5 years of support..!!??

Sun Mar 4 02:14:52 UTC 2012

On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 6:30 PM, gene heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> 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?

I have this USB wireless adapter: TP-LINK TL-WN822N, and it worked out
of the box (Kubuntu 11.10).

>
> 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...

mmm.... I have a laptop with bcm4318 (old Compaq Presario), and is
working just fine with kernel 3.0.0 on Kubuntu, driver b43.  Also, it
used to work just fine with Debian Squeeze (6.0).  No connection
issues.

Well, at least not with my AP... when I used a crappy linksys, I used
to lose connection from time to time (almost daily)... but it was not
just me, everybody lost connection, so, it was the AP.  I replaced it
with a self-assembled one, using a ALIX card, and Atheros-based
mini-pci card, running Voyage Linux (debian-based distro)... of
course, you have to configure everything through ssh (no nice web
interface), but it is rock solid now :) .

>
> 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