brief wireless config tutorial please

**tony_c** · 02-02-2004, 01:23 AM

I am new to Knoppix and linux. I have a presario 900US and a Linksys PCMCIA v3 wireless card. Everything else runs great! I have no idea how to get the networking working. I am familiar with dos commands, but am new to linux commands so please be specific. I notice an eth0 and eth1 in the list of network cards (from the network config in the knoppix menu in KDE), so I guess knoppix detected the card. I have a linksys WAP and router running dhcp, but I can't access the internet. I don't think I'm actually connecting to the router; however the lights on my card are lighting up. Thanks in advance.

**aay** · 02-02-2004, 02:47 AM

Try running wlcardconfig from the command line. Is your wireless card detected? If wlcardconfig sees the card, you just need to enter in your particular info (essid, password etc) in the dialog boxes.

**tearinghairout** · 02-02-2004, 04:31 AM

The device eth1 is most likely your wireless card.

The linux equivalent of ipconfig is ifconfig. It will show you your IP address etc.

The linux equivalent of 'ipconfig /renew eth1' is 'pump -i eth1'. This will ask your DHCP server for an IP address. You can run this manually just to see if you can get things working.

There is a file called /etc/network/interfaces. This contains a list of your network cards and commands to set them up.

It should contain an entry like 'iface eth1 inet dhcp'. There are probably a myriad of different menu options and programs to set up your networks, but they all just aim to do the same thing, which is modify this file. The command 'man interfaces' can tell you more.

If you have a wireless access point, I don't believe that it is necessary to specify any ESSID's or anything. I think the access point handles all that for you (I could be wrong though).

**tony_c** · 02-02-2004, 10:30 PM

Thank you for your responses. I am trying your suggestions now, and will report back.
NOTE: I have to boot windows to access the net right now

**tony_c** · 02-02-2004, 11:53 PM

I noticed that knoppix is recognizing my wireless card as eth0. During the boot process it recognized and configured the card. It then attemped the pump command that you refferenced in your post. Since I'm unable to access the net, I tried typing the commands that you told me about. pump -i eth0 fails, I don't know why. For some reason it won't contact my Linksys WAP (running dhcp). I'm sure that I'm doing something wrong, as everything else works great, and it is recognizing the card. I just don't know why pump keeps failing.

**aay** · 02-03-2004, 02:30 AM

Originally Posted by tony_c

pump -i eth0 fails, I don't know why. For some reason it won't contact my Linksys WAP (running dhcp). I'm sure that I'm doing something wrong, as everything else works great, and it is recognizing the card. I just don't know why pump keeps failing.

Is WEP enabled on your access point? That's why I suggested you try running wlcardconfig. From what you said, it sounded like your card was detected properly and that all you needed to do was run wlcardconfig. Wlcardconfig will ask for your ssid and WEP key/password. DHCP will fail unless you supply this info. Even if you don't have WEP enabled, you will still need to specify the ssid of your AP. It's easy to do this with wlcardconfig. If your card isn't assigned an address via dhcp after configuring wlcardconfig, then run netcardconfig and you should be able to request an address.

**tony_c** · 02-03-2004, 02:48 PM

That was it!!! I'm in knoppix right now, using my wireless card to connect! I made it way more complicated than it was. Thank you so much.

So for any other linux newbies out there who's wireless card is detected and loaded without errors, but you aren't connecting over your wireless card:

1. Go to the command line and type... wlcardconfig
2. Enter your wireless network's name (SSID) when prompted.
3. Enter your WEP key/password (if your network is encrypted) when prompted.
4. Leave the other specs blank.
5. After you complete the config, at the command line type... pump -i eth0
(where "0" is the number of your wireless card)

**aay** · 02-03-2004, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by tony_c

That was it!!! I'm in knoppix right now, using my wireless card to connect! I made it way more complicated than it was. Thank you so much.

So for any other linux newbies out there who's wireless card is detected and loaded without errors, but you aren't connecting over your wireless card:

1. Go to the command line and type... wlcardconfig
2. Enter your wireless network's name (SSID) when prompted.
3. Enter your WEP key/password (if your network is encrypted) when prompted.
4. Leave the other specs blank.
5. After you complete the config, at the command line type... pump -i eth0
(where "0" is the number of your wireless card)

Glad to hear it's working.

**steven2099** · 05-15-2004, 05:51 AM

tony-c
I just followed your advice for my WPC v3 under Knoppix 3.4 and it worked.

Thanks,
another small victory for Linux.

steven2099

**Durand Hicks** · 05-15-2004, 05:07 PM

FYI,

There is a netcardconfig script under the knoppix menu. That script does both ifconfig, iwconfig, and wlcardconfig all in one shot. Try that first if you're trying to set up a wireless connection on your pc.

HTH,

Durand