How can I prevent my WLAN to use an essid?

[Rapael Morcha]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 05:01:37PM +0100, Michele wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Question 1:
> As the subject says, I am in a location where two essids are available. I
> would like to prevent my WLAN from switching to the "wrong" ESSID. is it
> possible?

Hi Michele,
raphael at f9:[~] sudo ifdown eth1; sudo ifup eth1;
raphael at f9:[~] sudo iwconfig eth1 essid <preferred-essid>;

I'd put this nicely wrapped in a shell script in my desktop (So that I could double-click it and be able to execute it)
----wireless1.sh-------
#!/bin/bash

iwconfig eth1 essid <preferred-essid1>
-----------------------

raphael at f9:[~] sudo chmod +x wireless1.sh;

raphael at f9:[~] sudo ~/Desktop/wireless1.sh;
OR
Double-click it in your desktop.

Similar for wireless2.sh :-)

> Question 2:
> For the moment, I think I have found a way to select a preferred essid,
> modifying the /etc/network/interfaces but my WLAN ignores this.
> Here's the relevant part of my /etc/network/interfaces:
> 
> auto eth1
> #iface eth1 inet dhcp
> 
> iface eth1 inet dhcp
> wireless-essid <my preferred ESSID here>
> 
> Should I comment "auto eth1" in the file above?
auto eth1 means that it sets automatic settings for eth1 interface. The automatic settings are described in detail in 'man iwconfig'.

I think there's a gnome applet available for managing all this through  graphical interface. Try adding that applet.

-- 
Cheers,
Raphael.