Dapper -- Any way to configure WEP encryption using a passphrase rather than key?

[Miles Lane]

On 3/16/06, Adam Conrad <adconrad at 0c3.net> wrote:
> Miles Lane wrote:
> >
> > As I mentioned in my initial post, I can enter the WEP passphrase
> > into NetworkManager on Fedora Core 5 Test 3 and get a working
> > connection.  This indicates to me that at least NetworkManager
> > knows how to correctly generate the hexadecimal key from the
> > passphrase.  What I wonder is why this hasn't been implemented
> > for other WEP connection managers.  I certainly think that NM is the
> > way to go, but since NM isn't making it into Dapper Drake's release,
> > it sure would be nice not to have to look up my hex key.
>
> In /etc/network/interfaces, you can specify a "string" instead of a key,
> with an s: prefix (the installer tells you that if it found wifi during
> installation and you chose to set it up, the manpage should also do so)
>
> Example (where "ascii" is your passphrase):
>
> iface eth1 inet dhcp
>        wireless_mode managed
>        wireless-essid MYNETWORK
>        wireless-key s:ascii

That doesn't work for me.  I have tried specifying it in the config file,
as well as through the Network Monitor settings (ascii/passphrase).
One thing I think is a bug is that after a long time, Network Monitor
indicates that eth1 is active, but the "route" command shows no
default route.  DHCP isn't working.  Also, when I run iwconfig,
the encryption key is wrong.  The key is shown as:
7368-6164-6F77-7370-696B-6500-00, which the correct key
is 23f8-49cf-201a-4334-1210-7c3e-0a
Dunno why this is failing.  My WEP key is 128-bit (generated
through the config UI of my Linksys WAP 11 ver. 2.2 (firmware
version 1.1).  I have to guess that the Ubuntu networking code
is generating a 64-bit encryption key.

           Miles