----- Original Message ----- From: Mick Date: Sunday, April 24, 2011 9:14 am Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] WPA Supplicant To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
> On Sunday 24 April 2011 13:37:03 dhk...@optonline.net wrote: > > 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. > > run wpa_gui from a terminal and a lot of what you're asking > below will become > self-explanatory. > > > > 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. > > Check /etc/conf.d/rc and in particular: > > # RC_NET_STRICT_CHECKING allows some flexibility with the 'net' > service.# The following values are allowed: > # none - The 'net' service is always considered up. > # no - This basically means that at least one net.* service > besides net.lo > # must be up. This can be used by notebook users that > have a wifi > and > # a static nic, and only wants one up at any given time > to have the > # 'net' service seen as up. > # lo - This is the same as the 'no' option, but net.lo is > also counted. > # This should be useful to people that do not care > about any specific > # interface being up at boot. > # yes - For this ALL network interfaces MUST be up for the > 'net' service to > # be considered up. > > RC_NET_STRICT_CHECKING="no" > > (or you can use "lo") > > > > 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? > > The latter. > > You can however enter manually in > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf > particular parameters (keys and what not) of known networks to > which you > connect as a matter of preference. > > > > 2) If I have multiple > > networks available how does wpa_supplicant choose which to > connect to and > > can I specify which one I want? > > It'll connect to: > > a) Any network you have specified in your > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf according to the > preference you have > set up therein. > > b) Any network it finds. > > c) Any network you select with wpa_cli, or select/enable/disable > in wpa_gui. > > > > 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. > > You need to define it in /etc/conf.d/net: > > modules=( "wpa_supplicant" ) > wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext" > > (adjust this according to the name of your wireless iface and driver). > > > > 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? > > It depends which documentation you are looking at. I am sure > that this is > explained in the gentoo Handbook and associated documentation. > > This is the link you need: > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 16 14:26 net.wlan0 -> net.lo > > but you should have also configured /etc/conf.d/net with your > desired settings > or just defaults will run. > > > > 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? > > This could well be a dns server/repeater issue. > > If you can ping the IP address of google, but not the domain > name of it, then > the problem is that you do not have access to a DNS repeater. > Look in your > /etc/resolve.conf to see if there is a line saying: > > nameserver XXX.XXX.XX.XX > > if it is absent then you have not connected to a namesever. > This is a router > issue and it could be controlled by some authentication scheme. > A lot of > wireless services offered by coffee shops, libraries, etc. may > give you an IP > address automatically, but then require you use your browser to > register with > their authentication server (using a passwd that they provide > after you pay > them for the privilege). > > Open access points with no encryption and no DNS authentication > requirements > should allow you to connect seamlessly to the Internet. > > > > 6) For networks where I have a > > password, should that go in wpa_supplicant.conf as plain text > or should it > > be encrypted? > > This can be a confusing endeavour because some routers will only > accept > certain characters in a passphrase, so you could be failing to > connect due to > the peculiarities of the router. The passphrase should be > entered as provided > by the router owner, then a hex key generated with > wpa_passphrase (look at man > wpa_passphrase). Then enter the hex key in your > wpa_supplicant.conf, or your > wpa_gui. > > HTH for now, ask more as you need it. > -- > Regards, > Mick > I'll give this stuff a try. I'm sure I'll be back. Thanks.
