Installation from CD-rom

Can you tell us the make of your router? autorun files are used on windows systems so we need to work out another way to get your router working

It is a linksys wireless-B broadband router, model BEFW11S4.

You can use the Network tool (System >Admin>Network) to configure your wireless connection .
Have a look here:
http://www.ubuntux.org/enabling-network-connections

Well, the problem is, it doesn't seem to be recognizing my wireless card. Is there anything I can do about that?

And is there any way at all to open .exe files?

there is a good guide here as well:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WifiDocs/RalinkRT2500?action=show&redirect=Rt2500WirelessCardsHowTo
.exe are windows executable files and are platform specific to Windows...so no

You can run windows .exe files under linux, with the help of 'wine' (http://winehq.org/) but that is only interesting for applications, so you'll be able to run your autorun.exe, maybe even the installer itself, but that won't make your wireless connection work, sorry.

But you speak of your 'router', linux won't be driving this hardware, it is standalone, linux would be driving a wireless PCI card or usb dongle plugged directly into your PC/Mac, that's what you should seek assistance for.

Be warned that not all wireless hardware is currently supported under linux due to limited access to technical specifications required to write drivers.

Forgot to mention that the wireless hardware could be internal to your computer, like most of recent laptops, even some desktops have wireless hardware.

I guess I failed to mention that it is indeed an internal wireless card. I really think I would love Linux if I could get used to it, and I thank you guys for your help, but I can't seem to get WIne to work correctly and if my wireless card won't work, then I simply will have to settl e with going back to Windows I think. Unfortunately, there are just far too many things that are uncompatable right now (I'm a bit of a gamer) and I have no patience for the thought of partitions (especially the restarting it involves).I am also finding that while I am better with computers than the average user, I still do not have the knowledge to deal with most of the guides and help that are out there.

i *know* you will love Linux....don't give up yet.
In Applications>Accessories there is a Terminal. Open it and write lspci at the prompt, then paste the output it gives here and we can try to work out what card you have and get it working

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5833 (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5838
0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4347 (rev 01)
0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4348 (rev 01)
0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc ATI SMBus (rev 16)
0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4349
0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 434c
0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4342
0000:00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP150 AC'97 Audio Controller
0000:00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 434d (rev 01)
0000:01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5835
0000:02:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)
0000:02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device ac54 (rev 01)
0000:02:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device ac54 (rev 01)
0000:02:04.2 System peripheral: Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8201 (rev 01)
0000:02:07.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
0000:02:07.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
0000:02:07.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 04)

your wireless card will only function if you use something called ndiswrapper ( this is a way of getting closed source windows drivers to work on linux)..give this a try

1.get the driver for your wireless interface (this will be a .inf file probably on a CD-ROM which came with your laptop)

2. Install ndiswrapper onto your machine...in the terminal again :
$ sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper

3. Install the windows driver...find the windows driver in the terminal and give this command to install it:
$ sudo ndiswrapper -i name_of_the_driver.inf

4 Check it has installed properly:
$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
this will give something like:
Installed ndis drivers:
bcmwl5 driver present, hardware present

5. Make ndiswrapper start up automagically when you start your laptop:
$ sudo ndiswrapper -m
this will create automagically the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper :
alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

6. Add the following line at the bottom of /etc/modules ( you can do this by issuing $sudo gedit /etc/modules) :
ndiswrapper

7. You then need to configure your wireless interface ...in the file /etc/network/interfaces add these lines:
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless_keymode restricted
wireless_key SUA_CHAVE
wireless_mode managed
wireless_essid SEU_ESSID
wireless_nick roger
auto wlan0

8. Restart networking on your machine by issuing this command:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

i hope wireless will now work for you

oops...in command number 7 i left some portuguese words in...number 7 should read:

7. You then need to configure your wireless interface ...in the file /etc/network/interfaces add these lines:
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless_keymode restricted
wireless_key YOUR_KEY
wireless_mode managed
wireless_essid YOUR_ESSID
wireless_nick stranger
auto wlan0

ok, so I wish it wouldv'e worked so simply, but when i try to install ndiswrapper it says that it cannot find the package.

In System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager you may need to enable the ubuntu repositories (in Settings>Preferences)...then try again

ok, so it says the driver is present and that the hardware is present. My question is, am I supposed to fill in "YOUR_KEY" and "YOUR_ESSID"? and where can I find that information? (Sorry to be such a pain).

cool, i reckon it's gonna work ;)

in a terminal type :
$ sudo iwconfig

and :
$sudo iwlist scan

and paste the results of both here

ok, this is going to be long

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:off/any Nickname:"holly"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
          RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-10 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

sit0 no wireless extensions.

and

lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:BF:B8:FA:A6
                    ESSID:"linksys"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-85 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:0F:66:DB:5F:2D
                    ESSID:"Electronic Wind"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-53 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
                    Extra:wpa_ie=dd160050f20101000050f20201000050f20201000050f202
          Cell 03 - Address: 00:11:24:EA:A2:CB
                    ESSID:"Apple Network eaa2cb"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-90 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 04 - Address: 02:20:CD:94:E7:79
                    ESSID:"Tulane University"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Ad-Hoc
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-82 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 05 - Address: 00:11:50:19:58:C7
                    ESSID:"AlphaZetaNu"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-88 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 06 - Address: B2:24:E5:89:47:A2
                    ESSID:"cuwireless.net"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Ad-Hoc
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-81 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 07 - Address: 02:04:23:53:5D:4E
                    ESSID:"tulane"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Ad-Hoc
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-78 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 08 - Address: 00:14:BF:0F:E3:CF
                    ESSID:"337"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-90 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
                    Extra:wpa_ie=dd180050f20101000050f20201000050f20201000050f2020000

sit0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

ok so type in the ESSID name that is my router, but i'm not sure what counts as the "key"

the key is used to manipulate encryption or scrambling keys and security mode. This is so that all your data/passwords etc cannot be sniffed using your wireless connection. Lets try disabling it , get it working and then we can re-enable it again later
try this:

$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 key off

then in /etc/network/interfaces add these lines:

iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless_mode managed
wireless_essid linksys
wireless_nick holly
auto wlan0

then restart networking on your machine by issuing this command:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

and if you still get problems connecting try changing your routers WEP authentication type from "automatic" to "open system" (you do this on the router itself somewhere)

Well, it seemed like it could've been an easy task. Here's the newest problem. The wireless card is definately being recognized however, the button on the computer to turn on and off the wireless is not working (not sure if it's actually necessary on linux. So I tried that, I've restarted completely, I've tried to mess with it through networking and network tools. It is not actually possible on the wireless router itself to change anything. I believe I could do it from http://192.16..... but it won't let me go there. I also tried putting in the WEP key into "interfaces," still nothing. Sigh.

In System>Administration>Network Settings in the connections tab do you have wlan0 as one of the interfaces?

you can activate it from here

also have a look at:
http://warmachine.3cx.org/misc/wireless-config.jpg
obviously cyour screen will show device wlan0 not eth1 and you do not need an WEP as we turned it off in the step above

Yes, it does show there and it is active, and that screen does look like that, but it still doesn't work.

Also I just redid the command
$sudo iwlist scan
and it claims

lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results
sit0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

maybe that's why it won't work? but I have no idea how I messed that up.

 Follow this guide and it's easy: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=185174 [ubuntuforums.org]

you don't even need ndiswrapper anymore...go ubuntu ;)

I don't have wireless connection but I had same problem that typing 192.168.1.1 in mozilla wouldn't take me anywhere.
What I did - I created a new network connection first, by right click the network icon on top panel then editing or creating new connection , goto ipv4 settings and choose manual mode , enter the required ip addresses and make sure you put atleast 2 dns server addresses there with a comma.

You can setup 'wireless' connection after opening edit connection

Do give it a try .....sometimes simple solutions do work !