From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   TJ wrote:   
   > On 05/29/2012 08:56 PM, Adam wrote:   
   >>> I did that with the Dell computer I, um,   
   >>> inherited last winter. I set it up as wired with Mageia 1, then shopped   
   >>> for and bought a usb dongle wireless adapter, so I could eventually move   
   >>> it to another room. For a while there, while I was testing things, I had   
   >>> both connections available. I had one set up to be made at boot, and if   
   >>> I wanted to use the other I right-clicked on the connection icon,   
   >>> changed the active interface, and it would switch.   
   >>   
   >> That is essentially the situation I'm in now, and that does indeed sound   
   >> simple and straightforward.   
   >>   
   > Which wifi card do you have, and do you know the chip it uses?   
      
   I bought it cheap on eBay in 2009, so I don't have the packaging or know   
   its age (except it's PCI).  The card itself says "Gigabyte Technology 54   
   Mbps 802.11b/g GN-WP01GS".   
      
   > Some cards will need   
   > proprietary firmware installed before they can work. Some distros will   
   > provide it. Others, those (like Mandriva Free and the Mageia DVD) whose   
   > install media is all open-source, probably have it available but harder   
   > to get to. And for some, firmware may be available through   
   > Linuxwireless.org.   
      
   Back in July/August 2009, I had an older computer (named "retread") set   
   up in the other room with this wireless card, and my current computer   
   and wired/wireless router here in the LR.  On that older computer, I was   
   able to get wireless working under Mandriva 2008.1 and the current   
   Ubuntu with no additional software, so whatever was needed was already   
   included in those.  WinXP needed drivers I was able to find online and   
   burn to CD.  I wasn't able to get wireless working under Slackware (or   
   its derivative Absolute Linux), although I hadn't tried everything yet.   
      
   Since I was able to get it working then under at least some distros, I'm   
   pretty sure I'll be able to get it to work under some newer distros.  My   
   big question was whether I could test it on this box while it also had a   
   wired connection, and you've already answered "yes" to that one.   
   Thanks, TJ!   
      
   Adam   
   --   
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