Another linux n00b: Help with manual config of wireless

[mongoled]

Hi peeps,

I will try to describe wht I have achieved and wht I am having problems with.

Im using the latest Knoppix distro.

I have managed to install the driver for my WG311v2 using the following instructions

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20460&highlight=wg311

My router is NOT using DHCP, which is where my probelms start. When I try to setup the connection manually using the lanmanager (damn i cant remember wht the apps name is) i dont know wht to input for some of the values. The ones which im stumped on are:

Broadcast Address (the MAC address of adapter ???)
Namesever (DNS address???)

I believe im setting the other values correctly, any input into wht i should be looking out for is very welcome.

Cheers

[Harry Kuhman]

Hi peeps,
This greeting may not help your case.


My router is NOT using DHCP, which is where my probelms start.
Absolutely, although you don't mention why or even what make and model of router. But life with Knoppix is much simpler if you enable it.


Broadcast Address (the MAC address of adapter ???)
No the broadcast address is an IP address, not a MAC address. It is always the highest address in the local range, and that is determined by the mask (and the IP address). For exampe if you are using an IP address of 192.168..0.100 and a mask of 255.255.255.0 then the broadcast address is 192.168.0.255. With a different mask it would be different. You should be able to find much more information on this than you will ever want with a simple search at Google.



Namesever (DNS address???)
Yes, Nameserver, DNS, Domain Name Server are all the same. It's assigned by your ISP. Some routers let you put their address here and they forwar4d the DNS requests for you, but you should always be able to use the DNS assigned by the ISP.

[OErjan]

broadcast is NOT mac, you most likely can leave that blank. yes dns=nameserver

[mongoled]

Hello, well thanks for the reply, is this a formal forum as I dont seem why my greeting would deter people from responding?

The router is a WGT624, I have always set up my Windows networks manually, so I dont use DHCP, i didnt think it would be relevant to explain why I had it disabled.

Ok i will read up more on 'Broadcast Address', as for Name Server, I have been using my ISP DNS address so at least tht is correct.

Im sorry if my posts are lacking detail, because i have to switch back over to my Windows install to access the net, i am having difficulty recalling alot of the settings I have to play with when usign the Knoppix distro. I will attempt to connect again, and if I fail (which i think is more than likely) will bring back more detailed questions.

[mongoled]

Well, i didnt have much luck, it seems the reason Im not connecting is because my, 'Access Point' for some reason is not being detected. It comes up as 00:00:00:00:00:00:00. My ESSID is showing up fine, my ip address is showing up fine, just no Access Point.

How should i be troubleshooting this issue?

[mongoled]

Well, it looks like im not going to be getting any more help here. After browsing the net the last few days, reading abt 'normal' peoples issues with regards to Linux based OS's I understand the reason tht MS based products are so popular. I decided to post at these forums because of the forum title, KNOPPIX.net FROM ZERO TO LINUX IN 5 MINUTES. Ofcourse I didnt expect to become a Linux wiz in 5 minutes (LOL), but the amount of 'support' I have received has not helped me resolve the issues I have been having. Until experienced Linux users, can help the average user with 'fundamental' things such as connecting to the internet then my opinion is Linux based OS's will remain a platform operated by savvy users. I do understand that one of the reasons certain problems exist is down to hardware manufacturers lack of software support for Linux systems. I dont want to be attacked for my point of view, because this is how I see things from my perspective.

Taking my last question as an example, I havnt asked to be spoon fed, i take great joy by working something out for myself, but if I cant even get a comment from a general question such as the one I made,

Well, i didnt have much luck, it seems the reason Im not connecting is because my, 'Access Point' for some reason is not being detected. It comes up as 00:00:00:00:00:00:00. My ESSID is showing up fine, my ip address is showing up fine, just no Access Point.

How should i be troubleshooting this issue?then its clear, tht your average user will just give in and go back to his MS box.

My biggest dissapointment abt not being able to connect to the internet using the hardware available to me, is because I am not able to learn more abt Linux through using the internet as a learning/research tool. I learn (like most people) by reading something and doing it in practise. My intentions were to get the Knoppix live CD connect to the net, then to browse, read and try things related to this OS, something i cant do.

But im not going to give up, I will be installing ubuntu onto a hard disk pretty soon, hopefully I will have a better user experience from using this Linux distro.