Wifi "PIN" - what's this?

[Basil Chupin]

On 02/07/10 04:10, Frans Ketelaars wrote:
> On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:27:04 +1000, Karl Auer wrote:
>
>    
>> I was trying to connect to the wifi router at a friend's house today.
>> With other access points, the access point appears in the drop-down list
>> shown by NetworkManager, and I just pick it. If it needs a
>> password/passkey it will aks, and that's all I need.
>>
>> This time was strange. The access point appears in the list OK, but if
>> selected there would just be a looooong delay before Networkmanager
>> prompted for a passkey. It had detected the security as being WAP-PSK
>> personal. After the passkey was entered, there was another loooong
>> delay, then Network Manager gave up and tried the next access point it
>> could detect.
>>
>> My partner, who has a Vista laptop, tried connecting to this access
>> point. She selected the network from the list of networks Vista found,
>> and here is when it went strange - she was prompted for a "PIN! This was
>> a number printed on the bottom of the access point. She put that in and
>> was then prompted for a WPA passkey, and after *that* she was connected.
>>
>> What's this "PIN"?!?!? I've never heard of a PIN being needed before.
>>
>> Is there some way to tell Ubuntu what the PIN is so it can supply it
>> when needed?
>>
>> Regards, K.
>>      
> Well, it is used to "simplify the process of configuring security on
> wireless networks" :
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Setup
>
> At least linuxwireless.org is aware of PIN :
>
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/developers/Brainstorming/WPS-AP
>
> Another link about PIN: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/39
>
>      -Frans (who would also like to know how this is supposed to work)
>    

It is similar to bluetooth: you can 'connect' ~(?)10 devices to a 
bluetooth source; for the bluetooth station to be able to recognise 
correctly which device it is 'talking' to a PIN number is used. This PIN 
is normally spelt out in the documentation for the bluetooth device 
being 'connected' or it could be printed on the casing of the device - 
however this doesn't always hold true and one is then forced to go to 
the manufacturer to get the default PIN (or you could google for it, maybe).

BC

-- 
Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.