linux and freedom

This is a continuation of one of my previous posts, as everyone agrees wireless in linux is not at par with that of windows and for obvious reasons , but I am using a Dell inspiron laptop so in previous versions it certainly worked out of the box,

             In june my windows install hit with a virus, I wiped out whole of it and become first-class citizen of linux world, everything was working fine with my linux box, and with arrival of Ubuntu 9.10 as a dedicated netizen I too upgraded my system with this new version , but 9.10 breaks a lot of things and wireless is one of them , as suggested in bug-reports I enable hardware drivers and activated the broadcom wireless driver, still no light on my laptop LED, no worries since I use my laptop primarily in my hostel as a desktop computer without much use of mobility, I was content with primal wire net-connectivity, the tragedy stuck when my room's LAN-port  gone all-dead, and like every other part of government machinery I knew our institute can not take care of this 30 minutes fixable problem(I am including commute time, beside replacement of hardware) in less than a week with proper administrative communication channel.

            The next and more feasible alternative is to switch myself to a previous version, and I did it , still no LED - but through some trial and error my wireless started working still no LED, today I read in some blog post that this LED is controlled by software, and I realized what a fool was I, lesson learned , back to Karmic.