Networking :: Wireless PCMCIA Connection:



I am comfortable with networks/wireless networks under MSWindows but I'm a D(amn) S(tupid) L(owprofiled) newbie in Linux and DSL. So, please have patience - any helping enlightenment for my situation below will be much appreciated:

- I have DSL frugal installed to HD running fine, accessing the Internet through internal LAN (wired) card. The PC is a Dell Latitude c600 notebook, with 256Mb and 750mhz PIII.
- After unsuccessfully trying PCMCIA wireless card "Encore ENPWI-G2" (it didn't even lighted up), I found it in the forum listed as not working with DSL.
- As I also found in the forum that card "Encore ENPWI-SG" would work "out of the box", I got it and I'm trying it, but so far not so successfully. (I can't remember right now the setup options' names but I tried the available ones in DSL but never established any connection)
- Booting with card, one led lights up; the PCMCIA tool list a card in the slot; and commands "lspci" or "cat /proc/pci" result displaying ATHEROS, which I believe is the chipset of the card and how the card is recognized by DSL.
- So, my questions are:
1) Which are the needed steps to complete the activation of the card?
2) Do I still have to find/get and place somewhere a driver?
3) Do I have to edit any files with related information about driver, card, IP addresses, etç?
4) Is there a tool, like for windows, where I can see and select available networks? Or, necessarily, I must be informed of "some"  right available network? In this case, how would I know which is the right SSID in an WiFi area?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help ???
Many atheros cards do work with DSL without any other drivers nor ndiswrapper.

First type then command iwconfig

Hopefully you will see something like the following:
dsl@box:~$  iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wifi0     no wireless extensions.

ath0      IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:""  
        Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00  
        Bit Rate:0kb/s   Tx-Power:0 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3  
        Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
        Power Management:off
        Link Quality:0/94  Signal level:-95 dBm  Noise level:-95 dBm
        Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
        Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

If you see something similar to the above then that is a good sign, you have an "out of the box" detected but unconfigured ath0.

That is exactly like mine. Using iwconfig gui changing eth0 to ath0 and specifying wep and essid works for me.

You should probably boot with nodhcp so that you don't have a pump (dhcp request hanging)

You still may have in irq conflict, but lets hope for the best.

You can use iwconfig commands directly or use the gui, if using a wep key enter as colon separated pairs, i.e., 12:34:45:99:..

Some wireless card balk at the pump command and you must use a static ip. But lets hope that using iwconfig or its gui works for you.
Thanks a lot so far!

After command 'iwconfig' I got exactly the same screen you posted, so my card has been correctly detected.

I had to run this time DSL with the CD, and besides the NODHCP, you suggested, I also wanted to run DSL TORAM. So, I entered for the boot: "DSL TORAM NODHCP"

I'm not sure if this could be done ... please confirm how I should have entered the two commands (TORAM and NODHCP) at the same time, for the boot (with the CD).

Anyway, using the iwconfig gui I changed eth0 to ath0, entered ssid, channel and no wep ... but still not working. So, at this point what should I try next?

In addition, please, also explain how to obtain help for a particular command. I can't remember anymore but during the time I dealt with DOS 6.22(I believe) I used type /?, or /h, or something like this, next to the DOS command name and I would get the command help.

Thanks a lot in advance!
you get help by typing "command --help" or "command -h", for example "iwconfig --help"
Enter commands all in lowercase.

dsl toram nodhcp

Summary help is usually with --help

iwconfig --help

Look at this one:
iwlist --help

Try iwlist ath0 scan
Some cards will scan, some won't. But try.

Using no wep and a sid of "" in the iwconfig gui will connect to strongest signal, I use this at hotspot when I don't know the sid.
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