using hostap Was: Netgear MA111 USB 802.11b adaptor as Access Point?

[Michael R. Head]

On Sun, 2005-10-16 at 12:25 -0400, Steve wrote:
> On 10/7/05, Michael R. Head <burner at suppressingfire.org> wrote:
> > On Thu, 2005-10-06 at 08:20 -0400, Steve wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I've got an MA111 (prism2 chipset) and was wondering if/how I can set
> > > it up on my machine as a wireless access point for a laptop to connect
> > > to (for sharing internet and files). I have this sharing scenario
> > > running successfully over the ethernet port, but now want to try to
> > > get it to go wireless. Is this possible? Is there anything special I
> > > need to do, or can I simply enable the adaptor and then use
> > > Firestarter to share as I did with my onboard ethernet?
> >
> > You'll want to check out the hostap set of drivers and programs.
> >
> > I have this set up at home. Works nice, though it's on my debian server.
> >
> > http://packages.ubuntu.com/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?searchon=names&version=all&exact=1&keywords=hostapd
> > http://packages.ubuntu.com/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?searchon=names&version=all&exact=1&keywords=hostap-source
> >
> > mike
> 
> I installed hostap through synaptic, but I don't know how to configure
> the MA111 as an access point (I think I have the tools now, just not
> the knowledge). I googled for help but am still bewildered. Can you
> give me some instructions, or point me in the right direction?

First of all, you'll need to be sure the hostap drivers are being
loaded. Rather than leaving it up to hotplug, I just put hostap_plx
in /etc/modules. You may need hostap_cs, since you're using a laptop.

Once you do that, reboot, and hopefully, you'll have these interfaces:
wifi0, wlan0, wlan0ap-00. The last one lets you know that your interface
can run as an access point.

You'll need to configure your wireless card to have some address. You
should be able to do this using the  networking too in
System/Administration. If not, you can manually edit
your /etc/network/interfaces file by hand with your favorite editor
under sudo. Mine has this stanza in it:
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
        address 192.168.2.1
        network 192.168.2.0
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        broadcast 192.168.2.255
        wireless_essid burner
If it's all good, do a sudo ifup wlan0.

Then you need to edit your /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf file. The key
things to set is the ssid, but you may want to add more security options
like WEP or WPA. Once that's done, do a /etc/init.d/hostapd restart

You'll still need a dhcp server and some sort of router setup software.
I'm using dhcpd and ipmasq. I think dnsmasq is supposed to be a simple
DHCP and DNS tool for this use, but I haven't tried it.

good luck,
mike

> 
> Thanks a bunch!
> 
> -Steve.
> --
> Ubuntu :: Linux for Human Beings :: ubuntulinux.org
> 
-- 
Michael R. Head <burner at suppressingfire.org>
GPG: http://www.suppressingfire.org/~burner/gpg.key.txt (ID 0x9932A319)
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20051017/efbd4359/attachment.sig>