Differences between revisions 28 and 29
Revision 28 as of 2008-05-06 19:21:20
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Editor: FranklinPiat
Comment: update link to Ath0NoScan.
Revision 29 as of 2008-05-08 08:46:34
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Comment: removed my "solution" to background scan messages -- now known to be wrong
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If you suffer a problem with annoying messages like this
{{{
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): ath0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): ath0: link becomes ready
}}}
This may be a solution: [:WiFi/ath_pci#Ath0NoScan: ath0: link is not ready & ath0: link becomes ready]
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 ----

Translations: [:DebianEeePCFrench/HowTo/Wifi:French] [:DebianEeePCItalian/HowTo/Wifi:Italian] [:DebianEeePCPortuguese/HowTo/Wifi:Portuguese]

Instructions for installing the custom madwifi can be found in our [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/Install#head-1e6b527ab177808ee304c69da8da7e44511719c1:Install ?HowTo].

If you're impatient and want to configure for wifi without encryption to a single access point, you can simply set it up as follows:

Simple open network

(File: /etc/network/interfaces)
auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp
pre-up ifconfig ath0 up
pre-up iwconfig ath0 essid "router ID"

Wpa supplicant with PSK

A more elegant solution to connect to one or more access points either with or without encryption is to use wpasupplicant. This is our recommended way to configure wifi for the Eee.

First, you have to "aptitude install wpasupplicant".

To configure for wifi to single access point with WPA(2)-PSK encryption, open a text file and paste this and save it as /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
eapol_version=1
network={
        ssid="ROUTER ID"
        psk="your password"
        priority=5
}

Then edit /etc/network/interfaces with this:

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Reboot and you have wifi :)

Wpa supplicant in roaming mode

For multiple access points, you'll want "roaming" mode. Starting with the previous example, in /etc/network/interfaces, change 'auto ath0' to 'allow-hotplug ath0', change 'wpa-conf' to 'wpa-roam'. Also change 'iface ath0 inet dhcp' to 'iface ath0 inet manual' and add a default connection method 'iface default inet dhcp'. When you're all done, your /etc/network/interfaces should look something like this:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp
allow-hotplug ath0
iface ath0 inet manual
        wpa-driver wext
        wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp

Now we are ready to define additional networks in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. For example:

network={
        key_mgmt=NONE
}

This is a catch-all that will associate with any open access point within range using dhcp to connect.

You can add additional specific networks, each with their own ssid and specify either the type of encryption to use or specify key_mgmt=NONE for either no encryption or WEP. We can also assign id strings to these networks, so that if, for example, your home network is static, and the local cafe is dhcp, we can alter our files like so.

For WEP, you specify the key as follows:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
eapol_version=1
network={
     ssid="cafe"
     key_mgmt=NONE
     wep_key0=FFEEDD001122
     id_str="cafe"
}
network={
     ssid="home-router"
     psk=abcdefg
     id_str="home"
}

And edit our /etc/network/interfaces as follows

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp
allow-hotplug ath0
iface ath0 inet manual
        wpa-driver wext
        wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp
iface cafe inet dhcp
iface home inet manual
     address 192.168.1.5
     netmask 255.255.255.0
     network 192.168.1.0
     broadcast 192.168.1.255
     gateway 192.168.1.1

Tip: If you have trouble connecting to a network because it does not broadcast its ssid, add 'scan_ssid=1' to its network stanza.

Tip: Look in the [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/Install#head-322b9ade98a9e61ecd1609bc67f3d3779f9c9820:Troubleshooting] section of the main Install page if you have an error.

Using NetworkManager

If you like to use [:NetworkManager], delete eth0 and ath0 configuration from /etc/network/intefaces, install network-manager and network-manager-gnome (or network-manager-kde) packages, and add your user to netdev group.

su
apt-get install network-manager network-manager-gnome
adduser <yourusername> netdev