Linux Unwired

Alex Moskalyuk writes "Remember the Best Buy commercial where a puppet asks a woman for a laptop computer, and upon hearing that it's a 'wireless' laptop, starts imagining his life free of strings and limitations? That guy doesn't know it yet, but soon the harsh reality will kick in, ironically kicking him off the wireless network periodically if he uses Microsoft Windows Wireless Zero Configuration or if he wants to run Linux on a laptop with WiFi card that doesn't support Linux. This book, however, is not just about getting your Linux laptop onto the wireless network. Granted, WiFi plays a big role in today's business and personal networks, and three chapters are dedicated to exactly that purpose, but behind that wireless adjective we have a variety of technologies." Read on for the rest of Alex's review of Linux Unwired, from O'Reilly. Linux Unwired: A Complete Guide to Wireless Configuration author Roger Weeks, Edd Dumbill, Brian Jepson pages 300 publisher OReilly rating 8 reviewer Alex Moskalyuk ISBN 0596005830 summary Complete guide to wireless configuration on Linux

Infrared, Bluetooth, 802.11 (in current a, b and g offerings, 802.11i is also being discussed), wireless access points friendly to Linux, United States commercial cellular networks and GPS systems are all covered in a single title that surprisingly fits all of this information into 284 pages. All the chapters can be subdivided into two large parts - familiarizing yourself with the technology (the primer on GPS is pretty good) and running Linux on it (with code and shell command samples and lots of URLs).

Introduction

The authors start up with introduction to wireless, intended for Linux geeks who are not quite up to speed on radio technologies. The concepts of waves, spectrum and radio wave behavior are explained, so later the reader can explain what a retracted radio wave is. Then the first chapter moves on to explain antenna behavior, wireless infrastructure modes and some common problem, like a hidden node in ad-hoc infrastructure. The chapter is well-written, and you're not expected to have an advanced radio degree or ARRL membership to understand the terms.

WiFi cards

Chapters 2, 3 and 4 deal with connecting a Linux desktop or notebook to a wireless 802.11 network. The first issue is that of chipsets used in the wireless card, and even though enough research has been done already, authors discuss different quirks relevant to Intersil Prism, Lucent WavelLan/Orinoco, Aironet/Cisco, Symbol, Atmel, Atheros and Broadcom chipsets. We need to discuss chipsets instead of discussing the actual wireless cards, since some hardware may be shipped under the same brand name with different internals. "A good case in point: the D-Link DWL-650. This radio card initially shipped with a Prism II chipset and was very popular, because it worked on a Linux box. However, D-Link changed chipsets when it released the DWL-650 Version 2, choosing the ADMtek chipset. It is very difficult to tell from the packaging which version of the DWL-650 you are purchasing".

The chapters are done in traditional walk-through mode. They are not HOWTOs or compendia of reference information, available from the manufacturer's Web sites. The authors made an effort to ensure the reader is capable of starting up a wireless connection on Linux box, knowing nothing about it while learning important technology in the process. Certain wireless drivers need to be compiled into Linux kernel, so the task is not for the meek, but with detailed explanation, plenty of URLs and nice fonts and paragraph formatting O'Reilly Publishing uses to differentiate between the text, commands entered at the shell, and URLs, the book is easy to read.

Chapter 3 (available in PDF) teaches the reader how to connect to existing wireless network once the wireless card has been recognized by the system and proven functional. By the time the book hit the stores it was already a bit out of date, since the very first hotspot operator, Cometa Networks, shut down in May 2004. Chapter 4 discusses wireless security, touching WEP settings, a $20 Linuxant utility allowing the user to implement WiFi Protected Access, as well as authentication utilities wpa_supplicant and XSupplicant.

WiFi access points

The issue of WiFi access points is not trivial either, as many vendors out there will ship the product with a Windows app being the only way to set it up. However, for the access point setups that are Web-based, a browser in Linux will do the job. The most Linux-friendly access point include Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, Cisco, SMC, EnGenius, Belkin, US Robotics, Microsoft and ActionTec. Again, harsh reality kicked in between the time the book was written and went to press, and it's sad to see yet another Linux-friendly access point vendor quitting the market.

Not satisfied with commercial offerings out there? Chapter 6 takes the reader into the task of building your own access point. Don't forget that an access point doesn't need to be a compact portable - your old 486 with Linux on it and a wireless card connected to it might serve the purpose. Unfortunately, after all the hardware is bought and assembled, the final product might still cost you the quadruple (in case you go with smaller form-factor motherboards and CompactFlash cards for software storage), so consider this more as a geek project, not a viable solution. The authors use LinuxAP distribution for this task.

16 pages are dedicated to hacking Linksys WRT54G access point with Sveasoft, described as disruptive technology by Robert X. Cringely. The authors also take a brief look at Wifi-box and OpenWRT.

Other wireless technologies

Bluetooth, Infrared, cellular and GPS chapters follow the same chapter plan - first the basics of the technology and simple use case scenarios of what you might use it for, then the hardware needed to implement the wireless technology, available Linux software to do the jobs, accompanied with the list of shell commands to successfully talk to a wireless product, and after that typical applications of the working link.

The authors tested various wireless data plans in the United States, although this data, once again, is constantly changing as the operators buy one another and introduce new data plans. The winner of the quality and the fastest download tests, by the way, was a Motorola v120e phone on Verizon Wireless network. In upload speed tests a Merlin C201 PCMCIA card on Sprint PCS network won. T-Mobile also offers a PCMCIA card for its GPRS network, so the authors install and run it under Linux in Chapter 9.

The last chapter discusses using Linux computers with GPS devices and open-source GPSdrive project for reading GPS data.

The book

For those just venturing into the wireless world, the book would be useful. All the information provided on WiFi connectivity can perhaps be googled and found in various HOWTOs. With wireless operators, GPS systems and Infrared connection one would have to rely on enthusiast sites and newsgroups. Having such informative title that covers all of the technologies would be very useful to a Linux enthusiast.

With that, the book can be quite overwhelming, although it's probably not intended to be read from page 1 to the end. There's usually more than one correct way to do things in Linux, and for each successful project another competitor appears on SourceForge the next day. I like the authors' approach of dedicating most of the chapter space to one, leading, Linux package that seems to be dominant in the field, and then briefly mentioning the others. A notable omission is Intel's Centrino drivers for Linux, as the company is bound to become a leader in the chipset marketplace with 42% of notebooks shipped in 2003 running Centrino chipsets.

But overall the book proved to have a high informational and educational value, not only you follow the steps on setting up wireless technologies on Linux, but you also learn the internals of the technology and why certain things are done that way, but not another.

You can purchase Linux Unwired from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Easy solution

[foidulus]

Get an airport(or as I have, an AirMac) card!

/ducks!

Re:Easy solution

[ph33nd]

Actually, I seem to have the same problem with my AirPort Extreme card and a linksys 802.11b station...

Re:Easy solution

[foidulus]

Hmmm...I have never gotten kicked off using my aiport router(little info here, I bought my router in Japan, where iodata makes routers/access cards called airport, and Apple's cards/base stations are called AirMac) nor in any of the public terminals I have been in, maybe I'm just lucky, who knows.

Re:Easy solution

[rakkasan]

mix, Xandros 2.0 deluxe, Cisco Pcmcia aironet 350 card and a linksys 2.4 802.11b hub on a dell C600. Disable on board nic, configure dns. off and running. no recompile. wireless. wep doesn't work tho..:(

Re:Easy solution

[NanoGator]

"Get an airport(or as I have, an AirMac) card!"

Heh. The only time I ever had a problem with the wireless zero service was on an airport. (I doubt that was the problem, though...)

Re:Easy solution

[ph33nd]

I've had this problem actually with the router i suppose, my roommate keeps getting kicked too, but we still get a strong signal... i've encountered this problem with more than one linksys router tho... could be linksys

Re:Easy solution

[foidulus]

yeah, my friends have had the same problem with the lynksys wireless routers, they will get kicked off the internet, although the signal is strong. You aren't alone.

Re:Easy solution

[NewNole2001]

If you are using Windows, then look at the link at the beginning of the article to see what might be causing your problems.

That's a genuine problem

[metlin]

From the article --

Microsoft disputes the notion that there's a problem with the way Windows XP works with Wi-Fi.

That's a blatant lie, typical Microsoft attitude.

For the longest time, the wi-fi connection of my notebook would keep dropping and I thought it was because of a bad wireless card.

I changed my wireless card, I tried everything possible.

What I had not noticed was everything I was in Linux, this never happened - no matter what! There are areas in my school where the wi-fi signal strength is particularly weak, and even in those areas I never lost connection from Linux.

Somehow, when I would boot into Windows, my wi-fi link would keep dropping. I still haven't figured the problem yet, I just use Linux instead everytime.

And so contrary to what Microsoft may say, there is a problem with Windows XP (I have the problem whether am on XP Home or XP Pro). I wonder whether they EVER admit their mistakes.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[__Maad__]

I have the same problem mentioned in the Wired article, have seen it in numerous places and know of others who have the same problem.

At the very end of the article they state that you can bring the connection back to life by stopping and starting XP's Wireless Zero Configuration service -- I wish I had known that during some very ill-timed outages! This suggests that XP has everything to do with the problem but I'd still be careful in blaming Microsoft outright. Still, what a disaster.

I wonder now if on my centrino-based Dell laptop it is possible to simply turn off XP's zero config option if Intel's PROSet tools are running. Anybody know?

Re:That's a genuine problem

[networkBoy]

Yes you can. The Intel PROSet driver works far better when compared to the zero config. Set up a list of preferred APs and the PROSet tools will connect in order of preference and NOT continue to bump you around to other APs when they show up as long as any on your preferences are available. If you wan't I beleive you can even turn that off and go for a fully static config.

HTH,
-nB

Re:That's a genuine problem

[lukewarmfusion]

As I tell many of my users:

If I can't recreate and experience the problem, I can't fix it. Microsoft has heard these complaints, and has probably investigated the problem; if they can't experience the problem on their own, the logical conclusion is that it's not on their side. Of course, with something as complex as an OS and the associated software, hardware, drivers, etc. for the wirelesss, it's much harder to track down a bug, let alone find the exact settings that cause it.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[jfmiller]

I would like to point all of you to this article at Ars Technica. It explains the problem and how to fix it.

Good Luck

JFMILLER

Re:That's a genuine problem

[swv3752]

The problem with the Zero Config service is a known issue. If your card has its own config util and you disable the zero config util, there is no problem. If you connect with the zero config and then disable zero config, there will be no problem. The zero config has a bug that will drop connections.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[ElForesto]

I could have told you that! *grins* WinXP's utility is useless. On a lot of systems, I couldn't get it to hook up to a router of the same brand 2 feet away with the default settings. I tell Microsoft what it can do with it's utility, install the one from the manufacturer, and BAM, it works.

I should have known better than to trust software from Microsoft over the software from the manufacturer.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[sixteenraisins]

It's not a Windows XP problem, it's a configuration problem.

I recently migrated from a 10/100 wired home network to a wi-fi network. For the first two weeks there was no problem whatsoever. I had read about the problem with XP seemingly dropping the wi-fi connection, but I had never experienced it.

Last night, I set up a couple of shared folders on each of two different computers on the network (using a wi-fi router connected to a cable modem), and this problem appeared. The wireless connection would drop for no apparent reason. Although it was easy to restart the connection, it was aggravating.

I found the solution in the way XP handles the network setup, and it's quite a bit different from other versions of Windows. I re-ran the network configuration utility in XP and set up the network with an access point, rather than a router. Apparently, XP equates "router" as a computer thru which all internet traffic flows, whereas I use a "router" as a separate hardware device.

This setup cured the problem.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[uberdave]

Either that or the zero config util brings a bug on the card/hardware to the surface. It may not be as clear cut as it seems. It could even be a side effect of spyware on the affected machine.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[thbusch]

So, Greg Sullivan says, ""We don't have data that suggests Windows XP drops wireless connections more than any other system."

Reminds me of Tom Peters (child of the 80s) rant on a company saying, "We're no worse than anyone else." What a great motto to put over the door!

Re:That's a genuine problem

[swv3752]

Multiple cards/chipsets. It has been well recognized by many. Microsoft says it is a feature not a bug.

Yes, it is clear cut.

Re:That's a genuine problem

[eoyount]

As much as I dislike Windows XP, I had just the opposite problem.

I bought one of those thumb-drive shaped netgear wireless cards, and it wouldn't even connect 95% of the time with the netgear supplied access configuration software. Every time I rebooted I had to mess with the thing to get it working again. Ever since I uninstalled that infernal piece of software, I haven't had any problems to speak of with that wireless connection.

Beat that, Carnack!

[Thud457]

I knew he was going to rate the book an "8"!

Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[MBCook]

I (and probably everyone else with XP) have expirianced that problem of getting your connection dropped. I learned how to fix it a while ago (and then Ars Technica wrote on it).

The problem is if Windows can find a network that broadcasts it's SSID when yours doesn't, it will try to switch. There are three (or four) soltuions.

1. Find the other network and get the owner to turn off broadcasting
2. Turn broadcasting on for your network
3. Once you are connected to your network, disable the WZC service (set it to manual and disable it). Windows will KEEP the current settings (the ones that work) and won't change them every, so you'll stay on your network. You will have to re-enable WZC if you want to switch networks though
4. The fourth option is to use a 3rd party application to manage your wireless configuration (your WiFi vendor probably gave you one). But if your vendor doesn't have one for XP, this isn't an option.

I REALLY hope that they fix this in SP2, because it's my number one complaint.

Re:Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[lukewarmfusion]

I've never had this problem with Windows XP on any of my machines. They're all configured approximately the same, too.

I first encountered it yesterday, when a friend of mine installed a Linksys WUSB11 and complained about the drops. His network did not broadcast the SSID... and there are no other SSIDs being broadcast (that he can detect).

This is the first I've heard of this problem... but I've been configuring and using wireless networks for myself and friends for almost two years.

Re:Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the first I've heard of this problem... but I've been configuring and using wireless networks for myself and friends for almost two years.

You must be new here. Let me explain how /. works. A single Linux user encountered a problem with his wireless access under XP, obviously its Microsofts fault this occurred and they are blatant liars for not confessing to a major flaw in their software.

Re:Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[crimbil]

Or #5. Open the properties for your wireless connection. Click the tab for wireless networks. Click the Advanced button. Remove the check from the box titled "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks."

Re:Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[hawkstone]

I don't believe that works. It doesn't actually connect to them, it merely drops the original connection to let you know that they are available. To quote an Ars article: "You won't fully associate with that network, but the service will pop-up and tell you that there are multiple wireless networks to join, even if you have removed all other networks from your preferred settings (this contradicts Microsoft's report, which says it only affects preferred networks)."

Re:Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I have used Windows XP and have never had a dropout like this. I'm not sure I never used the zero configuration whatzit either.

Re:Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Problem

[MBCook]

You do, it's enabled by default. Now I know you say you've never expirianced the problem, but I was like you too. Mine worked fine for months. Then one day, the problem started and persisted for months. Then one day it stopped again. When it started again, I turned WZC off and the problem stopped. My other computers have had the problem too.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why the problem occurs. No configuraiton changes, no changes in wireless networks (mine or anyone else), etc. It just starts and stops.

All I can say is this: if you use Wireless with XP, have XP control your wireless configuration (IE don't use a utility Linksys gave you to configure the card), and your network doesn't broadcast it's SSID, you will face this. It's just a matter of time.

I used to be like you, then it happened to me.
*sobs*

;)

Is it just me...

[Fooby]

or does wireless seem a bit overhyped? I don't own a single wireless device and I don't really see the need yet. Sure there have been times when it would be convenient to have a cell-phone, but most of the time when I'm not home I don't want people harassing me with phone calls anyway. As for 802.11*, the data rate and reliability of ethernet beats it every time for home networking use. Something about carrying around a laptop so I can browse the web at random hotspots just doesn't float my boat. I have wired access at home and at work, and if I need access when I'm at neither I'd go to an internet cafe.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a luddite and I think these are great technologies, but for myself they just seem expensive and not terribly useful. What I do find interesting is use of WiFi for rural broadband. But that's still pretty novel.

Re:Is it just me...

[CompWerks]

It's just you...

Re:Is it just me...

[Dagny Taggert]

I'm with you on the cell phone thing, although my work demands that I have one. However, if you live in an older home (as I do), it is much, much more convienent to set up a wireless network. One comment about corporate wireless, though: in my limited experience with it, most of the execs who want it are fascinated by the whiz-banginess of it, not the true utility. And don't even begin to explain the security precautions they need to take...

Re:Is it just me...

[Fooby]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Re:Is it just me...

[garcia]

most of the time when I'm not home I don't want people harassing me with phone calls anyway. As for 802.11*, the data rate and reliability of ethernet beats it every time for home networking use. Something about carrying around a laptop so I can browse the web at random hotspots just doesn't float my boat. I have wired access at home and at work, and if I need access when I'm at neither I'd go to an internet cafe.

I don't see what cell phones have to do w/this but anyway... Yeah, I guess that wlan's aren't for everyone. I am moving in the next month and a half to a house of my own. It's two floors. I have absolutely no desire to be running ethernet cables behind the walls or through the ceiling in order to network devices in both areas of the house. I am going to be using my current 802.11b until I can justify the upgrade to g.

Personally I love having wireless net access whereever I am. I like being able to have email/web/AIM access at my disposal but also the ability to turn the device off when I want.

It keeps me from spending 20 minutes when I get home from whereever I am to go through all that stuff.

I like my personal space and I don't want anyone invading it unless it is on my terms. The off button is made for just that.

YMMV.

Re:Is it just me...

[Sloppy]

As for 802.11*, the data rate and reliability of ethernet beats it every time for home networking use. Something about carrying around a laptop so I can browse the web at random hotspots just doesn't float my boat.

I don't see the appeal of wireless on a home LAN either. But Wireless starts to look useful, when you're travelling.

if I need access when I'm at neither I'd go to an internet cafe.

Wait a minute .. you mean using someone else's computer? That is a security problem. How do you know it's not capturing your credentials or otherwise spying on you, in some way? Using a machine that is physically under your own control, is the only way to be sure.

Re:Is it just me...

[shawn(at)fsu]

No it's not just you.
I like the security that comes with a wired network, and my company does too, seeing how it is policy to keep the wireless hardware disabled.

I think WiFi has it's place, just not with me.

Re:Is it just me...

[tcopeland]

> wireless seem a bit overhyped?

I thought the same thing for a while... but after working on my laptop at home with no wires for the kids to yank on/trip over, I'll never go back. If I run across something interesting, I can carry my laptop in to another room to show my wife. If the living room gets too loud, I can move into the dining room. It's very handy.

And for some reason I still get a kick out of printing something over a wireless LAN connection. Just something odd about clicking the "print" button, with no wires attached, and then hearing my printer downstairs leap into action :-) I don't know why that still amazes me, but it does :-)

Re:Is it just me...

[silas_moeckel]

It's a bit over hyped for big desktop replacement laptops (I own 3 of them) where they need to be pluged into power anyway. But for a PDA bluetooth or 802.11(abg) is rather usefull as they can get out get your mail sync etc, same goes for small light weight laptops that have decent battery life. As far as cell phones it's all about how you use it, I have a cell phone that nobody calls me on unless it's important as in router down (I'm a network guy) as in I take one or two phone calls a business day on it. It's about lifestyle as well, I take an hour plus ride on the train each way a cellphone with bluetooth, laptop and pda allows me to get on the internet to read my personal email web surfing etc without looking like a moron with piles of wires hanging around. At work wifi is nice for laptops that you might be taking around working on the network, and the usual PDA functions. I wouldent call it expensive tech either 802.11b devices run about 20 bucks less than a stack of DVD-R's or a decent sized USB key.

Re:Is it just me...

[NanoGator]

"or does wireless seem a bit overhyped?"

Not in my view, no. My laptop floats between home and work. I have wireless at both home and work. I have long battery life on my laptop. At either place, I just pull it out and turn it on. It doesn't seem like much, but it's actually kind of a pain in the butt to go hook up ethernet/power cables. The convenience factor is there, not to mention that I can clear out of a room quickly.

Additionally, I had a PocketPC for a short time. I *really* enjoyed having that little guy on the wireless. This may sound silly, but using it for Instant Messaging was kind of fun. Not the most important thing in the world, but it is nice to be in contact with peeps without having a ringing phone or being anchored to my computer. If I had VoIP software, bonus!

It sounds like you already have a setup that works for you. It is not my intent to talk you into using wireless. As for being overhyped, no, sorry, don't agree with that. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if in a couple of years from now, PDA + Wireless == the next great communications device.

Re:Is it just me...

[nharmon]

I was going to say the same thing. My house was built in 1922. On top of that, it is 2-stories, so getting ethernet from the basement to the 2nd floor is not really easy. Wireless is perfect in these situations.

Re:Is it just me...

[silas_moeckel]

Using somebody elses network is similarly insecure. Setup airsnort and see how much traffic is plain text out there on a public wifi you will see piles of pop3 logins because all to often they are allowed.

Re:Is it just me...

[GreyPoopon]

or does wireless seem a bit overhyped?

It all depends on your needs or work habits. Here are my personal reasons:

• Wireless LAN at home: I frequently have to work at home. The office where our internet access is downstairs. I like having a wireless signal so that I can either work at the kitchen table or while sitting on the couch in the family room. It allows me to at least be in the same room with my family while I work. I could install a couple ethernet jacks and run cable, but that's a hassle in my house and I would have to break my internet connection to move from the kitchen to the family room.
• Wireless Hotspots: I travel internationally for business. As such, I have rather long expense reports to file. The work needed to file an expense report is not taken into consideration when projects are assigned to me. At the moment, our expense reporting system requires an internet connection. It's nice to be able to handle my expense reporting while I'm in an airport or a cafe somewhere through wireless. It's also nice to be able to get to e-mail and communicate with people at work while sitting in the airport. This is especially true when I'm traveling during a business day.
• Cell Phones: OK, in my mind these are actually less useful. But good reasons to have them are:
  1. Unlimited calls to my wife's mobile regardless of where I am in the country.
  2. Nationwide long distance included
  3. Backup source of connectivity for my laptop (GSM + GPRS)
  4. A way to call for help in an emergency where there's no phone around

Re:Is it just me...

[kfg]

I like my personal space and I don't want anyone invading it unless it is on my terms.

Oddly enough, in certain respects, wires can play an effective stategic part in this strategy.

KFG

Re:Is it just me...

[Blnky]

In a typical home, perhaps not. I cannot be the judge of that. However, as I live in a historic home well over a hundred years old, running cable is not as easy as one would hope. Cutting new holes into the walls just isn't appealing either as the desire is to keep the house as "originally" intact as possible. Thus, wireless has been a great thing for me.

A wonderful side benifit is that I can place my systems anywhere and am not contrained to walls that have poth power and a network tap. LAN parties are so simple. (I have plenty of extra cards for my friends). We can setup wherever we can find space. Hauling the laptop around without wires and still being on the net is great. To move to another room I don't have to disconnect from the net. I can just leave everything running and walk with ease to wherever I want. I don't even want to think of having my PocketPC "wired".

Hopefully this helps explain why some of us really "love" wireless. (Written as I sit on my front porch swing in the warm sun.)

Re:Is it just me...

[torpor]

I've been using Wireless services for a few years now, am a big user of WLAN, had the first Ricochet modem setup in my area when it was released, etc. I've been wirelessly connected to the 'net now for almost 10 years.

I have come to love WLAN. With my current setup, I can go sit in the park across the road, tiBook in hand, enjoy the outside fresh air and do my e-mail under a tree. After work I can drive up for a quick 'mail sweep' outside my front door, connect to my net with my sl5500, download my latest messages, and go into the city for a coffee with friends, where there are countless open WLAN's I can use as well.

I wouldn't say its 'revolutionized' my computing life, but when I first went wireless, it definitely changed the way I felt about, and used, computers. I always had a rigorous 'anchored to the desk' feeling about scheduling any time on the computer, but now I just take one with me, and use it as a true accessory to my lifestyle, rather than it becoming the central object of -The- Lifestyle.

I've lately developed a very strong aversion to the 'chained to the desktop boat-anchor' feeling of computing, after almost 30 years of computer use. WLAN makes it far easier for me to approach computer use as a user now, not a slave. Computers go where I go, I no longer have a 'PC hovel' like so many other plugged-in users ...

Re:Is it just me...

[networkBoy]

I don't see the appeal of wireless on a home LAN either.

Actually wireless is exceptionally useful in the home.
I live in an appartment and I have no control over where the phone comes in. Now, rather than having a very long phone line strung across the floor or ceiling I put my DSL modem on a wireless bridge to my router/AP. (I know I'm going to get slammed for this security wise, but I have taken some steps to harden the link.)
Furthermore I use the same wireless AP to move ethernet availability to my Media Center in the master bedroom without the need for a cat5 cable running down the hall.
Addressing security, I simply make my network harder to hack or connect to than the other half dozen APs I can "see" from my PC.

-nB

Re:Is it just me...

[Short Circuit]

That's why I use SSH tunnels for VNC...But, damn, it can feel slow at times.

My biggest gripe is that tightvnc insists on drawing all the changes that occur to the screen in the order that they occur...it'd be much nicer if it'd abort-and-retry drawing from the top when I'm, for example, dragging windows.

Re:Is it just me...

[Sloppy]

Using somebody elses network is similarly insecure.

The idea that intermediate networks can't be trusted, is a much older problem than 802.11. That's why people encrypt: so that they only have to trust the endpoints. Maybe you can sniff other people's POP3 logins, but they should never be able to see what your ipsec or ssl connection is up to.

Wireless or not, if your mail server isn't in your house, then you've already addressed the insecure network issue. Switching to wireless doesn't change anything.

Re:Is it just me...

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

Glad I'm not the only one overly fascinated by printing on the Wlan.. somehow, causing an effect in the real world really makes one appreciate the wireless connection. (another fun trick is to ssh into another machine and do something like $ eject /dev/cdrom && eject -t /dev/cdrom ;))

Re:Is it just me...

[homer_ca]

I had wired Ethernet at home before wireless, and it really restricts where you can put your computers. Sure it would be nice to live in a geek house wired with CAT5 but I don't. I ran CAT5 along the baseboard and can't cross doorways unless I run them over the door jamb. I have a PC that's barely 10 ft from the switch, but it might take 50ft or more of cable to wire it up by going around the room. The USB adapter barely cost more than a premade 100ft cable. Laptops are especially a hassle with wired Ethernet. Say if you want to put it on your coffee table which is usually in the center of the room. The hub or switch would usually be on the side of the room. So you have a guaranteed trip hazard right there. Hope you don't have kids running around there. Trip on the wire, and it might just pull the laptop off the table.

I've had my complaints too. Windows 2000 with Dell TM1150 card and Netgear MR814V2 drops the connection intermittently. Web surfing is fine, but copying from Windows file shares is impossible. I'll try stopping the Wireless zero conf service since I haven't heard of that before.

Re:Is it just me...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, it's so useless. I can have my laptop out in my screenhouse and do work. terrible. what a waste of money.

Re:Is it just me...

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Three months ago, I probably would have thought the same thing. For fixed systems, wired is IMO the way to go whenever possible, and I've run over 1000ft of wiring to make this possible.

I use both wired and wireless now. At work, I have a dock for my laptop that includes a PCI network card, the dock has three normal PCI slots.

At home, I just use the wireless card so I can use my laptop on my dining table or my lap in the living room rather than going to the den.

I have also set up an outdoor wireless system so I can access the internet using my laptop, provided that I'm within 1000ft of the antenna. I have built a remote setup that allows me good access within two miles of the antenna, terrain allowing. With another access point on that system, I can set up a repeater on that so I can be a good distance away from that remote system.

I find it pretty liberating to be able to go just about anywhere and do my work. With a [i]good[/i] laptop, one can go anywhere for three hours or more without worrying about a power jack either.

Re:Is it just me...

[maskedbishounen]

If I run across something interesting, I can carry my laptop in to another room to show my wife.

"Hey, honey, look! Another dupe!"

or

"Hey, honey, look! A new kernel is out!"

..and you're still married? :)

Re:Is it just me...

[dyefade]

Maybe if you don't need it you would see it as over hyped. Now, at home, we couldn't be without 802.11g. 100mps is enough hear, transfer rates are not a problem. It's just not ok (according to my folks), to have wires draped everywhere. Want decent speed transfers and NO WIRES everywhere (or at all)? 802.11g is the only solution I have found (and it works perfectly for me/us).

Re:Is it just me...

[dyefade]

lol, "hear" sometimes I wish you could edit posts...

Re:Is it just me...

[Fooby]

I guess it just depends on your paranoia level. I'm happy enough to use secure webmail with a throwaway password at an internet cafe.

The bogeyman could be videocamming your laptop's screen and keystrokes too for that matter, if you're working with something so ubersensitive you probably shouldn't use an internet cafe at all.

Re:Is it just me...

[Marble68]

On the same vein. My wife kept asking me to stand up WiFi @ home. I ended up getting the Microsoft 700 series (which they're not going to make anymore) and I must say I don't know what took me so long.

I love being outside by the pool and taking care of a backlog of emails or simply using my Mod points.

But speaking of printing; we have an upstairs game room thats my wife's office. My office is directly below hers. Anyway, the cats LOVE to lay on her desk and look out the window at the trees.
I get a HUGE kick when I print something and you'd think someone had thrown teargas into the upstairs room and several cats come barrelling down the stairs with their hair firmly perpendicular to their skin.

Great fun.

:)

Re:Is it just me...

[silas_moeckel]

I think there is a level of trust issue. It's one thing to use plain text on UUNet's backbone it's alother to use it on some guys wifi that he is letting the world use. Your shouldent trust either of them but I would trust UUNet or another backbone to not care about my email password a lot more than joe geek with a free wifi AP. Granted I run everything though SSH, IPSec and SSL either way. And BTW they can see whats inside your encryted connection it will just take awhile encryption does not make anything perfectly secure just secure long enough where it hopefully dosent matter. I may be biased in this I work for large slace networks and can attest that in general we dotn care abotu your logins it's not even fun to look, a 14 year old sharing out his cable modem might be a lot more interested.

Re:Is it just me...

[DrCode]

Same here. I think it's partly a case of 'high-tech burnout'. Whenever I think of buying something new, I can't figure out which of the many choices is best, and I fear that whatever I buy will be hopelessly obsolete within a month.

Re:Is it just me...

[tool462]

Not all of us have the luxury of living somewhere where we can have RJ-45 jacks in every room we may want to use the internet in. I live in an apartment and I am not allowed to go putting holes in the wall to put in my own sockets. For wired access, my only option would be to drape a large quantity of cables to get from my living room where the cable modem connection is (only one cable jack in the apartment), in addition to my TiVo and XBox, which are both networked, to my office down the hall where it would then have to go through another hub or a switch to then connect to the 4 computers in the office. I'm also then limited in that I could not work in the kitchen, for example, if I wanted the large table space to spread out papers and books and the like. This is a huge hassle to set up and I would have to redo it every time I moved. Instead, I hook up my wireless router to my cable modem and I instantly have my entire network set up.

If I was building my own home, I would have ethernet installed from the get-go and connect most of my devices that way, since it is cheaper and more reliable as you said. However I would still use wireless for my laptops. The convenience just can't be beat.

Re:Is it just me...

[bplipschitz]

I don't see what cell phones have to do w/this but anyway...

Uhhhhh, maybe because it is a wireless device? Just guessing. . .

noooo

[nizo]

Remember the Best Buy commercial where a puppet asks a woman ..... That guy doesn't know it yet...

You all know that the puppet isn't real right? Maybe it is just a pet peeve of mine, but it drives me nuts when people refer to fake people/things on TV like they really exist. You know, like the cast of Friends, cast of Star Trek, Ralph Nadar, etc.

Re:noooo

[stratjakt]

The cast of Friends and Star Trek certainly DO exist, excluding whichever ones died.

The characters they portrayed, however, do not.

Maybe it is just a pet peeve of mine, but it drives me nuts when people get all uppity over someone elses use of language, and attack with even poorer use of the language.

Re:noooo

[Anonymous Coward]

even worse is when things on the internet fake being real, like /. comment bots complaining about pet peeves.

Re:noooo

[kfg]

. . .it drives me nuts when people get all uppity over someone elses use of language, and attack with even poorer use of the language.

I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!

I that case where would you like me to send your rocking instructions?

KFG

Re:noooo

[Anonymous Coward]

KFG

Kitchen Fried Gicken?

Gicken -- derived from old Germanic Gueken meaning Geek

Re:noooo

[kfg]

So, I was reading this book by Melville. There's this character he calls Ishmael who Melville says says to this character he calls Queequeg ". . . ", to which Melville says that Queequeg says," . . .". Then this character that Melville calls Ahab Melville says says, ". . ." (although in the TV movie version it's really Patrick Stewart saying what the script writer says Melville says Ahab says). . .

I'm sorry, but that's the sort of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.

KFG

Re:noooo

[maxbang]

Well that's a bummer. Does anyone here want a pair of "authentic" Lt. Pavel Chekov sweat socks that are now apparently worthless?

Re:noooo

[kfg]

Ok, I admit it, that's the most erudite and amusing variant of this post I've seen so far.

You have to admit that's damning with faint praise though.

KFG

Re:noooo

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, but that's the sort of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.

I have just two quarrels with your comment. First of all, the original version is believed to be, according to a reputable source, "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.". Secondly, it would be respectful and perhaps informative to attribute this bit of wit to that excellent expositor of the English language, Winston Churchill.

Re:noooo

[kfg]

I did not put the phrase in quotes because I was not quoting the original. I did not attribute it to Winston Churchill because a)I wasn't quoting him, as per above and b)because I guess I assumed that was one that "everyone" knew.

Similarly it's unlikely I would explicitly attribute the phrase "Say the secret word and win a prize", or "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Or even "Madam, if I were your husband I would drink it."

Sometimes there is greater respect shown to the source in assuming the source is so famous that everyone knows it.

KFG

Linux and Wireless

[duncanmacvicar]

I was one of those users who read about DWL-650, went to buy one and came back with a DWL-650+ without noticing it. It sucks. At my Computer Sciense Departament (like 12 AP), my laptop gets frozen because the driver and the computers turns very unstable. At home it works well because I have only one AP. Wireless tools are very primitive also. You can't scan networks not being root. I started writing a KDE tool emulating the funcionality of the new Win XP Service Pack 2 wireless tool but libiw is a pain. I ended importing a patched sources (from some Ximian guy) to use it. Still havent figured how to scan available networks being a user. Design flaws from a server oriented operating system.

Re:Linux and Wireless

[OblongPlatypus]

Still havent figured how to scan available networks being a user.

$ /sbin/iwlist eth1 scanning
eth1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:04:E2:XX:XX:XX
ESSID:"XXX"
Mode:Master
Encryption key:off
Frequency:2.437GHz
Quality:24/0 Signal level:-61 dBm Noise level:-85 dBm

Not too hard, is it?

Re:Linux and Wireless

[duncanmacvicar]

Cached data. How much seconds did the scan took? Try it as root now.

From iwlist.c code:

print_scanning_info(...)
...
/* If we don't have the permission to initiate the scan, we may

* still have permission to read left-over results.

* But, don't wait !!! */

Re:Linux and Wireless

[jpetts]

I was one of those users who read about DWL-650, went to buy one and came back with a DWL-650+ without noticing it.

It gets worse than that: there were at least two major versions of the DWL-650 (excluding firmware revs), one with the fan-shaped antenna, and one with the square, similar to that found on the DWL-650+. Only th eone with the "fantenna" has the widely supported Prism chipset. The square one is currently available in BestBuy for $39.99 with a $20.00 mail-in rebate.

The "fantenna" ones are currently going on eBay for around $16-18 (I just brought three, and will be buying more for Linux and *BSD - even though it is dying :-) Get 'em while you can, because as soon as people realise that they are better for a lot of purposes than the square 650 and the 650+, I predict prices will rise...

Re:Question and answer time again..

[Anonymous Coward]

I suppose the eTLA that's applicable in such a circumstance is "WTFTV".

Problems with DWL-G650

[Mr. Sketch]

Does anyone else have problems under linux with a DWL-G650 (802.11g) card using the Linuxant drivers? I'm using the latest drivers from DLink, but for some reason randomly, the device just stops working, but looks like nothings wrong. The device is still 'up', the lights are blinking normally, the routing table is still okay, and no errors in the dmesg, syslog, messages, it just stops working, can't ping the ap or bring up websites. I have to do quite a bit to reinitialize it (so much that I created a script to do it for me). Does this happen to anyone else?

Re:Problems with DWL-G650

[mahdi13]

It's a D-Link, that's what they do

I got rid of all my D-Link equipment after about 2 weeks (it took 24 hours to return the PCMCIA card)
If you can get them to work in Linux, great job!
If you can get them to work in Windows, you got lucky!

I'd get LinkSys as I've had zero problems with their wireless equipment and perform very well. Cisco is another great choice if you can afford their hardware (3-4X the price of LinkSys)

Re:Problems with DWL-G650

[NewNole2001]

I have D-Link, haven't had a problem with it, using with the built in wireless on my laptop and the linksys card on my roommate's.

Re:Problems with DWL-G650

[marnargulus]

I had huge problems with DLink, and the aforementioned XP drop problem. Overall it was solved with changing my preamble to long, and my broadcast to something less frequent (I believe it is at 500 instead of 100 now). Maybe that will help, I about threw my DLink out and bought a Netgear, but a last ditch effort of randomly changing settings finally worked.

DWL-650

[Nemi]

I just got this card working on an IBM thinkpad 240. I spent a good week or more trying to get the prism2 drivers to work because all documentation I found said that that is the chipset it had.

After going through many different drivers and kernel compiles, I Later found that some 650's not only have an ADMTek chipset but some also have be a Realtek chipset. After trying the ADMTek drivers I found my particular card had a Realtek chipset and it came right up using the ndiswrapper driver using the windows Realtek driver (the driver supplied by d-link on the cd would not work. I had to get the windows driver from Realteks site). The thing works like a champ now with Fedora core 1.

Re:DWL-650

[Cereal Box]

A week of hacking around just to get the card to work? This anecdote really drives home the old "Linux is free if your time is worth nothing" saying, doesn't it?

Why didn't you just spend the $40 or so for a card that is absolutely known to work with Linux instead of wasting a number of hours (over the course of a week)?

Re:DWL-650

[Nemi]

Well, actually I agree that if this were a different situation I may have just put windows on it, to be honest.

First off, I work in IT and we were getting rid of old laptops for $25. Good price on an older laptop. Because of my limited need for a laptop and the low cost involved, I wanted to get the cheapest card and access point I could find, so I got a remanufactured set from some site, $50 for both. Quick checking online told me I should have been able to get the DWL-650 to work with linux. All indications pointed to it. As far as I could tell there is no definitive place to go to tell you which cards work and which don't. pcmcia-cs at sourceforge listed this card. Would you consider this "absolutely known to work"?

Bottom line is, this was an experiment and learning experience for me. I gained valuable experience configuring linux and learned how to compile the kernel. I hate to say it, but if I just wanted it to work, I would have put windows on it. (There goes my karma)

Re:DWL-650

[Cereal Box]

Quick checking online told me I should have been able to get the DWL-650 to work with linux.

Yeah, but I don't consider having to use some other operating system's driver a "working" solution. What I meant to say is that if I were in your situation I would've bought a card with a native driver.

hate to say it, but if I just wanted it to work, I would have put windows on it.

That's exactly what I was driving at. It's good to hear that someone on Slashdot can be honest about the fact that stuff "just works" more often than not on Windows, while the reverse is not really true of Linux. I can understand and respect the "I just want to learn how to do it" angle. I thought for a minute there that you were like most Slashdotters, wasting numerous hours getting something simple to work, just so you could say "I did it without Windows".

Honesty In Advertising

[Croaker-bg]

I am an avid unix/linux user and I pretty much prefer to run my boxen in non-Windows mode. I also am an information security professional and use many tools such as Kismet to do wireless discovery. After much reading and research I decided on a Cisco/Aeronet card as my card of choice for both sniffing and wireless use in Linux. Well low and behold once I got the Cisco card, which was stated as being supported in the OS, I managed to get it installed and compiled to be used as a sniffer but to date and after a solid year of trying I have not been able to get the damn thing to work as just a network card. After months of frustration I finally gave up and went and bought an Orinoco card that I thought I would use for both sniffing and network access. Again, I managed to get things compiled and working this time with network support for the Orinoco card and no ability to sniff. Although both vendors claim full functionality within Linux I am to date still carrying around two wireless cards to get the job done. Sadly, when I boot Windows and plug in either card in XP they both seem to just work. Ah, the bitter irony.

Re:Honesty In Advertising

[dr_dank]

What distro?

Re:Honesty In Advertising

[Croaker-bg]

I've tried it with Redhat9 Fedora-Core1 and Fedora-Core2. The funny thing is I had an older version of this same card that worked great in RH7.2 as both a sniffer and network card. I expect its something flakey in the 2.4.* - 2.6 kernel. I get an email from BugTrack every couple of months from some poor soul that is signing up to bemoan the same fate and hope that someone comes up with a solution that will magically appear in our collective inboxes.

Re:Honesty In Advertising

[SCHecklerX]

To sniff with the orinoco card you need to use the patched drivers to enable monitor mode. This was trivial for me on Mandrake 9.x and RedHat 8.

Directions here:

http://www.tipsybottle.com/technology/wireless/R ed Hat8-Kismet-HOWTO.shtml

Re:Honesty In Advertising

[Anonymous Coward]

Which Cisco card? The "350 Series" or the "802.11a/b/g" card?

Re:Honesty In Advertising

[dr_dank]

If you can boot from the cdrom (if you can't, there is a great bootdisk available that the name escapes me), check out Knoppix-STD. You can boot right from the disc as with other Knoppixes and see if the card will work with their configuration of Kismet, airsnort, and other tools.

If you like it, you can do an image install easily with the included Knoppix install scripts and is easy to maintain with its Debian base.

Remember...?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Remember the Best Buy commercial where a puppet asks a woman for a laptop computer, and upon hearing that it's a 'wireless' laptop, starts imagining his life free of strings and limitations?

Believe it or not I do remember... Because it's still playing ninety fucking times a day!

Computer Book publisher's business plan

[cerebralsugar]

1.) Get a 'high-falootin' title (PHD, MSCE, etc).
2.) Paraphrase information freely available on the net.
3.) Blow college professors and get them to use it as a text book for their class!
5.) PROFIT!!

Re:Computer Book publisher's business plan

[kfg]

Seems only fair, since much of the information on the net is just a badly paraphrased version of what the author read in some book.

Unless of course it's a badly paraphrased version of what the author read on some web page.

"I see Volvos, inside of Volvos, inside of Volvos, inside of Volvos, inside of. . . "

-Dave Hitt, Yuppies on LSD

KFG

Re:Computer Book publisher's business plan

[Anonymous Coward]

You skipped Step 4.

Wanker.

IPv6

[nsayer]

The idea of running alternative firmware in a netgear or linksys type box is intriguing to me for one reason in particular: The idea that one could very easily add IPv6 support (via 6to4). So long as there is an IPv6 firewall that's reasonably configurable, this would make it a lot easier for me to support my folks. Instead of having to perform rather unnatural acts with the router to get to the correct machine from the outside, I could just ssh/rdp/vnc directly.

The one downside is that if your outside IPv4 address changes, then you must propagate a new prefix to the inside nodes, but even that doesn't sound like a real show stopper.

Has anyone set up something like this?

If only USB adapters were supported...

[youknowmewell]

I have been trying to switch to Linux for a while, but the problem is that my wireless USB adapter (Netgear WG121) doesn't work with Linux! So I am forced to use Windows to use the internet at all. That wouldn't be so bad, except that when I am having difficulties with something in Linux, I have to go through the whole, "copy/paste error message into a text document, reboot into windows, look up problem on Google," deal. Even worse is when the solution I find doesn't work and I have to go through the process again.

Re:If only USB adapters were supported...

[Hugo D. Zappo]

Try Mepis.
A friend has a USB wireless and it works great with an extention cord for war-driving. I believe it was the netgear, I'll find out which and post more info. But it worked great with Kismet and airsnort.

So give Mepis a shot, it's a live CD all it will cost you is a bit of time and a blank CDR

Mepis Linux

Re:If only USB adapters were supported...

[teqo]

There are loads of 802.11b USB adapters that are supported by Linux. Check out the AT76c503a BerliOS driver project or the original ATMEL driver project, where you will find a list of supported WLAN USB dongles with the well-supported Atmel chipset. Otherwise, the Prism2 drivers support a number of WLAN USB devices, too. 802.11b USB WLAN devices should be available for around 20-30 Euros (approx. 25-35USD) each in some shop close to you...

Unfortunately, your WG121 is not among those, but the Linux Prism GT driver project at least mentions it (although with a pretty disturbing "unknown status" and a "success rate" close to 90%, which seems kinda oxymoronous), so maybe it's worth a try. Atheros chipsets are supported by the MadWifi project, too...

Mapping Wi-Fi under Linux

[drewzhrodague]

There are quite an assortment of GIS tools available for Linux, too, for those of us mapping wi-fi. Check out Mapserver, GRASS, and PostGIS.

this fixed wireless for me w/XP..

[greenskyx]

from: http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1080251780.html

If your connection is dropping and you're not being asked to connect to another network, make sure that you have not checked the "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" checkbox, as this can also cause problems (but was not the root cause of this issue).

---

I'm not sure what IEEE 802.1x authentication does exactly, but turning it off in XP made wireless stable. Before that I could be really close to the wireless hub and I would be randomly disconnected/reconnected every few minutes.

Re:this fixed wireless for me w/XP..

[Anonymous Coward]

this fixed mine too... in fact, it usually fixes most people's problems with these symptoms... just wrote the wired.com about the article in the intro.

Broadcom support

[Bull999999]

Do anyone here know when the support for Broadcom wireless chipsets will be included in the Linux kernel? It seems that many (at least Linksys) are moving away from Prism chipset (which I had good luck with Linux) to Broadcom chipset.

Re:Broadcom support

[Bull999999]

One more thing. As far as I know, there's no free solution for getting Broacom chipset based wireless NIC to work on a Linux box.

Re:Broadcom support

[Dielectric]

From my dealings with BCM, I wouldn't expect them, ever. They have a profit model where they provide basic functionality and docs with their product. Everything above that, including non-MS drivers, is pretty much an additional cost, typically assessed as an NRE, and can run to the tens of thousands of USD. So you get two results:
1. No 3rd party will write Linux drivers, nor will BCM, until there is a clear need from a profit standpoint. This is like trying to get major software vendors to make a port.

2. BCM certainly won't release the docs, because then they'd lose this part of their business.

Someone, please, please tell me BCM is going to play nice and let us have a Linux driver. I'd like to hear that I'm wrong here, but just about every BCM product has worked this way.

Re:Broadcom support

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been using the ndiswrapper with the WindowsXP
drivers for about a year now with Linux. It's not
the most ideal solution but it certainly works.

Power Save

[Foxxz]

Turn off the power saving options for the wifi card. do not allow windows to put the device in sleep mode and use the least power friendly option avalible for the card. these have to be changed in the driver prefs under the hardware management. i was getting the exact same problem even when sitting >10ft from the ap. when i turned off all the power save features for the card these problems went away.

-foxxz

Linux is better?

[whitelabrat]

Ok, so the Windows stuff is shaky. What's new there? At least I can get it to work without becoming an expert in wireless chipset technology. I've tried using a Proxim Symphony card with Linux with no problem. Didn't work at all with Windows. I've also tried a DLink card. Works great with windows XP-pro, but never got it to work with Linux, despite so-called TI chipset support.

I've forsaken wireless for a friendly 3com 905c-TX card. :)

screw it, use driverloader

[np_bernstein]

So I had a belkin card which was supposed to be based on an orionco chipset; it wasn't and it didn't work. I got a netgear, because that's what they had at comp-usa and I didn't want to waste all my freetime driving around looking for a prism2 chipset where I could be sure it was a prism2.... I got the thing, tried it, didn't work, got a copy of driverloader : done.

I'm three days into the evaulation period and I'm giving them my $20 for the software. It's too easy this way to go the free/annoying route. 'Sides, at the amount of money I end up earning/hour, spending two hours of my life to get a wireless card working it costing me more that $20.

Re:screw it, use driverloader

[santos_douglas]

I have a Belkin card and wanted to get Linux working with wireless on my IBM Thinkpad which currently runs Windows 2000 quite well. I loaded up Mepis Linux and then set about getting the WiFi card working. My Belkin F5D6020 uses the Atmel AT76C5 chipset which as luck would have it has a set of open source drivers over on sourceforge. I thought I was golden until I started reading the directions...step 1 of about a dozen steps was: recompile kernel. Being a noob, I quickly decided this just wasn't going to happen. So I have pretty much given up on it till now. I'll give driverload a try. Otherwise it's just wait for a distro with full support or maybe by a new card that is known to work.

WPA was the source of my woes

[EkiM in De]

I discovered that both of my Windows Laptops were dropping the connection approximately every hour and it was driving me nuts. (They are a Dell with a Broadcom 4306 (802.11g) and a Centrino Toshiba.) Even with a Linksys 802.11g WAP and an SMC 802.11b WAP I was still getting the disconnections.

Eventually after one night's worth of Windows's Eventlog data, when I forgot to switch my laptop off, I realised that there was almost precisely an hour between disconnections. An alarm bell rang in my head because on the Linksys there was an option for altering the "Group Key Renewal" for WPA. This was by default set to 3600 seconds.

One quick switch back to 128bit WEP and my connection is rock solid on both laptops.

Re:WPA was the source of my woes

[Skuto]

Please see the fix for this I posted somewhere else down here. And note that WEP can be trivially cracked with Airsnort.

configuration is out of your control

[Anonymous Coward]

M.S. wireless support is broken. XP's wireless configuration
is changed anytime your PC gets a signal from someone else's
wireless router.

It always changes the check box where you specify the source
of WAP keys. This by itself kills a wireless connection.
And, when you restate your desired configuration for sharing
keys, M.S. thought its a great idea to clear your shared
key to force you to type it in again and again!

Portions of your wireless configuration changes to conform to
the particular router it is getting a signal from.
EVEN if you set your user to "Limited" from "Administrator".

I've seen it add other routers to the "default" router table.

In pure Microsoft style, the software is beating you into
submitting to the least secure configuration since
if you turn off WAP, use DHCP and use what ever wireless router XP
detects, you can keep running.

But, if you select WAP, shared keys, static IP's you will
be constantly losing Internet access and reentering your WAP key.

That example seemed deliberate

[SeaFox]

Why do I feel like that Best Buy Puppet example in the begining of this story was tacked on simply to stick in a Microsoft Bash.

Since the book was about Linux, there was no real practical reason for including it. Is the book going to tell how to get around the XP problem?

No.

That's a lot of type to say simply "some wireless cards aren't supported by Linux out of the box".

Re:That example seemed deliberate

[mopslik]

Since the book was about Linux... Is the book going to tell how to get around the XP problem?

I'd say you just answered your own question.

Re:That example seemed deliberate

[jmulvey]

Microsoft sucks because they tried to make a wireless client that doesn't require you to be a DSP engineer in wireless chipset technology. It doesn't work *perfectly* (although there are easy solution that require you to [gasp!] uncheck checkboxes, instead of modify .conf files), so it sucks. And because you have the option to use a different wireless client instead of the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service, they are leveraging their monopoly of the desktop to gain access into the highly lucrative wireless client software business.

If Microsoft had only simply done one of the following, they would have earned some Karma from the Slashdot community:
1. Not shipped a wireless client at all
2. Shipped a wireless client that required in-depth knowledge of the chipset your specific card is using, and required editing configuration files instead of clicking checkboxes
3. Made their Wireless client the only one that you could install on Linux

But in their greed they did none of these things.

Any more questions?

Re:That example seemed deliberate

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the puppet, the entire review, and the oreilly book are nothing more but a veiled attempts to bash MS. The whole wireless industry is nothing more but industry-wide conspiracy against Bill Gates. Cause, see, when some fuckers like Netscape sue them for anti-trust behavior, the wireless manufacturers will complain that Microsoft made them do the drivers and kept changing OS versions, so the company did not have time to invest in Linux drivers.

Thanks to brave and smart individuals like you this MS-bashing will not go unnoticed. I am notifying the proper authorities immediately.

Re:That example seemed deliberate

[phayes]

No, MS sucks because they tried to deliver a easy to use wireless client, but it has a major bug that renders it unusable in many circumstances.

Ignoring bugs in your products/your customers usually brings criticism. Had MS acknowledged the bug & explained a (working) way to avoid it or delivered a patch that fixes the problem they would not be criticized.

Given that MS has decided to exit the wireless access market they wont be leveraging the desktop for wireless products anyway.

Solutions

[pilkul]

I had the same type of problem with XP, but I finally fixed it thanks to this great forum thread. In a nutshell, here are the common problems:

• The "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" checkbox. As I recall, this is enabled by default (!?) even though the vast majority of wireless systems don't use this. (This is something completely different from WEP.) This must be off or you'll lose your connection every few minutes, as the driver tries and fails to authenticate using this protocol. This was my problem.
• XP sometimes has problems with hidden SSIDs. Make sure to broadcast yours. Yeah, it weakens your security somewhat, but it was only obscurity anyway. Use WEP or, even better, MAC address binding.
• Finally, if neither of the above work for you, you can turn off the Wireless Zero service completely and use only your manufacturer's drivers. Go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services and set Wireless Zero to "Disabled". You'll need to install the drivers from your manufacturer's CD, of course. Frankly, considering the problems with MS's drivers, I would recommend this for everybody.

It took me a long time to figure this out. I thought for a long time it was just intrinsic unreliability of 802.11b, but as I should've guessed it was Windows' fault. Having disabled Wireless Zero, my connection is now flawless on XP.

Absolutely

[NineNine]

Absolutely. Wi-Fi is no where as near as reliable as good ol' ethernet, and won't be for a while. Certain cordless phoens even disrupt wi-fi. It's cute for home use, but I would *never* rely on wireless for a business use. It's just not reliable enough. I *need* my network up 100%, or my rent doesn't get paid. Wi-fi is cute, but it doesn't cut it for me. On top of that, ethernet is cheap, and very, very easy to run. At my business, we have suspended ceilings with hundreds of feet of Cat 5, and a few $20 switches.

Re:Absolutely

[linuxelf]

We are actually in the process of migrating offices to WiFi. The reason is that we have several departments that like to redesign their work areas on a regular basis. We've got fibres and cat5 running everywhere. Whenever someone wants to move their computer 15 feet, they have to place a request with Networking to move the fibre. We're spending entirely too much time and money on this sort of thing, but for some reason our higher ups tell us "If they want to reorganize, you need to support them." Once we go wireless, let 'em move their computers wherever they want.

Re:Absolutely

[NineNine]

Has anybody tested it over a long period of time, along with other electronic devices, etc.? I haven't seen uptime numbers in real life environments before, so I'm not sure what they are. I've seen one wi-fi connection go really flaky due to a cordless phone, and that was enough to scare me off. Are they doing some kind of redundant wireless setup, maybe?

Re:Absolutely

[linuxelf]

We're putting in a number of repeaters overhead, and only going to roll it out to one department as a guinea pig. We don't know if it'll be able to stand up to the load they put on their machines, but we should be starting the test very soon.

personal experience with xp & wifi

[Lord Haha]

as much as the many complaints about xp & wifi I have not had as many problems, I have found if you turn off wep (which is pretty much useless anyways) and leave only mac address protection to your wireless router the amount of lost packets/connection drops to next to nothing. Mind you it does mean someone might find out im posting at slashdot (oh the horror!) and I have to manually encrypt files that have sensative material (which you should anyways) Under Linux though as much as once the connection is started its great, getting that 1st connection is hard as hell, showing windows (in general) one point where it beats linux consistantly (and its not our exactly our fault either) hardware support.

Another Windows XP wireless bug

[Skuto]

There are, besides the SSID broadcasting issue, several other bugs in Windows XP wifi.

One of them happens with WPA (which I do hope you are using, given that WEP is so easily hacked), and causes you to disconnect after a few minutes. After reconnecting there are no further problems.

This appears to be a working fix, needs a registry edit:

>> This will solve your WiFi problem! although this
>> should be considered a workaround,
>> rather than a fix. With AuthMode set to 2 it means
>> Machine authentication only.
>> Whenever a user logs in, it has no effect on the
>> connection. 802.1X authentication is
>> performed using machine credentials only.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EAPOL\Par am eters\General\Global]
"AuthMode"=dword:00000002

SSID rebroadcast is NOT a solution

[blunte]

That will allow the machine to quickly reconnect, but it doesn't solve the actual problem. It just remedies the symptom a bit.

It is unacceptable to be disconnected, even if you are immediately reconnected. This is the situation of one of my clients.

His PC bounces while his two laptops, both on the same desk, all of which are no more than 5 feet without obstruction from the wireless router, never have a problem.

Plus his PC didn't always do that. And changing router frequency channels doesn't solve it.

Dumping the MS config and moving to a manufacturer connector is the only solution for hosed XP machines like this.

Re:SSID rebroadcast is NOT a solution

[jfmiller]

"Dumping the MS config and moving to a manufacturer connector is the only solution for hosed XP machines like this."

I believe that is the second solution in the article I pointed to.

Re:SSID rebroadcast is NOT a solution

[blunte]

heh, well I didn't count that suggestion since it was already present in the original article.

AirMac

[ThreeDayMonk]

You bought it in Japan, then?

Apparently, "AirPort" as a trademark for wireless networking was already in use by IO DATA, so Apple had to use a different name.

On the plus side, all 14 channels are allowed in Japan (13 in Europe, 11 in US/Canada, 4 in France), so my AirMac card in my iBook will work anywhere.

Re:AirMac

[foidulus]

Yeah, the Japanese setup console was fun too(esp. since I lost my instruction manual, so had to go on the web to get the documentation). Though it is pretty simple to set up once you can read it, though I don't know much about other routers. The router strong too. My employer in Japan(who provided the apartment for the 6 months while I was there) wouldn't allow me to set up my internet connection, but my friend from Sweden who lived on the third floor of the building(opposite side) set up the router in his room, and I got full signal strength. I never did any distance testing for it though :P
Unfortunately, although you can give the network a kanji name in the console, it doesn't display right in my list of available networks. So I had to settle for a French obsenity for my network name.

Renewed competion between broadband providers

[j1m 5n0w]

Besides user convenience, one of the benefits of wireless networks (particularly long-range wireless) is that they can compete directly with DSL, Cable modem, and landline phone service. My parents live out in the country on a hill about five miles from the nearest large town (McMinnville, OR). They have fast internet service thanks to a reasonably forward-looking ISP who set up a wireless network using radios from waverider. Unfortunately, the waverider site doesn't list prices anymore (I believe they used to sell an access point and five client radio modems for about $5000 or so, and additional radios were about $400). It uses the 902-928 mhz ISM band, so there's no FCC license required, and the line-of-sight requirements aren't as strict as 802.11. Once 802.16 (wimax) gets established, similar performing, cheaper, non-proprietary radios may become available.

This is a great way to compete with cable modem and DSL without needing to deploy much infrustructure. Any well-motivated party can set up one of these networks. It may also compel landline internet providers to offer higher throughput and better service, which is good for everyone.

-jim

Re:Renewed competion between broadband providers

[metlin]

Wireless at school is simply very useful.

For instance, I take my notebook with me and I can access the net from my classrooms, cafeteria, park, conference rooms and just about any place.

And it sure as hell beats having to carry around a cable everywhere, and having to provide network access points all over the place.

I'm now at my internship, and a bunch of us in the apartment complex have pooled in and gotten a single Internet connection with a wireless router, so that the rest can access it.

And when I first came here, I did not know a single place where I could check my mail - so I just took my notebook and walked into a Starbucks around the place which had Wireless.

I guess you've never really had the need to use wireless, once you do you'd just realize how wonderful it simply is.

D-Link DWL-120+

[Puggs]

I have couple of these USB WiFi adaptors, bought for my mom & sis - never had any joy in getting them running under linux

Its been a while since I tried (last christmas iirc), but they seem to follow D-Link's tradition of picking a whole bunch of different chipsets & giving them all the same product number...

I think there may even be a few different 120's ( a DWL-120 and a 120g or similar) just to confuse everyone even more

Are there any USB - WiFi adaptors, that run in linux? - my family keep grumbling about the *cough*borrowed*cough* version of XP they both use - I would get internal pci cards, but my sis's pc doesnt have pci slots - its a wierd mini AST pc from several years ago. My moms is a regular pc, but its in the corner shielded by walls so I bought the usb one so i could put it in a more accessible placce

Re:D-Link DWL-120+

[Anonymous Coward]

I got a Syntax USB-400 "free after rebate" for my wife's laptop a couple of months ago, and it works fine under Linux using the most recent version of the wlan-ng driver. It uses the Prism3 chipset.

Re:D-Link DWL-120+

[teqo]

Many, maybe you want to check out my former post on this and follow the links mentioned...

Re:D-Link DWL-120+

[Puggs]

Thanks :-)

Time to go shopping......

Brain Hurts

[pete-classic]

I didn't read the actual review. I fear that I am already perminantly brain damaged from the summary.

I swear it said something like "This book is not about what the title says it is about, except that three chapters actually are about that, but the rest isn't. But that stuff is related. Fuck Mocrosoft."

Oh, and somehow it lead into all that with a reference to sock puppets.

I might be wrong, but I am mortally afraid of re-reading the summary given the results of the first read.

Is the actual review any better?

-Peter

Best wireless card for linux?

[ceswiedler]

Any recommendations on the best wireless card for Linux? Both PCI and PCMCIA.

Re:Best wireless card for linux?

[marnargulus]

While I don't find it to be the best, many people recommend the Orinoco Gold Classic (not the newer version). I believe the classic is a 8480, whereas the newer is 8482. The classic is supported by all the Netstumbler crowd, whereas they make no guarantee on the 8482 model. The only main requirement I would put out is that it includes the ability to attach an antenna.

Re:Best wireless card for linux?

[OblongPlatypus]

I would suggest SMC's 2802W (PCI) and 2835W (PCMCIA). They're reasonably priced, and work flawlessly with the Prism54 driver, which is part of the most recent 2.6 kernels.

Re:Best wireless card for linux?

[ralmeida]

I second the suggestion.

Re:Best wireless card for linux?

[ejaw5]

no...it's the Orinoco Classic Gold PC Card 8410-WD that you want.

Re:Best wireless card for linux?

[BlueLightning]

I don't know if the ones I use are necessarily the "best" overall, but my post on this is here:

http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=111297 &c id=9447856

FAR TOO EXPENSIVE!

[shepd]

$19.95 is the cost (if not more) of a new wireless network card that is already linux supported.

Also, $14.95 is *more* than the cost of a linux supported modem. CRAZY.

Who's buying these licenses? If they were both $4.99 or less, it might makes sense.

Ah, the bitter irony

[lorcha]

Not sure why your cards working in XP is ironic, but whatever. Anyhow, what distro/kernel are you using? I ask, because under Knoppix, my D-Link and Orinoco cards "just work", as you say. I didn't have to compile anything, tinker with anything, or ... well.. frankly even do anything except insert the card into the PCMCIA slot.

Since you are into security, perhaps you would be happy getting an STD? Security Tools Distribution, that is. That livecd will likely have any tools on it you need as well as detect your cards without any fuss.

Best of luck.

Re:Ah, the bitter irony

[Anonymous Coward]

Which dlink card do you have? My dwl-650+ does not work at all on debian, knoppix (latest), or mandrake

Try that on someone else network...

[Anonymous Coward]

You think that's fun. I get a big kick out of sending print jobs
to my neighbor's printer over the wireless network.
I'm sure they love all the pr0n I've been printing for them, using up their toner :)

Here's a genuine fix

[doorbot.com]

Microsoft disputes the notion that there's a problem with the way Windows XP works with Wi-Fi.

This may be another case of MS patches causing more harm than good... although (thankfully) I think this particular patch is "recommended" and not part of the critical updates.

A client of mine had his wireless connection drop every three or four minutes, even though the base station was under the desk at which he was working. After some research on Google, I removed the MS Hotfix for WPA (826942) and all is well.

Maybe XP tries to negotiate WPA after it's connected via WEP, and since the AP doesn't support WPA, Windows disconnects. I'm not a wireless expert so I'm guessing on that...

Note that disabling IEEE 802.1x authentication didn't help; only removing the WPA patch fixed the problem.

Solution was found here:
[wireless] Connection drops every 2-3 minutes

No (2)

[Anonymous Coward]

Repeat after me: America is not a country at all - its a continent - the United States of America is the country you were looking for...

;-)

P.S.

[kfg]

Thanks for the link. It's a good one. I've bookmarked it.

The page also notes another reason for not attributing it to Churchill, no one is even sure he is the original source. Common sayings, or saying of little know men, often get attributed to great men post priori in this manner.

Take "Lafayette, we are here", for instance.

A lot a Mark Twain "quotes" fall into this catagory. There's no denying he said them, but when he said them he was using what he understood his audience understood to be a common witticism from another source. When the audience, for one reason or another, perhaps just the passage of time, fail to understand that they attribute it to Twain himself.

Many of the witticisms of such great men are thus "stolen" themselves.

KFG

stab

[lorcha]

I'm not in front of the machine right now, so I can't yank the card and look at it, but here is the contents of the stab file:

Socket 0: D-Link DWL-650
0 network orinoco_cs 0 eth2
Socket 1: empty

That box is a VIA MII10000 running Debian sarge, 2.6.6 epia patched kernel.

Yes, you got me to ssh into my home media center.

Hope That Helps. Have A Nice Day.

which are the best of the....

[zogger]

... wireless linux cards?

Re:which are the best of the....

[shepd]

I don't know, but I have a tough time believing they're the ones that are only supported through a third-party NDIS interface to (generally crappy) windows drivers. I'd go with a card that has the manufacturer's support behind it anytime above one that's not even supposed to work.

Just my opinion, of course.

Re:which are the best of the....

[BlueLightning]

If it's best in terms of support, at the moment I am using all Netgear products. I have an MA311 (PCI), MA701 (CompactFlash) and MA401 (PC card) and all of them work well in Linux, mainly because they're based on Prism2 chips.

I just wish manufacturers would stop radically changing the product without changing the model number, as wireless card manufacturers seem to like doing. It only adds to confusion.

Re:which are the best of the....

[MooseGuy529]

Have you used the Netgear WG-511 at all? I am considering one of these for my laptop I will buy soon./p.

Re:No

[ThePretender]

Repeat after me: That part of the summary was irrelevant. So is your country. So feck off. :-) ...just joking, lighten up

Question?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think maybe some /.'ers would be able to help me out with this one. My school will soon have wireless across campus. This is a clip from their Wi-Fi access policy:

"Window's [sic] 95, 98 or earlier and Linux will not be supported."

I used to dual-boot Win98 and Fedora, but erased Win98 a few days ago and put Slack in its partition. Question is this: how are they going to stop me from using their WLAN?

Re:Question?

[Anonymous Coward]

My school uses a third-party wireless configuration client which they don't provide for Linux. If they do that, you may be screwed. However, they likely won't: if they just stick to standard protocols Linux will look the same as Windows to the wireless access point. So you're probably okay.

Re:Question?

[metlin]

I'm guessing that they would not possibly be stopping you from using Linux.

It's just that if you had any problems setting it up in Linux, they will not help you (they == tech support). You will have to figure things out yourself, that's all.

Atleast that's how it is in other institutions which have similar rules in place.

SuSE 9.0 & Linksys WPC11 v3 on Dell Inspiron 3

[spoonyfork]

Here's my journal entry on my experience of trying to get SuSE 9.0 & Linksys WPC11 v3 wireless pccard on a Dell Inspiron 3500 notebook to all play nice together.

Boring story short: it works, but damn is the YaST screen is nasty and watch out for non-acpi compliant (read old) mobos.

I was just wondering

[zogger]

I have to get one soon, plus build an outside antenna. My ISP is going to be running a fairly large wifi network that I am pretty sure I will be able to access, which means I can finally get broadband. The tower I will be shooting at is around 6 miles away, I can *see* that baby from my backyard. I am on a sub-beer level budget, not even close to a champagne budget, so I can only get ONE card for this project,plus cobjob the router and antenna just to get the feed. The rest of the home network will be ethernet, I got that covered already with a buncha old NICs. I guess google is my friend on this deal again. I certainly don't want driver hassles or anything, I am barely past click and drool with linux.

Re:I was just wondering

[shepd]

Well, IMHO, most cards with the Orinoco or Prism 2 chipsets work well. I'm quite satisfied with my Microsoft MN-520 card (the horror! :-).

They're selling for cheaper than that driver, too. Heh.

BTW: If you remove the rectangular black sticker on top of the black plastic (it doesn't look like a sticker, so you might have to hunt for it) you may be surprised that it will reveal a jack for an antenna.

Re:SuSE 9.0 & Linksys WPC11 v3 on Dell Inspiro

[Stickney]

SuSE 9.0 was pretty much a horrible release on wireless cards as far as I can tell. My desktop system wouldn't even recognize the Netgear card under Linux until I installed the PCMCIA package through YaST. Hopefully things will improve in 9.1 (which I have yet to get ahold of) or 9.2.

thanks

[zogger]

thanks, I'll keep this advice in mind. Bookmarked it as well. Think I am going for a pci card though, not a pcmcia card. I am going to *try* and build my combo ethernet router and AP point out of a junker I got here. That IS a dang nice price on a laptop card though I must say.My nearest alleged computer stores are over 100 clams for a wireless router and around 50 or so for a laptop card. I don't recall the prices on a pci card. My ISP is mumbling about 200 bucks just for the outside antenna, then you need a router and phooie, I got around 50$ for the total project, so it will be a lot of junk and DIY skull sweat instead. I bet the outdoor rated ethernet cable will be the most expensive part of the whole deal. I think I am going for the flat cake pan antenna over a pringles-esque, but I haven't finished researching yet. Cake pan is cheap and can be gotten aluminum or stainless steel, which means "no rust". I DO have an old satellite tv dish, maybe I can use that thing with some hacking.

%^)

broadband, I can smell it coming.... living rural has a lot of advantages, but a few disadvantages. The good news is, building something like this increases personal knowledge base.

Linux Wireless Zero-Configuration

[akp]

As long as a lot of people are complaining about XP's wireless configuration, could someone point me in the direction of the corresponding tool for Linux? I'd really like to be able to bring my laptop out of suspend in a new place and have a little dialog pop up showing me what wireless networks are around.

For added points, it should work with any wireless card and driver that is supported under Linux.

-allen

Zuh?

[Ayanami Rei]

Don't you have network jacks every few feet along the walls?
Or in the floors in access panels?

That's how we do it here. We can move furniture, racks or equipment around, just replug the stuff in to whatever's closest. It's all on the same switch, so it's no big deal.

Re:Zuh?

[linuxelf]

Nope, old building. We'd have to put in raised flooring to put in floor mount network jacks. This is an office for "creative" types. Artists and writers and such, they can't work with their computers against a wall. Not enough Feng Shui or whatever.

Indeed.

[Ayanami Rei]

It supports WEP (coming soon, WPA), and monitor mode. Wheeeee!!!

Puppets = idiots?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you guys all missed the symbolism of a puppet buying a laptop at best buy. And the saleslady says [creepy voice] "yyyoouuuuu neeeeeeeeed tththiiissssssss. ppppaaaaayyyyy myyyyy ssssssaaaalarryyyyyy."

And so he does. Ah the ingenuous ingenueeueex (I'm a french major) of puppets.

maybe they are like...

[zogger]

..the big computer assembly companies, who just get deals that change, so what goes inside the case changes a little bit here and there, but it's "the same make and model" when they ship them out. Like the card manufacturers might get a deal on a certain component chip one week, next week that chip runs out or they get a better deal elsewhere's, etc, and it works "good enough" without calling it a new design. Maybe anyway, I don't know. I could see where it could get fairly annoying though, and in this day and age there's no excuse for device manufacturers not coming up with linux drivers. Linux is plenty "big enough" now to have them, because linux is where the next generation of developers is coming from. I mean, I don't even see how this can be debated any longer. You think of end users/consumers, but you-as a company "you" I mean - have to think where your developers and engineers will be coming from as well if you do any sort of long range planning.

re

[onthink]

thanks

Author Blog

[Anonymous Coward]

The authors of Linux Unwired have a blog at www.linuxunwired.com.
They'll be speaking and signing books at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference and at LinuxWorld.