[plug] Need some help

[Michael Deegan]

Afternoon,

On Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 03:10:46PM +0800, Ivan Fetwadjieff via plug <plug at plug.org.au> wrote:
> You could just buy a new wifi dongle from PLE computers for $9.00 and turn off the other one in the bios. This one works with Linux.
> 
> https://www.ple.com.au/products/649941/simplecom-nw382-mini-wireless-n-usb-wifi-adapter

And then, probably, have to muck about with downloading/building an
out-of-tree RTL8192EU driver from github via DKMS. :P
 
> On Fri, 28 Aug 2026, at 12:44 PM, Ivan Fetwadjieff via plug wrote:
> > I have had some success with MXLinux when Mint had problems with drivers on older computers.
> > 
> > Maybe try booting your laptop off a usb memory stick with MXLinux and see if the wifi works for you.
> > https://mxlinux.org/
> > 
> > https://mxlinux.org/wiki/hardware/broadcom-wireless-2/
> > 
> > 
> > Also, don't be intimidated using the terminal. With most help instructions, you can just copy and paste.
> > The hard part is finding right solution for your situation.
> > This link may work for your Mint depending on what Broadcom wifi you have.
> > 
> > https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=449587
> > 
> > Cheers Ivan 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, 28 Aug 2026, at 10:34 AM, Peter Whattler via plug wrote:
> >> Gentlemen
> >> 
> >> i am trying to get away from Microsoft
> >> 
> >> I started with a 2014 Sony Vaio SVF15A1C5E.   I removed the hard drive 
> >> and put in a 2TB SSD.   I then installed LinuxMint a couple of months ago.
> >> 
> >> The machine definitely has a new lease of life - it boots in no time, so 
> >> i'm Impressed - However, the problem I have is that LinuxMint is not 
> >> finding the WIFI
> >> 
> >> This seems to be a known issue with Broadcom
> >> 
> >> Every fix i find seems to require that i go into Terminal - - I find 
> >> this a really scary solution   I haven't messed with the command line 
> >> since forever, I'm a windows guy who just expects to work with GUI solutions
> >> 
> >> Can anyone point me toward a place where i can get some help
> >> 
> >> I live in the vicinity of Joondalup

Yes, most of the useful diagnostics and utilities are commandline-based. But
in day to day running the need to reach for the terminal should be rare.

I suggest running "lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net", which will list all the
network-related PCI devices on the machine. Which will hopefully be the
machine's ethernet and wireless devices. Probably bluetooth too. (Or just
the ethernet device, in the unlikely case of wireless being provided by a
hard-wired usb device, a la Raspberry Pi...)

Once we know exactly which Broadcom hardware you have we can identify which
driver is required, and whether it is built-in to the kernel (unlikely,
given wifi currently apparently doesn't work), or needs to be acquired from
elsewhere.

Although...google suggests that the SVF15A1C5E is likely to contain a
BCM43142. I'm not a Mint user (Debian here) but it looks like the non-free
"broadcom-sta-dkms" package contains the driver you need. Presumably you'll
need to plug in via ethernet if you need to download anything. So there's a
non-zero change you be fine if install that package, wait for it to do its
thing, reboot and cross your fingers that wifi works.

Yes, Broadcom often means you are doing linux wifi on hard mode.

HTH,

-MD

-- 
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Michael Deegan               Hugaholic              https://www.deegan.id.au/
------------------------  Jung, zr jbeel?  ----------------------------------