naive person that I am; I got another laptop (this time from Dell) and believed that it had two HDD's also.

My problems sprouted when I realized, 'hey I don't have to run Vista all the time, let me toy around with various OS's now'.

So I decided to keep both versions of Vista (Home Premium, and Business) while also attempting to install both XP and Ubuntu on the Dell.

Well Dell, being the cheap bastards that they are (for I shall never again trust them) only had one HDD on the laptop, and the other 'Recovery drive' was merely a partition. So I opted out to Install Vista and XP, just to try it out. XP ran noticeably smoother, but I had no wifi interface to work with.

Then I got help from Lord Ravenclaw with the installation of Ubuntu. Again, the wifi did not work. And I was unable to figure out how to add a chainloader to grub (that worked), even though I search whored google various times.

So in the end, I deleted everything, minus ubuntu. And was able to install Vista Home with the OEM's Dell had provided. (Yeah, was a shock to me, I had thought Vista came with no OEM's since my HP came without them)

The laptop now sits with ubuntu and Vista, although I can't enjoy ubuntu due to the wifi not working. [(Help with that please, if anyone knows of a quick solution) The wifi problem in general, XP/Ubuntu, if you please]

My other problem being that I have two old CPU's lying around. (Compaq with Windows '95, and a Gateway '98, but upgraded to NT)

I liked the way the '95 ran after OC'ing and wanted to see if I could get anything else to run on it. But after downloading xubuntu, the BIOS won't allow me to boot from the CD tray. I can't find a way to change it, and even striking the 'f' key won't help.

The NT, It would always freeze when loading the ubuntu Kernels, even though I checked to make sure that it was capable of running it. Not sure what the problem is, but in the end I got it running TinyXP-Vista. Although it has a networking card installed and I think the driver for it got erased. I can't get the CPU to see that there is an ethernet port on it.

So my problem with these is: I can't get NT-XP to connect to a laptop via Ethernet cable, even though I changed my network connection on the laptop to allow other computers to connect through my internet.

And the '95 won't allow xubuntu installation to run on it. Something to do with the BIOS.

I only have one ethernet card for the two CPU's, and will get another as soon as I can spring the cash for it. (Not even sure how much they cost)

So anyone have any clue how I can get the NT to connect to Vista, and thus get internet via networking?

Oh and, yes. Both laptops have network connections.

*MurTon, the one eyed man, helped me with this in IRC. But either I didn't understand him correctly, or his solution didn't work out for me*

(Thanks though Murt, appreciate that. <3 )

 

You can't just connect two PCs together with a ethernet cord and expect them to work. There are other (wires) but the easiest way is to plug them into the same router.

As for Ubuntu - what version? And the model of your wifi card.

 

Ubuntu 7.10

Dell: Dell wireless 1390 802.11g mini card (54mbps)

And I checked under the XP settings, and it allows it to connect directly to another computer. I'm not sure if that option also needs the router, but I thought it was doable without it.

As it is, the router is located in my mother's room, and running Ethernet cables around the house does not seem like a good option. Apart from not even knowing where (IRL) to buy cables of that size.

Thanks Amer.

 

Ok, before I go on - did you try the Restricted Hardware Manager? It might be able to do it automagically (I hate that word).

If not, try it. If it doesn't work:

(You NEED to be connected to the router. You need access to the internet through Ubuntu. Use an Ethernet wire and plug it into the router. Wait until the two circles on the top right flash green and it shows a computer with a small bar under it.)

Open the Terminal (In Ubuntu's Applications -> Accessories):

Enter:

sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install linux-source

Enter your password, etc. Once that's finished (type in Y for anything you need), enter:

sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter

It'll ask you to download the new firmware. Say Y to the question.

Now, enter:

cd bcm43xx-softmac-sa

then:

make
sudo make install

and:

modprobe bcm43xx

It should work. If Network Manager can't find anything and you know something is there, try:

sudo modprobe -r bcm43xx

press FN + F2

sudo modprobe bcm43xx

That should do it.

Info from Ubuntuforums.org

--

And yes, you do need a router.

 

Ah. OK. Thanks.

Although the first link does not work, neither does the one on the article page.

May I get the program name?

 

What links?

 

/me mumbles about the rapid editing of posts.

I'll go do that right now.

Edit:

Those links. Keeping multiple tabs open ftw. Amirite?

Edit2: Amer: It says that I must install the disc labeled 'Ubuntu 7.10_Gutsy Gibbon_ -Release i386 (20071016)' in the drive '/cdrom/' and press enter.

Is that asking for the original ISO cd for linux?

Edit3: Ok it was asking for that CD. However, after following the first steps, and installing the first bit, it won't let me progress further than that.

When I type: sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter

I get: E: Couldn't find package bcm43xx-fwcutter

What am I doing wrong?

 

Ah, I figured out the "Exiting Now" problem for you - the link you used was down. Unfortunately, I can't find any other sources.

The good news is that there is another way -

http://www.ubuntu1501.com/2007/01/fixing-wifi-on-dell-1501.html

It's a bit longer (and ignore the first step), but it's a more tried and true method.

Ok, figured out what was wrong - the link I gave was down so it couldn't download. Luckily for you, there is another method:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=297092