Log on to password protected wireless networks?

[foxdog27]

Hi,

I am using Knoppix 4.0.2 on an IBM thinkpad T22. I'm currently overseas and need to log on to various hotels' wireless networks.

So far, it has been straight forward. I bought a wireless card and installed it using ndiswrapper. Kwifimanager detected the network automatically and all I had to do was click on a browser and I was away.

Now I am in a hotel that has a password. I can't run windows on my laptop, but know that xp prompts you for the password when you want to browse, but I can't find how to do this. I've tried entering the password in encryption etc. but nothing works. The hotel has given me a cable and the internet works fine through that.

I managed to get the computer to detect their network by clicking on Network/Internet and then Network Card Configuration and entering "Any" for the essid prompt and entering the password in one of the later fields. The connection was ultimate, and it detected the network, but neither FIrefox nor Konquerer could show me a webpage. Kwifimanager did say in the bottom left hand corner "Access point unknown."

The problem was that after doing this, the computer would no longer connect to the internet via the cable, even when I removed the wireless card and rebooted. The only way to connect now is to run Knoppix from the DVD - normally I run it from my hard drive installation.

I am a real beginner and would appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Gemma

[foxdog27]

OK, the cable network problem is (easily) fixed -- when we were fiddling with the network card configuration dhcp broadcast was turned off, turning it back on fixed the cable access, so now it is just a matter of getting the password entered so that wireless works.

[Petecomp1]

Equipment: Linksys WRT54G router, latest firmware updates, Sony VAIO laptop with builtin Intel BG2200 wireless adapter

I am also unable to achieve a connection using WPA enabled at the router. Disabling WPA results in automatic connection and all's well when I boot from the Live CD to Knoppix. I tried Kwifi, and everything else I could find, to no avail. If any Knoppix developers are reading this, please add a function to check for WPA security and then ask the user for the WPA authentication string or passphrase. This needs to be a priority so that new Linux users are able to learn the system by using internet resources while trying new things, IMHO. A lot of users now rely on wireless and the distros need to offer a similar wireless security functionality as that in Windoze, i.e., GUI driven.