Zenbot/Gecko/LinuxCNC?

I started thinking about trying to get this to work. When I thought about loading that webpage on the laptop running the LinuxCNC ISO, I quickly realized that the ISO seems to have no drivers for my wireless or wired ethernet hardware. Which brings back memories of searching for HW drivers for Linux a few years ago. Not pleasant memories.

I need internet access on that laptop (Toshiba Satellite P55), so unless there is some really easy way to find and install the drivers, I guess I'm back to being back to Windows. Pity.

If you have a network port on your laptop, what happens if your laptop is connected to a wired network when you boot? I would expect it to find it without any driver issues.
Can't you just download the files from Windows onto a USB stick and mount it in Linux?

Laptops, in general are a pain with Linux. And wireless is a similar problem, and touchscreens are usually difficult to get working. But These are general Linux problems and have nothing to do with Linuxcnc.

Since Laptops are generally a bad idea and not recommended for Linuxcnc, With the exception of the 1 time I tried to setup a touchscreen with Linuxcnc, I've never had any hardware support problems with the computers I've used with Linuxcnc.

Yeah, I understand it isn't a LinuxCNC problem.

But the laptop has been working fine with Mach3 and I really don't want to buy another computer. All my other machines are Mac, except for little stuff like the BeagleBone black. Oh well, all indications point in the same direction.

@rodw - ifconfig doesn't even show an adapter present. And on boot it complains that eth0 cannot be found.

Fun fact. A few years ago we travelled around the world for a year with the kids. We were in Bangkok about a week. So we went to the upscale shopping mall, where I discovered that most of the laptops for sale were Linux machines. And therefore cheaper, of course.

jandyman wrote: @rodw - ifconfig doesn't even show an adapter present. And on boot it complains that eth0 cannot be found.

Bear in mind Wheezy is a couple of versions behind so it is a bit like trying to get Windows XP installed on a machine designed for Windows 10 if your laptop is newer. Compatible drivers may never have been written. This is what drove me to get Linux Mint installed becasue I could not get driver support for Wheezy or Precise. After that everything worked straight out of the box. USB Wifi, Touch screen, video, it all worked plug and play.