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On Monday 26 Sep 2011 23:08:04 Mark Knecht wrote: |
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> My experience so far: |
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> |
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> 1) As discussed earlier, needing to mess with routes when changing |
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> which network I'm using. Sad when both options actually point to the |
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> same address. |
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If you use ifplugd the eth0 will be activated auto-magically once a link is |
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detected on wired NIC. You can even further configure it to run commands of |
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your choice once it detects that a link is up (i.e. is my wlan0 up then |
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configure a route otherwise not, type of thing). |
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> 2) If I start with wlan0 turned off and switch to root to disable eth0 |
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> and enable wlan0, I get a message that wlan0 is up but 'not active'. |
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> Indeed, as a user if I start a browser it doesn't work. However, if as |
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> root I ping the router I immediately get a response and then my |
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> browser works fine. |
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This is odd. Something is amiss with your configuration ... |
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> 3) If I disable wlan0 and then reenable it it doesn't work until I |
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> restart wpa_supplicant |
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This is definitely *not* how it works here. If by disabling it you mean |
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running /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 then your /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 script should |
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call wpa_supplicant. You should not have to run wpa_supplicant by hand. |
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Are you sure you are calling the correct NIC driver for wpa_supplicant in your |
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/etc/init.d/net.wlan0 file? (e.g. you may need to use broadcom instead of |
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wext if you are running an old broadcom card). |
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> 4) So far wpa_gui cannot find any networks, or at least doesn't |
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> display anything when I attempt a scan. |
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Assuming your init.d script and wpa_supplicant is correct then iwlist wlan0 |
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scanning (or scan) should be able to scan and list devices. So should wpa_cli |
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-i wlan0 (run it and then enter 'scan_results' on the prompt) and of course so |
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should wpa_gui. |
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> I don't understand at this point how to make this work for normal |
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> users. Anyone in my family of three might want to pick this laptop up |
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> and go to a different part of the house, or even go out of the house |
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> and use the laptop with some public network. I haven't a clue yet how |
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> anyone is supposed to change networks when they aren't root. I |
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> understand that flies in the face of typical Linux security, but it |
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> seems to me that a well thought out wireless environment could figure |
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> out how to do that, and possibly has already but I haven't found the |
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> info. |
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You can set which group is allowed to mess about with wpa_supplicant (this of |
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course applies also to the wpa_cli/gui) in the |
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/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. You can for example set: |
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ctrl_interface_group=wheel |
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or |
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ctrl_interface_group=users |
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or |
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ctrl_interface_group=my_wlan0_users_group |
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(this is I think commented comprehensively in your .example file and in the |
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man page) |
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> Anyway, I am THRILLED to have wireless working at all and appreciate |
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> all the help I got getting there. Without question I couldn't have |
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> gotten here without it. |
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I think something is amiss with your configuration which causes the problems |
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you describe above. You can contact me off list if you want to keep the noise |
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down and I'll take a closer look at your settings in case I spot something. |
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-- |
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Regards, |
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Mick |
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