What is the Deal with WiFi and Linux?

Two and a half years ago when Apple made their infamous switch to Intel processors I called bullshit and got myself a cheap generic laptop to join the growing user base of Ubuntu Linux.

Everything worked as advertised, except for the built-in WiFi card. After jumping through many hoops I found a cheap plug-in WiFi adapter on eBay, but the whole experience left me feeling, well… something like this.

Cut to present day, and I’m the proud new owner (if a bit behind the curve) of a new Eee PC.

Just like a Mac, this Asus is a thing of beauty. It fits (barely) into my awesome Japanese man-bag and is a much better technological fit for me than Nokia’s Internet Tablet.

And everything works as advertised, except for one thing: The built-in WiFi.

See, I’ve got this awesome app on my Nokia called JoikuSpot, which basically turns my phone into a WiFi hotspot. It a great way to plow through at least some of my 6GB/month mobile data plan, and works amazingly well with both Mac and Windows computers.

But not, for some reason, with Linux — or at least this otherwise excellent implementation of it.

A kind soul has posted a helpful if kludgy solution which didn’t work at all for me. After almost an entire day of Googling, tweaking and frustration I’ve left a last-ditch call for help on the EeeUser forums. From there I’ll hopefully get some direction on how to proceed, but the whole experience has left me feeling… well, you know.

Despite the folks at Asus coming up with possibly the most user-friendly Linux UI yet, it doesn’t take much to pull back the curtain and find yourself face to face with a screen-full of indecipherable command-line gibberish as in the screen grab above.

What’s your verdict? Am I a total n00b who should just STFU and start learning terminal prompts, or is Linux still not ready for prime time?

Congrats America, You’re Officially Cool Again!

On November 5th, 2004 I drove across the border from Canada into Upstate New York, to do some shopping at a local outlet mall. Being the day after President Bush’s re-election what struck me was how quiet everything was. Everything and everyone.

Despite the Greater Buffalo area having the appearance of a red state — that is, yellow ribbons on every door and “Support Our Troops” bumper stickers on every SUV — the mood there was anything but celebratory. I particularly remember looking around the tables at a small diner and watching all the sullen eyes staring downwards while John Kerry’s Concession speech blasted on the wall-mounted TV. It was as if every patron in the joint was thinking the same thing:

“Here we go again…”

And now on this Inauguration Day 2009, it seems that America’s got its groove back. It has once again become the land of opportunity and seems primed for (and I’ll take credit for this phrase) Camelot 2.0.

As a dual citizen of Canada and the US and A I wish all the best for my adopted second homeland. Please don’t mess this up, okay?

iPhone Voice-Activated Search: Good for You, Bad for Everyone Else

Uh-oh...

The Web is all abuzz this morning with news that a voice-prompted search service is on the way to iPhone users courtesy of the clever folks at Google. All I can say is, god help us all…

I’m a big proponent of mobile manners and I’m not afraid to let someone know when they’re disturbing the peace by yakking too loudly into their handset. I’ve so far been very lucky to have only once had to endure the unholy abomination that is Push-to-Talk, with some asshat wandering my local supermarket like an army commander on the battlefield: “What kind of milk should I get, over… You want the 2%? You can’t handle the 2%!“, and so on.

And now, thanks to your lazy thumbs, I’m going to have to sit on the streetcar surrounded by morans pretending they’re Captain Picard: “iPhone, where is the nearest Apple Store?”, “iPhone, what is Steve Jobs wearing today?”, “iPhone, what’s the URL of Apple.com?”, etc.

If this sounds like sour grapes because such a thing isn’t yet available for my Nokia believe me, it’s not. I use GOOG-411 all the time, but you know what? If I’m in a public place I find a quiet corner away from other people, or at least cover my mouth while talking at an appropriate level.

Okay, so now that I’ve got you all riled up I’ll come clean: I am of course being unfair in singling out iPhone users for bad mobile behaviour — not respecting your environment is a sin committed on all types of mobiles by all types of inconsiderate people. Consider this my plea to you: If you really want me to covet that wondrous iPhone of yours you’ll do the right thing and use your fancy new voice-activated Google search only in appropriate situations. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility…