wireless help!

[David McGlone]

On Monday 05 May 2008 11:08:16 am Nigel Ridley wrote:
> Billie Walsh wrote:
> > 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..............................
>
> I use KNetworkmanager and it never used to work properly (the icon on the
> taskbar was a grey something-or-other and it always said "No Device Active
> - or something similar, even though my home wireless connection was working
> just fine!). One day, from a terminal I did: sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
> and is if by magic, the KNetworkmanager icon turned to a 'blue 4 column bar
> graph' and now automatically detects available networks. Just a right click
> on the icon, then click on the available connection that I want to use and
> 'Bob's your Uncle'!

This made me excited!  I just tried it... Didn't work. :-( LOL