8.04 networking seems awfully broken.

[Grant Edwards]

On 2008-07-24, Derek Broughton <news at pointerstop.ca> wrote:
> Grant Edwards wrote:
>
>> I've no clue what you're talking about.  Other distros (e.g.
>> Gentoo) typically provide "firmware" packages that alleviate
>> the need for the user to manually download files, binary
>> extracters, etc.
>
> Ubuntu does that where they're legally permitted to.

I guess that's the difference between a binary distribution
like Ubuntu and a meta-distribution like Gentoo.  Under Gentoo,
ebuilds don't contain firmware any more than they contain
program binaries -- they contain shellscripts that know how to
download and build binaries (or firmware).  That way Gentoo can
provide ebuilds for proprietary drivers, wireless firmware, etc.

>> Broadcom 4306
>
> For which, I know from experience, it gives you explicit instructions what
> you need to do.

I found recipes in forum postings.  Was the installer supposed
to do something?

> The firmware is not distributed by Ubuntu because it can't
> legally be distributed - and those instructions tell you that,
> too.  That said, it doesn't require _manually_ building from a
> source tarball.
>
>>> Maybe this is the whole problem. If you had just loaded Hardy
>>> and rebooted and did the little easy things and then let it
>>> just sit turned on for 30 minutes, it might have just started
>>> working. Mine did.
>> 
>> Having to wait 30 minutes for a network interfaces is _not_
>> "working".
>
> The first time only - but it does require that you get the
> firmware, first.

I'm a bit baffled, what's the 30-minute wait for?  I've
selected a network and entered a password, why wait for 30
minutes?

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! We just joined the
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