On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 11:15:52AM -0500, Brian Wood wrote:
> I installed Debian on an Acer Travelmate laptop and am having
> trouble getting a wireless connection.  I looked at the output
> from dmesg, but didn't find anything helpful.  I typed in the key
> three times to make sure I hadn't messed that up.   Any ideas
> on what to do?  Maybe a different distro?  Tia.
> If I plug in an ethernet cable, the laptop gets connected fine.

I find this to be an on-going issue with Linux and wireless.  I've
reached the point where I start grabbing various distros, and running
their live version via USB until I find one that finds (and starts!)
the wireless.

FWIW, I usually start with an Ubuntu and a Mint - the winner for an
older laptop recently was Peppermint 2.

-- 
Scott Raun
sraun at fireopal.org