The weird thing is that it seems to be working? Either I misdiagnosed the problem, or maybe my old one was just broken.

  • ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online
    2·
    2 hours ago

    I am trying to install Private Internet Access (a VPN) on my laptop after transitioning to Linux mint on it and it won’t work. I downloaded the Linux version of the file from the site.

    I will get the actual message later once I boot it back up.

    This weekend I am fully ready to install Linux mint on my desktop.

  • neclimdul@lemmy.world
    7·
    3 hours ago

    As someone that spent a lot of years sitting next to an IT help desk, I’m not sure any chipsets work well at all. A lot of times you just have to figure out what makes them happy and get used to it.

    I’d hear things like “as long as I don’t close my laptop after I undock, i don’t have to reboot to fix the wifi” as the person waddled across the office propping their laptop open. And these were high end windows laptops.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 hours ago

      If you want to save troubleshooting time, just skip straight to the blood sacrifice. Computers are happy when you bleed, for some reason.

  • istdaslol@feddit.org
    85·
    22 hours ago

    Could be flashed with a different microcode that works better with Linux. Just because it’s of the same model doesn’t mean it’s the same. Sometimes it’s as little as a flag that is set. Looking at you battleye

  • kopasz7@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    17·
    18 hours ago

    After both the 4G modem and the wifi dongles didn’t work I decided to flash an old TP-link router with OpenWRT (or was it DDWRT?) and using that in a bridge mode connected wifi and via ethernet to the PC. So yeah, then I got an Intel wifi 6 NIC and gave the router away.

    • BoxOfFeet@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      Hah, I’ve totally done that. I’m thinking about doing it again, because it worked way better than my desktops built-in wifi adapter that has no external antenna.

  • Monument@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    19·
    19 hours ago

    My first Linux issue was that it didn’t support the USB hub I had at the time that was just always plugged into the windows machine I was installing Linux onto. So in 2003, I took my bulky tower to a friends house and it booted on the first try after weeks of failures trying on my own at home.
    I was both relieved, and incredibly annoyed.

  • grue@lemmy.world
    301·
    21 hours ago

    As far as first problems with Linux go, that one’s a classic! Congrats, LOL

  • stoly@lemmy.world
    43·
    23 hours ago

    You will learn SO MUCH about computers by just trying to make your wifi or some other thing work. And then you will never have trouble with that thing again. I remember having to do wrapping of drivers, but I don’t know if that is still a thing.

    • JPAKx4@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      8·
      17 hours ago

      Networking is wild. I’ve learned the Linux network stack by troubleshooting my Proxmox LXC + tailscale subnet router shit.

        • Natanael@infosec.pub
          9·
          19 hours ago

          Like that time I got a random no-name action cam’s webcam mode to work on Linux by manually mounting it within seconds of connecting it

          • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
            1·
            4 hours ago

            write us the driver to mount it within seconds of connecting it automatically.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
        6·
        22 hours ago

        There’s something special about WiFi, but it is better than it used to be. I think it depends on your hardware more than anything. Any chance you can connect up to Ethernet in the meantime? You may be able to plug directly into a switch/router.

        • The Picard Maneuver@piefed.worldOPEnglish
          5·
          22 hours ago

          It’s too far from the router right now, but I have some options.

          I needed to have the new adapter plugged in to use a tool from the manufacturer that is supposed to detect your adapter and install the most up to date driver for you, but of course you have to be online, so I was using the old semi-broken adapter and had both plugged in and connected to my router at the same time.

          It seems jank, but it made me wonder what would happen if I just left both connected forever. Would it stay seamlessly connected as long as they both don’t drop at the same time? Lol

          • stoly@lemmy.world
            7·
            20 hours ago

            You remind me of when I moved to Argentina. I had a laptop whose fan suddenly froze but I was too broke to get a computer so I figured out that if I put it in JUST THE RIGHT spot next to a fan, it would get enough passive cooling to work. Then I did the silly and decided to upgrade, which made me have to plug in Ethernet. It took me ages to get the computer back in the right spot so that it wouldn’t power off due to overheating. All for WiFi…

          • Natanael@infosec.pub
            4·
            19 hours ago

            You can make Linux load balance over two network connectors, but usually it prioritizes one network adapter for all traffic based on a scoring algorithms (wired and high bandwidth gets most points).

            You can manually set a priority too, or route specific traffic (based either on destination, protocol, or source program, etc) to a specific adapter. Some programs (like KTorrent) are capable of using multiple adapters without any specific config (which is why I was able to run torrents one time while literally nothing else worked with an old 3G internet dongle) .