Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Guidance requested for setting up ndiswrapper wireless under Gentoo

[Daniel da Veiga]

On 7/7/06, Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com> wrote:
> On 7/6/06, Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >    Help........I cannot seem to find any good instructions for setting
> > up a wireless NIC using ndiswrapper on Gentoo. Can someone point me in
> > the right direction?
> >
> >    The main Gentoo doc I found:
> >
> > http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=4&chap=4
> >
> > doesn't mention ndiswrapper. A wiki I found here:
> >
> > http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Wireless_Configuration_and_Startup#Configuration_using_iwconfig
> >
> > barely mentions ndiswrapper. Certainly not enough to get anything
> > working. (I think...)
> >
> >   I cannot use WPA supplicant as my NIC is not supported. I did have
> > the NIC working under FC2 for a long time but am attempting to convert
> > the machine to Gentoo. (well, it's converted but wireless is the only
> > thing not working...)
> >
> >    I think I must be missing some good page on how to do this.
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Mark
> >
>
> Continued.....
>
> Again, thanks in advance for any help you can give.
>
> 1) I found a Windows driver online for my card - LinkSys DWL-G510
> 2) emerged ndiswrapper and installed the driver. The card and driver are found:
>
> christmas ~ # ndiswrapper -l
> Installed ndis drivers:
> net8180 driver present, hardware present
> christmas ~ #
>
> 3) The card is running but only 11Mb so far. Not important right now
> but will be later.
>
> christmas ~ # iwconfig
> lo        no wireless extensions.
>
> eth0      no wireless extensions.
>
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:off/any
>           Mode:Auto  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
>           Bit Rate:11 Mb/s   Tx-Power:20 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
>           RTS thr:2432 B   Fragment thr:2432 B
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management:off
>           Link Quality:100/100  Signal level:-95 dBm  Noise level:-256 dBm
>           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
>
> christmas ~ #

Maybe its not running full speed because there's not access pointe associated...

>
> 4) I emerged wpa_supplicant based on info here that says
> wpa_supplicant can be used with ndiswrapper:

Never used it as my access point does not use WPA or even WEP, I keep
it open for my friends that eventually join a lan party here to use.

>
> http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/WPA
>
> 5) When I emerged wpa_supplicant it said I needed to create a config
> file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf and gave a path to an
> example, so I've extracted the example file and copied it to the
> prescribed location. However the Gentoo pages say the right location
> is /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. Which location is correct?
>
> 6) it's so deep in examples I'm currently not clear how to modify it
> or even why I'm using it. What is a wpa_supplicant and why does one
> use it?

AFAIK, its a encryption method used by access points to increase
security (someone will point me if I'm wrong). It must be configured
in your access point to work. Another encryption method (pretty easy
to break, in fact, but still add some security) is WEP. It is all set
at the access point.

>
>    At this point I'm pretty lost. I'm guess I'm making some headway
> with ndiswrapper being that it's loaded not complaining too much, but
> none of my iwconfig commands seem to change its state so far. I.e. - I
> tell it an essid but it doesn't show that it changed the essid:

What about simply:

ln -s /etc/init.d/net.lo /etc/init.d/net.wlan0
/etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start

?

If you have no security and DHCP at the access point, it shall connect to it...

>
> christmas System Stuff # iwconfig wlan0 essid LadySmithBliss
> christmas System Stuff # iwconfig
> lo        no wireless extensions.
>
> eth0      no wireless extensions.
>
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:off/any
>           Mode:Auto  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
>           Bit Rate:11 Mb/s   Tx-Power:20 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
>           RTS thr:2432 B   Fragment thr:2432 B
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management:off
>           Link Quality:100/100  Signal level:-95 dBm  Noise level:-256 dBm
>           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
>
> christmas System Stuff #
>
>    I think that if someone can get me clued in about wpa's and how to
> configure for real network I'll likely get there pretty quickly from
> here.

You must know what type of security your access point has. After you
know this, you'll need to edit /etc/conf.d/wireless and configure it.
If (as I said before) you have DHCP, SSID broadcast and no encryption
at your access point, you don't need any of these, just the two
commands above, else you'll have to configure it, take a look at
/etc/conf.d/wireless.example.

-- 
Daniel da Veiga
Computer Operator - RS - Brazil
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