5 years of support..!!??

[gene heskett]

On Friday, March 02, 2012 05:32:12 PM Nils Kassube did opine:

> gene heskett wrote:
> > On Friday, March 02, 2012 12:46:04 PM Nils Kassube did opine:
> > > auto wlan0
> > > iface wlan0 inet static
> > > # Configuration for WPA2 / CCMP
> > > 
> > >     wpa-driver wext
> > >     wpa-ssid MYSSID
> > >     wpa-ap-scan 2
> > >     wpa-proto WPA2
> > >     wpa-pairwise CCMP
> > >     wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
> > >     wpa-psk long hash phrase
> > >     # psk from the command "wpa_passphrase MYSSID passphrase"
> > >     address 192.168.2.59
> > >     network 192.168.2.0
> > >     netmask 255.255.255.0
> > >     broadcast 192.168.2.255
> > >     gateway 192.168.2.1
> > 
> > Interesting.
> > 
> > Where are the manpages that explain all these wpa-**** settings?
> 
> Good question! I had to search a bit to find the file with the relevant
> info which I probably used: /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/README.modes.gz
> 
> What I didn't mention, though: If you use that static setup you should
> write your nameserver to "/etc/resolv.conf".
> 
> > However, my interfaces file is much simpler than that, and I never
> > heard of that command you used to generate the key hash.
> 
> It comes with the wpasupplicant package.
> 
> > Here, I
> > have it setup using a phrase that could be the opening paragraph of
> > a novel I'll likely never write, but which is easy enough for me to
> > remember.  A neighbors frontier net connection went south just this
> > past Monday & she brought her winders lappy over, I entered that
> > 160+ character passphrase and it worked flawlessly.
> 
> 160+ characters? For a WPA/WPA2 passphrase there is a limit of 63
> characters. I suppose I used something like "pwgen -cns 63" to generate
> the passphrase - it is stored in a text file and copy & paste prevents
> typos.
> 
> > Your recipe above, with mods because I too use fixed addresses on my
> > home network, may be just what the doctor ordered, thank you very
> > much for sharing.  I did wipe out that hash though, no use
> > propagating that all over the cosmos leading to an exploit of your
> > system.
> 
> LOL! Of course it wasn't my hash, but thanks for your concern. Actually
> I literally used the command mentioned to get the hash.
> 
> 
> Nils

Well, at this point it is all moot.  I haven't powered up this lappy in 
about 6 months.  6 months ago ndiswrapper, using bcmwlhigh5 worked 
absolutely bullet proof, in the shop, against Linda's frontier supplied 
router up in NY, and in a motel in Orlando.  So I plugged it in and edited 
the interfaces file even before I'd plugged in a cat5 in case I needed 
something.  But no led can be seen on the dongle, and when I check the 
logs, loadndisdriver is failing to load bcmwlhigh5, giving no reason.  So I 
try to install the driver again but it claims its already installed.

To top that off, I apparently lost the pw to the router I was using as an 
AP out there in the shop(its been 6 months since I used it), so I did the 
powerup, holding the reset button down for 30 seconds thing, and now its 
disappeared.  Brand new router, 7 months ago, only been powered up 3 or 4 
days in that time.  I am beginning to develop an extreme distaste for 
netgear crap.  Which means I am about to order another buffalo running dd-
wrt.  I can at least get good support from dd-wrt when it turned out that 
buffalo's branded version of dd-wrt was broken.

That may be fixable, but dammit, where can I buy a 802-11g/n dongle that 
linux supports right out of the GD box?

This lappy has a bcm4318 pcmcia card in it, and despite the progress with 
the b43 driver, it has yet to keep a connection alive more than 5 minutes, 
9 feet from the AP.  Biggest POS Broadcom ever sold IMO.  Had I a clue as 
to how big a headache that bcm4318 was going to be, I would have warrantied 
it till they put something better in it.  Hind sight, 20-05 of course...

I want something that Just Works(TM) when I plug it into either the cat5 
socket, or a usb socket, so what do I go shopping for?

Sorry for the shortness but wifi on this lappy has been a problem child, 
usually pitching a tantrum without a single meaningful error msg since I 
bought it 6 or 7 years ago.

Thanks for reading this far.

Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene>
... I want FORTY-TWO TRYNEL FLOATATION SYSTEMS installed within
SIX AND A HALF HOURS!!!