howdy everyone... so i went and got a wireless card that was on the list of ones that "work out of the box" a netgear MA401... i stuck it in the slot (huh huh huh) and fired up Wlanconfig.
while trying to configure without a signal nearby, i couldn't figure out what to put for ESSID and encryption key...
the few notes i found on the WIki and here in the forums sugests that these are the only two things i shouldn't leave blank, but nowhere could i find something to tell me what these are or where i find the stuff to put in here...
any help? thanxThis is information from your router. Go to the router in your internet browser ( try http://192.168.0.1 ) and try to find a tab/page with your wireless setup info.If you google for "ESSID" you may find nothing but confusing useless stuff. The ESSID is the name of the network you want to access, if you get on an university or library wlan you have to know the essid of it.The essid if your router must be documented somewhere on the manual or other papers that came with the device.On my old router the three letters "any" worked fine.
Quote (spue @ May 09 2006,08:51)
while trying to configure without a signal nearby...
What are you trying to do without a signal nearby? A wireless card allows your computer to talk to other wireless enabled computers and devices. Without other wireless computers/devices, what exactly are you planning to do?
If you have a signal nearby, but don't know how to talk with it, try, at a command prompt:
Code Sample
iwlist wlan0 scan
Replace wlan0 with your network interface. Hopefully this command will give you details regarding the nearby access points and ad hoc networks. I should warn you that I have a Netgear card (Atheros chipset), and iwlist does not work with it. So, your mileage may vary.
You might also be interested in kismet, available in the myDSL repository as a uci. I think it is still in testing.
original here.