wireless internet - Linux Forums

11-01-2004	#1 (permalink)
csheppard91 Just Joined! Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 7	wireless internet I was wondering if there is any special equipment needing in order to be on the internet wirelessly in linux. I have a desktop running windows xp with arouter. I have a laptop with linux on it, and that has a wireless card. How would I configure it for internet or do I need more equipment?

11-01-2004	#2 (permalink)
lakerdonald Linux Guru Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 5,039	what kind of wireless card is it? what distro are you running? -lakerdonald __________________ the lost art of found sound

11-01-2004	#3 (permalink)
csheppard91 Just Joined! Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 7	it's a linksys wireless g card. and i am running mandrake 9

11-01-2004	#4 (permalink)
lakerdonald Linux Guru Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 5,039	Code: su - ifconfig eth0 up dhclient eth0 -lakerdonald __________________ the lost art of found sound

11-01-2004	#5 (permalink)
logan5 Linux User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 357	Well, I think there's a little more to it than that. And the device "eth0" is your wired network card not the wifi. Try running the command Code: /sbin/iwconfig You should see a device named "wlan0" and some output for it if you have a wifi NIC installed. First off you should be aware that at the moment Linux doesn't really support wifi 100% by default. You will need to work to get it operating. And if it's a usb wifi card, go and buy a different (pcmcia) one. You might also want to think about upgrading to the latest version of your distro. Suse 9.2 just came out with much better wifi support, I'm not really familure with Mandrake, but I would guess that the newer version has better wifi support. You are probably going to need to install a driver or something like the NDIS Wrapper. Check out this page for some info on the wrapper. http://www.linuxelectrons.com/articl...40507104718960 or if the wrapper doesn't work cehck out http://www.linuxant.com/company/ . They have drivers that you can test for 30 days for free or buy for $20. And start doing some google search's there's a lot to tutorials and such out there.

11-01-2004	#6 (permalink)
lakerdonald Linux Guru Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 5,039	ummmmmm.....NO eth0 is not necessarily the wired ethernet card, and most of the time there is no such thing as wlan0 and wifi is supported TOTALLY by Linux, just not all cards you should NOT switch distros, and don't switch from a usb card (if you hae one) to a pcmcia before at least checking to see whether there is a native driver there are plenty of wireless drivers without needing to revert to native windows drivers! -lakerdonald __________________ the lost art of found sound

11-02-2004

#7 (permalink)

logan5

Linux User

Join Date: Jan 2004

Posts: 357

OK, let's see if csheppard91 posts back that

Quote:

su -
ifconfig eth0 up
dhclient eth0

brought the wifi NIC up and got a dhcp address.

And as for

Quote:

wifi is supported TOTALLY by Linux, just not all cards

Are you telling me that linux fully supports WPA & WPA2 encription? Or even basic wep encription is fully supported on all working cards? And the fact that not all cards are supported is a good indication that Linux isn't 100% up to speed with wifi.

Also, could you point me to a driver for any USB wifi card?

11-02-2004

#8 (permalink)

lakerdonald

Linux Guru

Join Date: Jun 2004

Location: St. Petersburg, FL

Posts: 5,039

not everything is supported by all linii, but that doesn't mean that it's not supported...
and what are you trying to prove?

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan5

K, let's see if csheppard91 posts back that
Quote:
su -
ifconfig eth0 up
dhclient eth0

brought the wifi NIC up and got a dhcp address.

i mean we aren't in a contest or anything...
lighten up
-lakerdonald

__________________
the lost art of found sound

11-02-2004	#9 (permalink)
logan5 Linux User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 357	No it's not a contest, but I felt that there was some conflicting information being posted. And that maybe there needed to be some clarification that you could provide if I was incorrect in anything that I had posted.

11-02-2004	#10 (permalink)
lakerdonald Linux Guru Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 5,039	there are several wireless usb adaptors that work with linux (netgear wa311) and just because not all linii run the same stuff, doesn't mean it's not supported somewhere. you just hafta do some digging -lakerdonald __________________ the lost art of found sound