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The "Linux questions (and other stuff)" thread

I bought a D-Link and it is locked, the asshole who sold it to me changed all the passwords and I can't get into it.

I have not opened up the laptop, nor do I want to.... I am looking at getting a high end HP gaming laptop instead that has a DVD drive in it.... this cheap POS that I bought with my eyes closed is for crap.... I want to get rid of it, no DVD, and the BIOS is the pitts.... does not want to let anything non-certified boot up and install something different.

I fought the thing for weeks before I got rid of Windows, and put Linux Mint on it.

I may just forgo even messing with it until my ship sails in and I can afford to get the HP that I want.
 
Bg260 said:
It was included with a desktop I recently bought off of Ebay. This is it exactly but it appears to be hard to come by.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/272341678941

This is the link to the simplified installation. The rt2870.bin was already present in /lib/firmware so I just copied the script to /etc/init.d. Then chmod 755.
https://github.com/Alberto97/rt2870

Edit: Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon.
Click to expand...

ah, snagged one,
s-l96.jpg

150Mbps USB 2.0 WiFi Antenna 802.11N/G/B Wireless Network LAN Card Adapter
$2.61 and with Free Shipping from China ?? someone is supporting this kind of thing.

thanks..... the guy has sold 7 of them in the last 12 hours.
 
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AZgl1500 said:
ah, snagged one,
s-l96.jpg

150Mbps USB 2.0 WiFi Antenna 802.11N/G/B Wireless Network LAN Card Adapter
$2.61 and with Free Shipping from China ?? someone is supporting this kind of thing.

thanks..... the guy has sold 7 of them in the last 12 hours.
Click to expand...

Cheap as chips. Works great with my desktop and laptop so far. So far.

Edit: This was included as a marketing ploy. The Workstation was advertised with Wifi, which i thought was strange. They probably bought a ship load (literally) for 50 cents a pop. Anything to raise the bidding price. What surprised me the most is that it actually works.
Like I said, not sure about the longevity of this product.
 
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Bg260 said:
Update on the dongle. When dual booting, if you get a BSOD it's because BIOS is trying to boot the dongle.
Click to expand...

will Linux find the dongle after it has been booted up?
ie, dongle left out, then plugged in once the OS is up and running?

Windows will, FWTW...
 
Dngrsone said:
Change the BIOS settings to try booting from the hard drive first (or optical, if you wish).
Click to expand...

Oh, been there, done all that.
as soon as I exit the BIOS, it changes it all back to the preprogrammed defaults :(

and then it blithely ignores anything USB, does not even show them as connected in the BIOS after a reboot....
just that UEFI crap.....

I finally once, following a thread somewhere, noticed that IF a certain flag was changed, and then that flag was followed by another flag, then it would retain the boot I wanted ONCE!~

after that one time, it went back to the default UEFI and ignores all USB ports.
and that is how I finally got Linux Mint 17.3 on the laptop....

I have tried many times since to try and get the USB DVD to work so that I could test out some other distros.... but it ignores it on boot up, every time.
 
Yeah, I didn't have trouble once I realized what was wrong. I'm not sure why it thinks it's bootable. But for some reason that dongle just confuses it.
I've noticed that some BIOS's have the boot override hotkey menu, and some don't. The former being preferable.

Until UEFI becomes a little more user friendly, I'll stick with BIOS. The extra 18 seconds of boot time seems better than a machine that has been thrown from the balcony of a third floor apartment.
 
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Bg260 said:
Yeah, I didn't have trouble once I realized what was wrong. I'm not sure why it thinks it's bootable. But for some reason that dongle just confuses it.
I've noticed that some BIOS's have the boot override hotkey menu, and some don't. The former being preferable.

Until UEFI becomes a little more user friendly, I'll stick with BIOS. The extra 18 seconds of boot time seems better than a machine that has been thrown from the balcony of a third floor apartment.
Click to expand...
Umm.. I was under the impression that BIOS was 32bit only, UEFI could do both 32bit & 64bit..??
 
Anyone ever have any trouble with a USB mouse while trying to boot from a USB DVD ?
I have the laptop's mousepad turned off in the BIOS because I keep laying my hands on the damn thing while typing.
 
Usually, mice and keyboards are fine.

However, dongles (looking at you, Logitech) can be and have been issues.

I do have a wireless set from I think Dell that works fine when installing an OS, though.
 
Yeah, I've never had a problem till this.
I have debated disabling the touchpad in BIOS, but I am worried about shooting myself in the foot. I can think of a couple times when I was glad I didn't. My ASUS laptop on WIN 10 has an app that you can turn it off in. Until reboot at least.
 
To be OT from another thread, I felt I should reply here. I updated my laptop this morning (a USB boot of Lubuntu), and then the Presidential debates were looming. I went to the man cave so I could watch and decided to upgrade my Mint box to to 18. Went quite well and was less painless than the debate. @ basic 101 user, I would try the live distro of Mint Cinnamon 18 to see if all of your hardware works. I came from 17.2, upgraded to 17.3 (took minutes), then went from this page to assist in the upgrade to 18. In reality, if the live version doesn't recognize your hardware, it's gonna be some "work." HTH...

EDIT: From my own personal experience(s), a legacy boot is much easier than UEFI if that's an option in your case.
 
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Bg260 said:
Currently installing Mate 18 on an antique.
Click to expand...
If it's really old you might wanna consider Lubuntu. Very lightweight and no bloat. I can run it on a USB3 flash drive on a somewhat dated i5 laptop. You can always add what you truly need. On mid to higher end boxen, I prefer Mint Cinnamon as it looks/behaves a LOT like Win7. I have a guest account in my garage unit and most people cannot tell the difference. Sweet!
 
Thank you, Father-G;)
(And bless me, for I have surely sinned):rolleyes:

My Linux inquiry (on another thread) was 100% half serious, and completely (a partial) "shout out" to a comic genius and "admired man of the cloth" who said something of interest elsewhere.;)

Certainly, I have had one eye on this thread for a while, and will keep looking........But my Linux experience is still very limited, and most of my problems are self induced; Not ready to ask any smart questions here. In short, the hardware (screen and keyboard) were both still functional, but teetering on the edge of death; I hated W10 so much I thought I would "sacrifice the device" in the pursuit of learning something new; Nothing Linux was a problem in the endeavor, I just didn't get very far before the hardware went further South, (along with my patience), and the experiment came to a (violent, sacrilegious, blasphemous) end.
As ever, regardless of the outcome of the "election"; I'll pick myself up again and try to move forward. The only thing which is certain is that I will never vote soft or micro again.
Clearly, I'm just 80% comedian, 20% engineer; 5% computer guy, and 2%mathematician. 100% hope to see you around, once I have my ducks more in a row; Thanks.
 
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