wireless help!

[Billie Walsh]

D. R. Evans wrote:
> 2008/5/4 Jason Straight <jason at jeetkunedomaster.net>:
>   
>> On Sunday 04 May 2008 12:02:15 D. R. Evans wrote (Reply at bottom):
>>
>>     
>>> I've messed with kwifimanager (GUI) and iwconfig (CLI) until I'm blue
>>>       
>>  > in the face. Of course it worked first time with Vista :-(
>>
>>  What type of wifi card? 'lspci' should show you the details of the
>>  manufacturer/chipset.
>>     
>
> It's a realtek chip accessed through ndiswraspper (I started a thread
> about that and which contains details on 27 March).
>
>   
>>  iwconfig doesn't really do anything with WPA, for that you need WPA
>>  supplicant, it's not a lot of fun to do the first time but that's why there's
>>  kwifimanager, which configures and runs wpa_supplicant for you.
>>
>>  I'm not sure why kwifimanager didn't work, but that would be the route you'd
>>  want to take. It may be the key you're using, I had problems once with I
>>  think AES with WPA2, going back to WPA1 worked fine. Although that's not the
>>  cure you really want it might be the one that gets you up and running with
>>  the least fuss for now, and it will also verify that WPA1 works and WPA2 is
>>  the problem.
>>     
>
> What happens in kwifimanager is that when I type in the key in the
> "Configure Encryption" dialogue, it just says "unrecognised". It
> doesn't seem to matter what 8 characters I type, it always says the
> same thing.
>
> I've tried using wpa_gui, but it doesn't seem to do anything useful at
> all. It just sits there. Even the Contents and Index of the Help menu
> are greyed out, while the console fills with messages that say "PING
> failed - trying to reconnect".
>
> There is an "Add Network" command in the File menu of wpa_gui that
> seems to be the place where one can add the encryption information,
> but it asks for all kinds of stuff that I don't know. The access box I
> have simply gives me an 8-character access key. I deduced from Windows
> that it the system is using WPA2, but I have no way to know if that's
> true, and I certainly can't change it at all (anent your suggestion of
> using WPA1; if it were up to me, I'd turn off crypto entirely, it's
> just too much hassle on this laptop when running gutsy). All the box
> has on it is:
>   1. The SSID
>   2. The eight-ASCII-character "Network Key"
> That seems to be enough for Windows to work out what to do to access the network
>
>   Doc
>
>   

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, just add my $0.02 worth to the 
discussion.

I have an Atheros chip PCMCIA wireless card for my laptop. When I can 
manage to get it to connect it works fine. My problem seems to be more a 
software problem than a hardware problem.

About a month ago I was waiting for my wife at the doctors office. I 
went out to the van to enjoy one of those GREAT spring days. While I was 
out there I set up the laptop played a little solitaire. It was booted 
into XP because we had been working. All of a sudden my little 
anti-virus program popped up and announced that the database had been 
updated. It seems the computer had found an open wifi connection and 
connected all on it's own. [ It would have been nice if it had asked 
but................ ] A Radio Shack that had gone out of business about 
a block away had gone away and left their wifi on.

In every Windows wireless manager there is a way to choose which 
wireless connection around you to connect to and a "Connect" button. So 
far in every Linux wireless management program I have tried there is NO 
"Connect" button. IMHO, this is a monumental oversight in the 
programming. I can set up any number of possible connections and set the 
priority in which to connect but what about those times when need to use 
a connection just once. Like in a hotel on a trip. OR, a truck stop 
while I'm eating lunch on a trip. The possibility that I will need a 
permanent setting for that is NILL! It's most likely a one time thing.

It seems to me that Linux programmers go out of their way to make it 
more difficult than necessary to use wireless services.

Make it so that "we" can select a connection, click on "Connect" and 
type in the key. There is really no need to have to set up permanent 
settings for all those places we won't use everyday. In most cases those 
locations will use settings that are minimal to make it easier to 
connect. "We" shouldn't have to configure a complete network just to 
connect.

For places, like home or work, a permanent setting should just work, but 
when those connections aren't available..............................

-- 
Life is what happens while your busy making other plans.