WPA encryption

Oh, how I wish there were. From my own experience and browsing, participating here and at Mepislovers, it seems that what works for one does not work for others. Personally what has worked for me with the 6.04 beta is knetworkmanager, which I installed via Synaptic, network-manager also gets installed. From the knetworkmanager dialog I could set my network parameters, essid, key, wpa type, etc. and easily connect. I did not need to configure or do anything with wpasupplicant, as it was apparently setup automatically. Others have tried this and have not been able to connect. So all I can say is give it a try.

Rich

There are some detailed instructions in the Wiki

http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/WPA

but like Rich says, they seem to work for some people/cards/routers but not for others. Worth a read, though, if you haven't looked at them already.

Thank you lads
I am trying to follow http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/WPA

but, since I have never tried this type of thing before, I have run into the following problem

george@3[~]$ su
Password:
root@3[george]# ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
root@3[george]# network={
root@3[george]# ssid=georgesnetwork
root@3[george]# psk=superduperwpa
root@3[george]# key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
root@3[george]# proto=WPA
root@3[george]# pairwise=CCMP TKIP
bash: TKIP: command not found
root@3[george]# }
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `}'
root@3[george]# pairwise=TKIP
root@3[george]# }
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `}'

I believe that it may involve editing /sbin/wpa_supplicant but I have no idea which line.
Can anyone help me?

Regards George

The Devil is in the detail.

One thing I see is that iwconfig must precede the settings line.
eg. iwconfig essid= XXXXXX

Rich

Thanks Rich
I have just tried that with the following result

george@1[~]$ su
Password:
root@1[george]# ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
root@1[george]# network={
root@1[george]# iwconfig essid=georgesnetwork
essid=georgesnet No such device

root@1[george]#

The script would appear to accept "ssid=georgesnetwork" but not "iwconfig essid=georgesnetwork"

Regards George

The Devil is in the detail.

Sorry, my error. I thought you were issuing individual commands not a script, in which case your syntax is correct. NO such device may be indicating your wireless card has not been recognized. If you just issue iwconfig in konsole what output do you get? You should see your wireless card with some stats.

Take out the = and make sure you include the card in the syntax.

It's trying to interpret your syntax as the card name (you didn't pass the card id to it and it can't find a device named essid=georgenetwork.

For example, this is how I setup my Belkin USB Wireless Adapter with some distros (and many don't need the specific ESSID anyway).

iwconfig rausb0 ESSID cockfield

You'd do it like this with your card since it's showing up as ra0 (based on previous threads discussing it):

iwconfig ra0 ESSID georgesnetwork

Jim C.

Hi Jim
After the success of obtaining a wireless network I have been brought back to earth trying to set up password protection. Every move I make results in mepis freezing after loading ALSA. The post boot sequence does not happen.
I am now proficient at installing mepis as I have had to do it about 8 times in the last 24 hours, indeed this post is being made via Win$. So it is back to WEP-less connections I hope. A friend of mine has a box to detect unprotected and I intend to ask him to test my signals. I am currently able to make a connection without antennae fitted to the router and pci card.
Can my selection of pc (E-machines 850)be a factor in the difficulty I have in doing many things with mepis, that is apart from me, myself?
Regards George

The Devil is in the detail.

I haven't tried using encryption yet with my Belkin.

I probably should since every once in a while, one of my neighbors is using my wireless router to get to the internet, even though he's got his own. It's pretty obvious when it happens, since his PC name matches his real surname (and I can see the connections in my routers configuration screens under one of the menus for that purpose). lol

I had a chat with him about it and suggested that he may want to change his configuration so that he always connects to his own router.

I guess I could just use the router's MAC Address tables to only allow connections from my PCs instead. But, encryption is probably a better way to go.

I haven't even bothered to automate my wireless so that it connects automatically yet for SimplyMEPIS 6.0-4. Instead, I just type two commands as root from a Konsole when I reboot:

su
iwconfig rausb0 ESSID cockfield
dhclient rausb0

That's all I need to do since I don't use encryption.

Actually, I don't even need to set a specific ESSID for it to connect to my router in most cases. But, I do it anyway (since every once in a while, it finds my neighbors router instead if I don't set it). He isn't using encryption either. So, if I complain to him about connecting to my router, I shouldn't be connecting to his. lol

I've got another partition with 6.0 Final on it, and I modified a script file in it to connect automatically at bootup.

Have you tried using the new network configuration screens in the betas (since they now include rao and rausb0? Warren added them to the Mepis utilties.

If you're using one of the betas and use Synaptic to mark and install all upgrades, you'll get the latest configuration utilities. I may try them later today to see if they work OK or not.

Jim C.

I have tried ra0 in the network configuration thingies that come with beta 3 and I get the same result --- freezing.
The only thing that seems to work is "no encryption", but I will certainly look at the router's Mac addresses. I was previously able to load at boot with my modified /etc/rc.local file so I shall try that again when I get the computer back from my grandson

Regards George

The Devil is in the detail.