Need to get started with wifi on linux

enigma_0Z · 05-26-2005, 09:21 AM

I have a D Link wifi card that is recognized by cardinfo in ubuntu.

Are there programs and what are they that will do the following:

* detect hotspots and alert me of them
* reconfigure my wifi card based on what I tell it (so I can connect to different wireless networks
* allow me to access secured wifi networks if I know the password or key or whatever

I'm kinda new to the wifi world (not so much linux as wifi). So some help on the terminology would be nice too (like what is a WEP key, for instance, I believe WEP stands for Wireless Encryption Protocaul).

dr_zayus69 · 05-26-2005, 10:14 AM

you might find what your looking for here. http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Wireless-HOWTO.html

jonlake · 05-26-2005, 01:45 PM

To be more specific,

Quote:

detect hotspots and alert me of them

kismet, airsnort are two

Quote:

reconfigure my wifi card based on what I tell it (so I can connect to different wireless networks

iwconfig has a fairly simple syntax the main ones you will need are

iwconfig <interface> essid <ssid_of_AP>
iwconfig <interface> key <wep_key>
iwconfig <interface> mode <mode_of_card>
iwconfig <interface> channel <channel_of_ap>

Quote:

allow me to access secured wifi networks if I know the password or key or whatever

Again, for keys, iwconfig works fine

Hope this helps

enigma_0Z · 05-26-2005, 05:11 PM

The instructions for the wifi hotspot I'm (going to) try and connect to says that it uses WEP, something called an AGEIS client, and PEAP.

What are these, and can I use them with linux?

I've got a dlink DWL-650 ethernet card

They might also be using 802.11g, is a 802.11b card able to connect to a '.g' network?

2Gnu · 05-26-2005, 11:23 PM

PEAP is an authentication method for 802.1x. A simple block diagram of the components: http://open1x.org/

To handle the authentication, the wireless client needs a program called a supplicant. Aegis is a commercial supplicant from Meetingouse Data Systems. There is a Linux version. It's a good piece of code and a very good company in terms of support. http://www.mtghouse.com/products/aeg...nt/index.shtml

XSupplicant is an open source supplicant (available on the Open1X.org site). I'm using it very successfully with EAP-TLS.

WEP is an encryption method for protecting the data stream, independent of authentication. Add dynamic keying for WEP to PEAP and you have WPA.

Unless the G network is configured to allow only G clients, your B card should work.

enigma_0Z · 05-27-2005, 12:47 PM

OK, so then is there a how-to that can tell me how to set up my SSID1 and EAP Authentication? Perhaps it's on the Open1X.org site?

Oh yeah..

I've got a D-Link DWL-650, do I need to install the wifi-ng module for it? If I do, then how do I do so in ubuntu?

Cardinfo recognized the card before installed the wireless-ng package, but now the name changed, what's up?

2Gnu · 05-27-2005, 01:02 PM

There are lots of documents floating around about setting up PEAP. I'm not running, so can't post a sample config file for XSupplicant.

Don't know what chipset the 650 uses. I'd stay away from the wlan-ng stuff, personally. Some folks have great luck. I've not. It breaks wireless tools, etc.

Find out the chipset and use the appropriate driver. Verify operation with an unencrypted hotspot. Then, install XSupplicant (or the Meetinghouse client) and configure PEAP.

enigma_0Z · 05-27-2005, 01:37 PM

Yeah, I already installed the linux-wlan-ng package and it broke alot of stuff (for instance, the card no longer gets a device node in cardmgr)... how do I get rid of it???

2Gnu · 05-27-2005, 04:46 PM

How did you install it? Your sig indicates Debian (with the Ubuntu theme ;-) )on the laptop, so you should be able to apt-get remove wlan_ng.

enigma_0Z · 05-27-2005, 09:27 PM

Yeah, that didn't work completely... I had to manually remove the modules & all the associated scripts & config files..

I fixed it however. Is there somewhere I can get a tutorial or startup guide to xsupplicant? I found xsup_pwd and xsup_monitor, but that's it.

I'd imagine that I'd use xsup_pwd to set my username & password, and then use dhclient to get an IP address, right?

aaa · 05-27-2005, 10:54 PM

I use wpa_supplicant to connect to 802.1x with peap. Here is my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:

Code:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

network={
	ssid="the_essid"
	key_mgmt=IEEE8021X
	eap=PEAP
	identity="username"
	password="password"
	phase1="peaplabel=0"
	phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
	eapol_flags=1
}

Then I run "wpa_supplicant -i the_interface -D the_driver", then "dhclient the_interface".
For xsupplicant most of the configuration is in the xsupplicant.conf file, it also explains stuff in there. There are some guides on google, too. I wasn't able to get it to work though (it may have just been the particular version I used). Then you run xsupplicant, then dhclient when it is ready.

enigma_0Z · 05-27-2005, 11:07 PM

Uhh, the driver is already loaded (I can scan for networks in kwifimanager)... do I still need the -D option for wpa_supplicant?

enigma_0Z · 05-31-2005, 06:38 PM

I just realized, I need GTC style authentication & server managed certificates.

How could I do that? I tried to set it up with wpa_supplicant, but it tried to do alot of stuff and it said that it wasn't supported... hmmm

I'm not quite sure which driver to specifiy in the command, I seem to have the ornioco module loaded, but I've got a D-link DWL-650. It's nick by default is Prisim I, if that indicates a driver.

Ravendark · 11-25-2005, 02:40 PM

Hi,
I am trying to configure my wireless network on linux as well.
The accomodation in the university i study has a wifi network. It has WEP and PEAP.
Though they have given us a certificate to use in windows for the authentication (calcourt.cer) which when installed gives us the option to select a certificate called "citacs". The key is provided automatically.
How can I use this certificate in linux?