Hi,

I need some pointers regarding wireless configuration in slack 10.2.
Hopefully someone can shed some light.
I'm running on Kernel 2.6.14.5 with the following parameters:

- CONFIG_NET_RADIO=y
- CONFIG_IPW2200=m
- CONFIG_HOSTAP=m
- CONFIG_NET_WIRELESS=y

(Did I miss out any neccessary modules during the compilation?)

I have a wireless router with an internal IP of 192.168.1.25, WEP
Enabled, wep key = "12345", Wep-Open, ESSID broadcast, DHCP enabled.

Im using Intel 2200 BG Wireless card. Appropriate firmware have been
loaded and 2200 has been successfully detected.

Slack 10.2 has 2 config files:
1. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf
2. /etc/rc.d/rc.wirelesss.conf

>From a discussion in a previous thread, Mr Eric Hameleers advised that
rc.inet1.conf entries will override rc.wireless.conf.

Hence, I focused my attention on rc.inet1.conf. I've set the following:

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"

Hoping that the wireless interface will be detected as wlan0. But
sadly, the wireless interface is still detected as eth1 despite that
I've restarted the network interfaces by using "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1
restart"

WLAN_MODE, WLAN_ESSID, WLAN_KEY, WLAN_CHANNEL, WLAN_KEY has been set to
match the settings in the wireless router,

WLAN_KEY has been set using ACSII Strings. Eg: WLAN_KEY[4]="12345"

Whenever I tried to restart the network interfaces, the wireless client
doesnt seems to be able to grab any ip address. Even if I tried to
explicitly force it to receive IP address by using "dhcpcd eth1", the
console seems to freeze and nothing happens.

I suspect it would be some wep key problems. I immediately disabled wep
at both ends (wireless router, and client), viola, I'm able to link up
with the wireless router. Ip addres can be grabbed from the router for
the wireless client.But sadly, (i have already downed the wired LAN
interface). I've not able to ping to external site. But Im able to ping
the wireless router. I dont get it.

What did I miss out?

What about the command iwconfig? Where would iwconfig write the
settings into? iwconfig cmd vs /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf , which one will
the system follow?

Please advise. Thanks.

Steven wrote:

> I have a wireless router with an internal IP of 192.168.1.25, WEP
> Enabled, wep key = "12345", Wep-Open, ESSID broadcast, DHCP enabled.
>
> Im using Intel 2200 BG Wireless card. Appropriate firmware have been
> loaded and 2200 has been successfully detected.
>
> Slack 10.2 has 2 config files:
> 1. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf
> 2. /etc/rc.d/rc.wirelesss.conf
>
>>From a discussion in a previous thread, Mr Eric Hameleers advised that
> rc.inet1.conf entries will override rc.wireless.conf.
>
> Hence, I focused my attention on rc.inet1.conf. I've set the following:
>
> IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
>
> Hoping that the wireless interface will be detected as wlan0. But
> sadly, the wireless interface is still detected as eth1 despite that
> I've restarted the network interfaces by using "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1
> restart"

In /etc/modprobe.conf (or in case you're running a 2.4 kernel,
/etc/modules.conf) add this line:

options ipw2200 ifname=wlan0

Now, when the ipw2200 is loaded, the interface will be called wlan0
instead of eth1.
However, eth1 would have been fine too, if you change
IFNAME[4]="wlan0" to IFNAME[4]="eth1".

> WLAN_MODE, WLAN_ESSID, WLAN_KEY, WLAN_CHANNEL, WLAN_KEY has been set to
> match the settings in the wireless router,
>
> WLAN_KEY has been set using ACSII Strings. Eg: WLAN_KEY[4]="12345"

The value for WLAN_KEY[4] must be the 26 HEX-character key (for 128bit
WEP) and *not* the ASCII passphrase of "12345"!!!

> Whenever I tried to restart the network interfaces, the wireless client
> doesnt seems to be able to grab any ip address. Even if I tried to
> explicitly force it to receive IP address by using "dhcpcd eth1", the
> console seems to freeze and nothing happens.

The dhcpcd will eventually time out... you can explicitly set the
timeout to for instance 10 seconds by adding "-t 10" to the command.

> I suspect it would be some wep key problems. I immediately disabled wep
> at both ends (wireless router, and client), viola, I'm able to link up
> with the wireless router. Ip addres can be grabbed from the router for
> the wireless client.But sadly, (i have already downed the wired LAN
> interface). I've not able to ping to external site. But Im able to ping
> the wireless router. I dont get it.

That might be due to the fact that either the default gateway is not
set, or IP addresses for DNS server(s) are not set. That can be a
configuration problem of the DHCP server in your access point.

> What did I miss out?
>
> What about the command iwconfig? Where would iwconfig write the
> settings into? iwconfig cmd vs /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf , which one will
> the system follow?

The iwconfig does not store anything. Instead, the rc.wireless script
reads the configuration files rc.inet1.conf and rc.wireless.conf and
runs a couple of iwconfig commands to setup the wireless card.

Eric

Steven <stevong@gmail.com> wrote:
> IFNAME[4]="wlan0"

But is the device coming up as wlan0?

I use

modprobe ipw2200 iface=wlan0

as otherwise the kernal module labelled it eth0,
and getting in the way of my ethernet card.

--
#Paul

I've looked through iwconfig again. There is a high invalid crypt rate.
Link Quality=100/100 Signal level=-30 dBm Noise level=-87
dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:42 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:60 Missed beacon:0

#man iwconfig says invalid crypt

Rx invalid crypt
Number of packets that the hardware was unable to
decrypt. This can be used
to detect invalid encryption settings

It seems that WEP has gone wrong. ( i think so) I've already convert
the ascii to hex via
http://www.funchords.com/ascii2hex/

I've managed to get wireless to work. I've tried another WEP key on the
wireless router and used 5 ascii chars so that it will generate a 64
bit wep key.

I update this 64bit key in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf

then i restart the network interface again.

Viola. It works.

Another way is to use 13 ascii chars to generate 128bit key.

Thanks everyone =)
Sillly me for not getting my techincal facts right in the first place

On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 04:50:34 -0800, Steven wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I need some pointers regarding wireless configuration in slack 10.2.
> Hopefully someone can shed some light.
> I'm running on Kernel 2.6.14.5 with the following parameters:
>
> - CONFIG_NET_RADIO=y
> - CONFIG_IPW2200=m
> - CONFIG_HOSTAP=m
> - CONFIG_NET_WIRELESS=y
>
> (Did I miss out any neccessary modules during the compilation?)
>
> I have a wireless router with an internal IP of 192.168.1.25, WEP
> Enabled, wep key = "12345",

try s:12345

John

4partee wrote:
> On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 04:50:34 -0800, Steven wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I need some pointers regarding wireless configuration in slack 10.2.
>>Hopefully someone can shed some light.
>>I'm running on Kernel 2.6.14.5 with the following parameters:
>>
>>- CONFIG_NET_RADIO=y
>>- CONFIG_IPW2200=m
>>- CONFIG_HOSTAP=m
>>- CONFIG_NET_WIRELESS=y
>>
>>(Did I miss out any neccessary modules during the compilation?)
>>
>>I have a wireless router with an internal IP of 192.168.1.25, WEP
>>Enabled, wep key = "12345",
>
>
> try s:12345
>
> John

Yes, a good one, that!

Eric

--
Eric Hameleers
Gpg fingerprint: F2CE 1B92 EE1F 2C0C E97E 581E 5E56 AAAF A75C BDA0

I've managed to get wireles to work.
But I've stumbled onto an issue that I've always taken for granted.

In rc.inet1.conf, there's this GATEWAY para which defines the default
gateway.
I realised that if i do not set the default gateway, ie: Leave it
empty. my wireless will not be able to get any data outside my internal
lan.

I dont get it. Since Im able to connect to my ESSID; which means i can
get my IP from dhcp automatically; then why should I need to set the
default gateway? If I were to set the default GATEWAY, doesnt that
defeats the purpose of wireless? Since wireless means mobility. I can
go to cafes and surf net from there, etc. Go to cafes, sets the ESSID,
viola. Correct me if im wrong.

Setting DHCP_KEEPGW doesnt help either. I left DHCP_KEEPGW blank.

In order for my wireles to get outside of my internal LAN, I have to
set the GATEWAY para. Which is weird.

Can anyone shed some light, please?

Thanks & Regards,
Steven

Steven wrote:
> I've managed to get wireles to work.
> But I've stumbled onto an issue that I've always taken for granted.
>
> In rc.inet1.conf, there's this GATEWAY para which defines the default
> gateway.
> I realised that if i do not set the default gateway, ie: Leave it
> empty. my wireless will not be able to get any data outside my internal
> lan.
>
> I dont get it. Since Im able to connect to my ESSID; which means i can
> get my IP from dhcp automatically; then why should I need to set the
> default gateway? If I were to set the default GATEWAY, doesnt that
> defeats the purpose of wireless? Since wireless means mobility. I can
> go to cafes and surf net from there, etc. Go to cafes, sets the ESSID,
> viola. Correct me if im wrong.
>
> Setting DHCP_KEEPGW doesnt help either. I left DHCP_KEEPGW blank.
>
> In order for my wireles to get outside of my internal LAN, I have to
> set the GATEWAY para. Which is weird.

Your DHCP server (probably your wireless AP) should give you an IP, a
default gateway IP and DNS IP(s). If not, your AP (access point) is
not configured correctly.

You should get this from the DHCP server of your ISP, which would set it for
the router. Then the router would either pass that along (if you're not
using NAT), or pass itself as the gateway (if you are, which is more common).

If you're not getting default gateway set, you may want to try another DHCP
client (like, dhcpclient, or a newer version of dhcpcd). There are
apparently 2 or 3 ways to send this information, and a number of RFCs that
define different ways that are allowed. In some cases the client has to ask
explicitly for a gateway in its request. Check the configuration file for
your current DHCP client and make sure its asking for that as well.

Networking can be a pain at times, but once you've set it up right once, you
generally don't have to play with it again. Good luck, and keep up the good
attitude of seeing this as a learning experience.

Steven wrote:

> I've managed to get wireles to work.
> But I've stumbled onto an issue that I've always taken for granted.
>
> In rc.inet1.conf, there's this GATEWAY para which defines the default
> gateway.
> I realised that if i do not set the default gateway, ie: Leave it
> empty. my wireless will not be able to get any data outside my internal
> lan.
>
> I dont get it. Since Im able to connect to my ESSID; which means i can
> get my IP from dhcp automatically; then why should I need to set the
> default gateway? If I were to set the default GATEWAY, doesnt that
> defeats the purpose of wireless? Since wireless means mobility. I can
> go to cafes and surf net from there, etc. Go to cafes, sets the ESSID,
> viola. Correct me if im wrong.
>
> Setting DHCP_KEEPGW doesnt help either. I left DHCP_KEEPGW blank.
>
> In order for my wireles to get outside of my internal LAN, I have to
> set the GATEWAY para. Which is weird.
>
> Can anyone shed some light, please?
>
> Thanks & Regards,
> Steven
>