From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1QDya6-0002tE-PC for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:38:31 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 72CD91C00A; Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:37:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wmta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (wmta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net [167.206.10.4]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 395B41C00A for ; Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:37:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from optonline.net (mstr10_15c.srv.hcvlny.cv.net [10.240.4.69]) by wmta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-8.04 (built Feb 28 2007)) with ESMTP id <0LK50029TPPRA600@wmta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net> for gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org; Sun, 24 Apr 2011 08:37:03 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [10.240.3.201] (Forwarded-For: 68.175.118.209, [10.240.3.201]) by mstr15.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (mshttpd); Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:37:03 +0000 (GMT) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:37:03 +0000 (GMT) From: dhkuhl@optonline.net Subject: [gentoo-user] WPA Supplicant To: gentoo-user Message-id: Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Sun Java(tm) System Messenger Express 6.2-9.20 (built Jul 15 2010) Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_kw1GzbukDADMlvFh9ccGDw)" Content-language: en X-Accept-Language: en Priority: normal X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: 35f2723e51c883f16a6fbbb8879ecb7e This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_kw1GzbukDADMlvFh9ccGDw) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline I'm trying to get wireless working reliably on my laptop. I have followed the documentation, but still have a lot of questions . . . especially since it only seems to work sometimes. First, I'm using WPA Supplicant without the gui tools. Second, I'm in NYC and there are a lot of networks I can use around town. Third, Is there a way I can control the services I use from the Grub menu? Since the laptop has a wireless card and an RJ45 jack, I'd like to be able boot and not use one or the other. Since I know if I'm not physically connected to a network, there's really no reason to even try eth0. Forth, The problem. I'm not sure how wpa_supplicant works or how it should work. The wpa_supplicant man page gives a few examples on how to run it, but when I look at the process list it seems to be run by another program called wpa_cli. There's also a shell script in /etc/wpa/supplicant that looks like it can start or stop it with CONNECT or DISCONNECT. 1) Do I need to enter networks in wpa_supplicant.conf or does wpa_supplicant scan for networks and connect to whatever's available? 2) If I have multiple networks available how does wpa_supplicant choose which to connect to and can I specify which one I want? 3) How should wpa_supplicant be started, stopped and restarted? What should be used for this: wpa_supplicant, wpa_cli, or wpa_cli.sh? I don't see anything in /etc/init.d for that, but it looks like netmount may be doing it. 4) The documentation doesn't say to, but the way I got wireless working is by creating a link net.wlan0 -> net.lo in the /etc/init.d directory. Is this correct? I think that's why it's starting automatically when I boot too, because I never added it with rc-update so netmount must be picking it up. 5) This is the most puzzling thing. When wpa_supplicant starts even though I get a inet address I can't always get to the internet. Why does the panel applet says I'm connected and ifconfig shows an inet address but firefox and ping can't reach a site like yahoo or google? 6) For networks where I have a password, should that go in wpa_supplicant.conf as plain text or should it be encrypted? I think I have more questions, but this is good for starters. Thanks, dhk --Boundary_(ID_kw1GzbukDADMlvFh9ccGDw) Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline
I'm trying to get wireless working reliably on my laptop.  I have followed the documentation, but still have a lot of questions . . . especially since it only seems to work sometimes.
 
First, I'm using WPA Supplicant without the gui tools.
 
Second, I'm in NYC and there are a lot of networks I can use around town.
 
Third, Is there a way I can control the services I use from the Grub menu?  Since the laptop has a wireless card and an RJ45 jack, I'd like to be able boot and not use one or the other.  Since I know if I'm not physically connected to a network, there's really no reason to even try eth0.
 
Forth, The problem.  I'm not sure how wpa_supplicant works or how it should work.  The wpa_supplicant man page gives a few examples on how to run it, but when I look at the process list it seems to be run by another program called wpa_cli.  There's also a shell script in /etc/wpa/supplicant that looks like it can start or stop it with CONNECT or DISCONNECT.
1) Do I need to enter networks in wpa_supplicant.conf or does wpa_supplicant scan for networks and connect to whatever's available?
2) If I have multiple networks available how does wpa_supplicant choose which to connect to and can I specify which one I want?
3) How should wpa_supplicant be started, stopped and restarted?  What should be used for this:  wpa_supplicant, wpa_cli, or wpa_cli.sh?  I don't see anything in /etc/init.d for that, but it looks like netmount may be doing it.
4) The documentation doesn't say to, but the way I got wireless working is by creating a link net.wlan0 -> net.lo in the /etc/init.d directory.  Is this correct?  I think that's why it's starting automatically when I boot too, because I never added it with rc-update so netmount must be picking it up.
5) This is the most puzzling thing.  When wpa_supplicant starts even though I get a inet address I can't always get to the internet.  Why does the panel applet says I'm connected and ifconfig shows an inet address but firefox and ping can't reach a site like yahoo or google?
6) For networks where I have a password, should that go in wpa_supplicant.conf as plain text or should it be encrypted?
 
I think I have more questions, but this is good for starters.
 
Thanks,
 
dhk
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