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

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

[Mark Knecht]

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

[Mark Knecht]

On 7/6/06, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.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 ~ #

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

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?

   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:

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.

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

[Daniel da Veiga]

On 7/7/06, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7/6/06, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.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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------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Guidance requested for setting up ndiswrapper wireless under Gentoo

[Willie Wong]

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit, Size: 2519 bytes --]

On Thu, Jul 06, 2006 at 08:18:39PM -0700, Penguin Lover Mark Knecht squawked:
> 4) I emerged wpa_supplicant based on info here that says
> wpa_supplicant can be used with ndiswrapper:
> 
> 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?

I have mine in /etc/wpa_cupplicant.conf, and it works for me there. 
 
> 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?

When I first installed it, it was the only way to get WPA wireless.
And it allows a much simpler way to manage the three different
wireless networks that I would be using (I used to have to switch
config files for the wlan device based on which building I was in...)

I am sure there are other reasons, but I don't know any of them of the
top of my head. Perhaps you should visit the website for
wpa_supplicant to find out?

>   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:
> 
>   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.

Look again at the example file for wpa_supplicant. The first half you
most likely won't need to change... there's one option in it that
might be important for NDIS users, so you might just want to search
for NDIS in the comments and see if that applies to you. 

Then you can just scroll all the way to bottom, pick out an example
network-block configuration that most closely resembles the one you
have, and modify it to suit yourself. The configuration commands are
pretty self-explanatory, and if you are confused, croll up a page or
two, and you'll find the documentation for the commands. 

W
-- 
fornicate people, fornicate!
    ~Guillem Peiró Noguer of Spain. On the country's negative population growth
Sortir en Pantoufles: up 28 days, 17:12
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Guidance requested for setting up ndiswrapper wireless under Gentoo

[Mark Knecht]

On 7/8/06, Willie Wong <wwong@princeton.edu> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 06, 2006 at 08:18:39PM -0700, Penguin Lover Mark Knecht squawked:
> > 4) I emerged wpa_supplicant based on info here that says
> > wpa_supplicant can be used with ndiswrapper:
> >
> > 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?
>
> I have mine in /etc/wpa_cupplicant.conf, and it works for me there.
>
> > 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?
>
> When I first installed it, it was the only way to get WPA wireless.
> And it allows a much simpler way to manage the three different
> wireless networks that I would be using (I used to have to switch
> config files for the wlan device based on which building I was in...)
>
> I am sure there are other reasons, but I don't know any of them of the
> top of my head. Perhaps you should visit the website for
> wpa_supplicant to find out?
>
> >   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:
> >
> >   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.
>
> Look again at the example file for wpa_supplicant. The first half you
> most likely won't need to change... there's one option in it that
> might be important for NDIS users, so you might just want to search
> for NDIS in the comments and see if that applies to you.
>
> Then you can just scroll all the way to bottom, pick out an example
> network-block configuration that most closely resembles the one you
> have, and modify it to suit yourself. The configuration commands are
> pretty self-explanatory, and if you are confused, croll up a page or
> two, and you'll find the documentation for the commands.
>
> W

Thanks Willie,
   I got it working yesterday but it's broken today. See the post I
just made to the list for more details. Maybe you can see what mistake
I'm making.

   Thanks for the response.

Cheers,
Mark
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