WiFi Networking with Ubuntu

[Alex Mandel]

Gavin Lewandowski wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Now that my Ubuntu box is stable at home, yesterday I zapped the Win XP 
> off my Toshiba Satellite Laptop and put Dapper on it.
> 
> All is working well, I got the Belkin 54g PCCard up and running, but my 
> problem is :-
> 
> *) Home WLAN - WEP encrypted , have set this up as the Home location in 
> Network Manager
> 
> *) Work WLAN - Fully opened access point with no security enabled, how 
> can I tell Network Manager to connect to an open network? It keeps 
> expecting a WEP Key.
> 
> Many thanks :)
> 
> Gavin
> 
> 
The default network manager can be a little weak when trying to roam 
between wlans. People are working on it but until then try some of these 
applications, I have had mixed luck depending on my wifi card but you 
can give it a shot, they should all be available through synaptic.

NetworkManager (not the same as the Ubuntu Manager, I don't 
think)http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
gtkwifi
wifi-radar
kwifimanager

At last resort you can do what I do.
Edit /etc/network/interfaces
...
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-ssid Network 1
wireless-key "put you key here
#wireless-ssid Network 2

when you want to switch networks change the file to this
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
#wireless-ssid Network 1
#wireless-key "put you key here
wireless-ssid Network 2

Then save and at the command line type
$sudo ifdown -a
$sudo ifup -a

That should pop you over, reverse the change to go back and run the same 
commands.

Alex