Ubuntu

WiFi ACER Laptop compatibility

Asked by dafa83

I've read other questions with similar problems, but mine is a little different.
I have an ACER ASPIRE 5050-3371. I haven't installed Ubuntu yet because I'm concerned with the compatibility of drivers for the Atheros wireless NIC. The reason is that this laptop came with Vista (unfortunately). I tried installing XP on the laptop and couldn't get the wireless drivers to work. ACER even had an XP driver download on their website but it never seemed to work (tried 3 times). I called ACER Tech Support, no help. I eventually took it to a computer tech to get it fixed. They told me that they've already have experienced this issue 3 times before and determined there are currently no wireless support drivers for XP for this model.

Can anyone give me some assurance that I can make Ubuntu compatible with my wireless NIC??

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Dereck Wonnacott (dereck) said : 		#1

After a quick Google search "ACER ASPIRE 5050-3371 atheros" I bright hopes for you. According to the post below, another user has installed Ubuntu on the very same laptop and was able to make it work. He even left instructions and a driver for people like you with the same laptop.

http://ubuntu-utah.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=630138

Welcome to the community.

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Manuel Schmid (fliegenderfrosch) said : 		#2

I would advice you to just try it with the live-cd, so you can't damage anything. If it works, you can install the system.

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