I have been through the install doc several times now, and everything looks good except for starting ipw3945d. Everytime I try to setup the wNIC I get the error ipw3945d is not available and is required.

The install doc says to add the following commands into the /etc/modprobe.conf file

echo install ipw3945 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ipw3945 ; \sleep 0.5 ; /sbin/ipw3945d --quiet >> /etc/modules.d/ipw3945

echo remove ipw3945 /sbin/ipw3945d --kill ; \ /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove ipw3945 >> /etc/modules.d/ipw3945

Next I am supposed to issue the modprobe ipw3945 command. When I do, the echo statment at the beginning of each command generates an error and the commands don't run. I removed the echo and the commands seem to run OK. However, when I issue the ps -C ipw3945d nothing shows up.

How do I get the ipw3945d to run?

KC

I had to copy the ipw3984d file to the /usr/sbin instead of the default /sbin. I also had to copy the ipw3984-start and the ipw3984-stop files to /usr/bin. I guess this is specific to the Mandriva distro, but I don't know that for sure. I still have to manually start ipw3984-start, however.

Does anyone know how I can get this file to run automatically when Linux starts?

KC

Getting the wireless interface running
Now we need to get three further mods done to get the wireless up and running:
First we need to add three lines to the file /etc/modprobe.conf

alias eth1 ipw3945
install ipw3945 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ipw3945 ; sleep 0.5 ; /sbin/ipw3945d --quiet
remove ipw3945 /sbin/ipw3945d --kill ; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove ipw3945

The first line assumes that we will have the wireless interface as eth1.
Next we need to add a line to the file /etc/rc.local
/sbin/ipw3945d --quiet

This is critical since although the modules do load at boot the regulatory daemon does not run unless this change is made

Finally we need to prepare a file to handle the interface eth1.
Go into the directory /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts and prepare a file called ifcfg-eth1 (it may already exist)

The file will have various parameters depending on whether you have wep security and which options you wish to set. My file looks like:
# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
ONBOOT=no
USERCTL=yes
PEERDNS=no
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=eth1
HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ESSID=xxxxxxx
KEY='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx restricted'
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto
PEERNTP=no
The xxx here will be replaced by the values appropriate to your system.
Once the system has booted with these changes, then first time after the re-boot you may need to do "depmod -a" as root, and then re-boot again. However if you are changing the driver or the regulatory daemon for a new version, you can do "modprobe -rv ipw3945" as root, then make the changes, and then "modprobe -av ipw3945" to reload the daemon. Then after logging on the wireless interface should be running and immediately give a network connection via the Access Point. Of course this presumes that the files /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/hosts, /etc/sysconfig/network have been amended to suit the network parameters of the local network. If network changes have been done, then as root type "service network restart" to update the system.
The wireless network can be started or stopped by any user (since USERCTL has been set to yes in the ifcfg file) by doing /sbin/ifup eth1 or /sbin/ifdown eth1.