Kubuntu looks nice but come on fellas, wireless input

Stan Beer
Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:29

Opinion and Analysis

Hands up all PC users who have a wireless mouse and keyboard? If you're like me, you've had your input devices untethered for at least a couple of years. I've just burned a Kubuntu installation disc and it won't recognize my wireless mouse or keyboard to enable me to install the system. Judging by the bulletin boards I've been reading, it may not recognize yours either. Sorry guys, that's not good enough for us mere mortals at the coalface.

For those who don't know about Ubuntu and its KDE interface version Kubuntu (Ubuntu uses Gnome), it's rapidly becoming one of the most popular Linux distributions. One of the reasons is that it's relatively easy to install and to get up and running quickly. You only have to download and burn one disc image as opposed to four or five like other popular distros such as Suse and Fedora and, from previous experience, wireless networking is not too difficult to implement.

However, I have already run into an irritating problem very early in the piece. The Kubuntu installation disc is very nicely put together. It even allows you to try out the operating system without having to install it. Of course that's not much good if your wireless input devices can't move the mouse pointer or type in characters.

Just in case any readers may be thinking that I'm using exotic hardware, it's stock standard stuff - new Dell PC, Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse.
A call to my local Linux guru was no help either. He was amazed that a standard wireless keyboard and mouse wouldn't simply work off a dongle attached to a USB port.

A bit of online searching and a glance through various bulletin boards and chat rooms indicates that this appears to be a common problem among users who have had plenty of questions and received few useful answers on this issue. Advice ranged from changing your computer's BIOS to make it recognize the wireless input devices (exactly how that can be done is not mentioned) to buying cheap wired keyboard and mouse to install Kubuntu and then installing wireless device drivers later (sounds a bit clumsy).

To be fair, plugging in a USB mouse and a hard wired keyboard did work - lucky I had some old ones laying around the house. However, the mystery of getting the wireless input devices to work continues. The thing that concerns me is that I didn't expect to run into road blocks this early in the piece. I can't help but wonder about what other delights await me down the road.