Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Noob WiFi question (yes-or-no answer will suffice)

[Fernando Rodriguez]

On Friday 03 October 2014 7:21:58 AM walt wrote:
> On 10/02/2014 09:39 PM, J. Roeleveld wrote:
> >
> > On Thursday, October 02, 2014 10:24:51 PM Alec Ten Harmsel wrote:
> >> On 10/02/2014 10:05 PM, walt wrote:
> >>> I did some googling and enabled the "appropriate" kernel drivers, then
> >>> rebooted and now the output from ifconfig includes this interface:
> >>>
> >>> wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
> >>>
> >>>         ether b8:a3:86:99:a8:d8  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
> >>>         RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
> >>>         RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
> >>>         TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
> >>>         TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
> >>>
> >>> My yes-or-no question:  does the appearance of "wlan0" imply that
> >>> my new kernel drivers are the right ones for this particular D-Link
> >>> WiFi adapter?
> >>
> >> It's certainly a great sign, but it may or may not be enough. I'm by no
> >> means an expert, but I believe I have to install some extra firmware
> >> (b43-firmware) to use on my laptop as it's not in the kernel (unless I'm
> >> clueless with kernel config). Without b43-firmware, the interface shows
> >> up and is recognized, but can't be used iirc.
> >
> > In my experience, when it shows in "ifconfig", it is loaded.
> > You might want to check the "dmesg" output to see if it is missing firmware
> > somewhere.
> > Did you try "dhcpcd wlan0" to see if it gets an IP-address?
>
> That doesn't work (yet).  An error message said that
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
> was missing, so I copied this example from a man page:
>
> #cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
> ctrl_interface=DIR=/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel
>
> network={
> 	ssid="myhomewireless"
> 	scan_ssid=1
> 	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> 	psk="mypsk"
> }
>
> #dhcpcd wlan0
> dhcpcd[1415]: version 6.4.7 starting
> dhcpcd[1415]: wlan0: adding address fe80::f45c:642e:a392:f47c
> dhcpcd[1415]: if_addaddress6: Permission denied
> dhcpcd[1423]: wlan0: starting wpa_supplicant
> dhcpcd[1415]: wlan0: waiting for carrier
> dhcpcd[1415]: timed out
> dhcpcd[1415]: allowing 8 seconds for IPv4LL timeout
> dhcpcd[1415]: timed out
> dhcpcd[1415]: exited
>
> NetworkManager gets wlan0 working normally, but the problem is the
> network doesn't come up until I log in and use the NetworkManager
> panel applet to enter the psk manually.  Ugh.
>
> So, the hardware works but I need to configure the network properly.
> Anyone have an idea how I can get the connection working automatically
> during boot?
>
> Thanks.
>
> BTW, this is ifconfig after NetworkManager brings wlan0 up:
>
> wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
>         inet 192.168.1.75  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
>         inet6 fe80::baa3:86ff:fe99:a8d8  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
>         inet6 2602:306:c4d4:cf40:baa3:86ff:fe99:a8d8  prefixlen 128  scopeid
0x0<global>
>         ether b8:a3:86:99:a8:d8  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
>         RX packets 317  bytes 18320 (17.8 KiB)
>         RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
>         TX packets 82  bytes 38743 (37.8 KiB)
>         TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
>
>

As for NetworkManager, just log in to your DE as root or run kde-nm-
connection-editor as root (assuming you're using KDE) and setup the 
connection, then check "All users may connect to this network" on the general 
tab of the connection details. It will then connect at boot whenever the 
network is available (if you enable the NetworkManager service at boot) and it 
also has the advantage that although the PSK is still stored as plain-text 
only root has access to it. That's specially useful if your wifi login is also 
your active directory (or similar) account.

It's also nicer for laptops if you connect to multiple networks. My ISP has 
hotspots all over the city and NM keeps me connected while driving around with 
barely any (noticeable) disconnects. You can also connect to VPNs just a 
easily.


----------
Fernando Rodriguez
frodriguez.developer@×××××××.com