wifi wEirdneSs hardy heron on everex cloudbook

[Tony Baldwin]

I just got an Everex Cloudbook from ebay, and am having some wifi 
issues.  The machine has an oem configured hardy heron on it.
I mentioned upgrading to jaunty, but the seller recommended against it, 
since the installed software was oem configured for the hardware.

Now, first of all, the wifi connected out of the box with the gnome net 
applet thingy, but I removed nearly all traces of gnome and installed 
ion3 and dwm.
So, I am using cli tools to connect, or, in a pinch, wifi-radar.
I use
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
to get a list of available networks
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid <essidname>
to connect, then
sudo dhclient wlan0
to get an ip from the router.
I can connect, sometimes, but behavior is very weird with this thing.
If I try to sshfs my /home from my main box and move some files, 
everything stops, and the connection seems to fall, but, ifconfig and 
iwconfig will still indicate that I am connected (shows an ip, etc.), 
yet can't ping anything or get a web page with lynx or FF, connect to 
imap.gmail with mutt, etc.
I moved some music files this morning via sshfs to my home box, without 
issue, but now, everytime I try to move some more, the connection clogs up.

Also, I took it out for a field test, and connected in a local cafe.
There I could use Firefox to access the web, but I could not access 
anything via ftp, ssh, sshfs, or even irc with irssi (all of which I 
could do here, earlier).
And mutt couldn't reach imap.gmail.com, even though I could read the 
gmail online with FF.  Very odd.

Also, if I try to use wifi-radar, it will connect to an access point, 
but won't get an IP using dhcp.
I have to go back to command line and
sudo dhclient wlan0 to get an ip and have a working connection.

Could the cafe be blocking some services in their router?
I don't know...I'm not exactly an expert with this.
Nonetheless, I have a laptop running jaunty (also w/o gnome and with 
ion3 and dwm).  I can connect with that one with wifi-radar (and it does 
dhcp without my assistance at cli), without issue, or via command line. 
  No strange behaviors.  I can mount my home box with sshfs and move 
files around until the cows come home, ftp files to my web server, irc 
with irssi, chat with bitlbee, etc. ad infinitum.  All good.

Is this an issue with Hardy?  An issue with the hardware?
A id10t bug (between chair and keyboard)?

I mostly want to be able to check e-mails while out, efficiently, ie, 
preferrably with mutt, not firefox or a gui mail client, without lugging 
my thinkpad around all the time (no, my phone has no internet, only 
makes phone calls, and I like it that way...for one thing, I spend about 
$15/mo on my prepaid plan, whereas a plan with internet would cost 
$100/mo.  I paid a whole whopping $100 for the cloudbook, so it seems a 
good deal, if I can make it work).

One nice thing, it does function as a clunky mp3 (or ogg) player with 
moc, at least...

I'm just confused, because, as far as wifi connecting goes, it seems 
fickle and behaves oddly, as I see it.

thanks
tony
--
http://www.baldwinlinguas.com
Translation & Interpreting

Así también, la lengua es un miembro pequeño,
y se gloría de grandes cosas.
He aquí, un pequeño fuego
¡Cuán grande bosque enciende!