I've been toying with linux on and off for the past few years. I decided I'd finally learn it for my job and for school. I bought a new laptop and decided I would try to put Mandrake 10.0 on there. Usually I avoid such things and put it on an older (machine which would also make me stop using linux).

I have several problems--

Firstly, I would like to use wireless internet with my Intel 2200BG. Now, I've been to http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/ and when I got to step 2, I was reading the instructions there and it said if "In the rare cases where your kernel isn't compiled with Wireless Extensions (/proc/net/wireless non-existent), you need to recompile it with Wireless Extensions (CONFIG_NET_RADIO enabled)."
Well, to a newbie, 'recompile' and 'kernel' in the same sentence = bad.

So I figured I'd try to skip that problem for now and go to my Battery issue. Well, lo-and-behold, I need to recompile it for that issue as well.

My question is this, can someone please help me with the recompile issue? How do you do this? Where do I stick those lines for the wireless stuff and battery issues--any place? Could I just download a new kernel from www.kernel.org and use that or would that mess everything up with Mandrake (I'm assuming yes.)

Also, would anyone happen to know if Mandrake 10 has CPU throttling for the Intel Centrino?

Thank you VERY much!

Update-- I don't know why I didn't find this earlier but I managed to fix my battery problem. ACPI and ACPID had to be enabled on boot and I couldn't find that option. My battery meter works now

But wireless is still a no-go

Compiling kernels can be a mighty daunting task for a new user. I have always avoided it and vied instead to buy hardware that the kernel was ready made for. Complicating things is the fact that you would have to recompile a 2.6 with Mandrake 10. This "how to" looks pretty complicated to me, but I believe martouf would be able to help you with it.

If it becomes a nightmare to compile, and you want an easy way out, I am presently typing from a box using Fedora Core2 (2.6 kernel) using the Netgeat MA311 wireless pci card. I'm certain this card will work with MDK 10 as well.

That's what I figured. I have an orinoco Gold card on my older laptop that I was playing around with smaller Distro's (DSL etc.) so I can always steal from that.

So my best option would probably be just to wait for Mandrake Update to support that hardware, huh?

Thanks for the info!

That Orinoco Gold card is gold when it comes to Linux! I have one myself. Why not buy a pci slot for it? Something similar to this.
(I haven't researched whether this one will actually work or not..)

Kernel compiles are not that bad just a little scary. If the install is still new now is the time to do it before you get comfortable with the install, plus it's fun and you shouldn't make a sacrifice if you want to use that internal wlan

Check out http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/dell.html for some tips. I'd also suggest trying out Debian. It's a little harder to get up and running but it's so much better than any RPM distro. I've used redhat and mandrake for years before switching to debian and I'm so glad I did.

Plus kernel compiles are a snap in Debian. Check out this doc.
http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/tutorials/kernel-pkg/index-kernel-pkg.html.en

good luck and have fun.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help.

Who said Linux wasn't user-friendly?

Debian is good. I have it (Morphix-Gnome 4.1) on my laptop. If you do want to try it, I'd stay away from Debian proper as the install is archaic and difficult for new users. An easier way is to burn a Knoppix or Knoppix based live cd, and install from that. Morphix and Kanotix are descendants of Knoppix which is Debian based, and their respective installs are pretty easy.

I run sid/unstable and Dapper Dan is right the install is tough for new users, I forgot you can install from those nifty live cd's that may be your best bet if you wanna give it a try.

I run sid/unstable and Dapper Dan is right the install is tough for new users, I forgot you can install from those nifty live cd's that may be your best bet if you wanna give it a try.

I'm pretty confident MDK 10 has the wireless extensions already
compiled into the kernel.

For your wireless card, you're probably going to need one of the following
(not certain which at the moment):
1. Intel's Centrino drivers
2. ndiswrapper
or
3. Linuxant's DriverLoader

If you're happy generally with MDK, then I wouldn't recommend changing the distro.
Sorry, DDan, but I think ramza500 has made a good choice and is prepared and
self-sufficient enough to make a good go of it.

Words of wisdom (I did not author):

"What do you mean Unix isn't user friendly?!
Of course it's user friendly! It's just picky about who it's friends are."

Enjoy!

Sweet. I appreciate it. I really want to start using my wlan because there is some fun stuff I can do with it... Soon I want to switch, for the most part, over to linux, minus some games.

Thanks to you all for the help!

Originally posted by egorgry:

"I'd also suggest trying out Debian. It's a little harder to get up and running but it's so much better than any RPM distro. I've used redhat and mandrake for years before switching to debian and I'm so glad I did.

Plus kernel compiles are a snap in Debian. Check out this doc.
http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/tutorials/kernel-pkg/index-kernel-pkg.html.en
"

I agree with your acessment of Debian, but it's a little rough for new users to install.

Mepis is a great way to get a real testing Debian build with minimum hassle. I'm currently running SimplyMemphis 2004.rc2 and it's the best. Final is due out in another week

www.mepis.org