A bunch of simple (i think) questions

[namelessone]

I'm new to debian gnu/linux and I don't know a whole lot about configuring my compy to work the way I want it to. Here's a bunch of things I haven't been able to figure out:

1. I'm connected to a LAN network that has a WEP using a wireless card. Every time I start up my computer, it tries to connect via dhcp and fails because it doesn't have the WEP. But once the computer is up and running I can type

iwconfig ath0 key <wep key>
dhclient ath0

and be connected. Is there anyway of making it so I don't have to do this every time I turn on my computer.

2. I have a Logitech Wingman Digital Extreme joystick plugged in. How do I mount it so I can use it?

3. I have an ATI 3D Rage Pro graphics card (a top of the line card...in 1996) I know it supports OpenGL stuff, but all applications on my computer that use OpenGL --like PovRay Modeller-- say that I don't have OpenGL support. What modules or whatever do I need to get it to work?

[Dapper Dan]

1. I'm connected to a LAN network that has a WEP using a wireless card. Every time I start up my computer, it tries to connect via dhcp and fails because it doesn't have the WEP. But once the computer is up and running I can type

iwconfig ath0 key <wep key>
dhclient ath0

and be connected. Is there anyway of making it so I don't have to do this every time I turn on my computer.

Once you have iwconfig set up the way you want, run:

iwconfig ath0 commit

[namelessone]

Once you have iwconfig set up the way you want, run:
Code:

iwconfig ath0 commit

I typed that in and got the following error message:

Error for wireless request "Commit changes" (8B00) :
SET failed on device ath0 ; Operation not supported.

[Dapper Dan]

There's something about this that I'm missing then because I read somewhere that that is how you save your changes. If you look at:

/sbin/iwconfig --help

'commit' is listed at the bottom. I have the same problem and get the same error in Slackware. I figured it was just a problem I was having. Sorry to see you're having it too. I finally just set up my wireless parameters "by hand" in /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.

[bidi]

Debian uses a file in /etc/network/interfaces to configure it's NICs during start up. Find out what your interface and configure it properly in there. My interfaces file looks like this:

# Setup wlan0
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
  wireless-essid Wireless
  wireless-mode managed

Obviously I don't have WEP configured (I use MAC filtering for security). For wireless interfaces just add "wireless-[iwconfig option] <var>" to configure each option.