Why is WPA almost impossible to use on Slackware?

proc · 05-24-2008, 04:55 AM

For the life of me, I can not figure out what is going on, if I set my router to WEP I can configure Slackware just fine, set it to WPA tho and I can follow the instructions fine it doesn't work, it just doesn't work, it's my only explanation to this, I've spent nearly 2 days now trying to get WPA to work, but I just can't I don't have any problems building an entire OS from the ground up but can't configure WPA.. this saddens me to no end.

WEP = 5 min configuration
WPA = Longer then trying to brute force your way into an 8 phrase passkey 256bit rsa encryption algorithm.

My questions you all your guys is WHYYYYYY!!!!?!?!?!!!?????????

Takla · 05-24-2008, 05:12 AM

I can't tell you why, not being a Slackware user, but maybe I can point you in the right direction for how. I've used several Slackware derivatives with WPA and a very good gui tool for wireless and wired connections is Wicd. You can get a Slackware package for 12.1 from rworkman's Slackware Packages Wicd has worked for me in Zenwalk & Wolvix (Slackware based) and I use it in Debian (lenny) in preference to network-manager.

edit: be sure to have pygtk and dbus-python already installed.

b0uncer · 05-24-2008, 05:16 AM

WPA isn't difficult at all, just use wpa_supplicant and that's it. Shortly put, create a configuration file (usually /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf) or modify existing one by adding a network section there for your connection.

You can create a basic network entry with wpa_passphrase:

Code:

wpa_passphrase network_ssid_here network_passphrase_here

Fill in network SSID and passphrase, and that prints a short network section with encrypted key; you can use the encrypted key or non-encrypted key, just make sure there is only one psk line in the section that is not commented. Copy that and paste it to the wpa_supplicant configuration file. Then add any extra configurations to the network section (or outside it if needed) you might want, such as

Code:

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

Also there should almost surely be this line outside the network sections (usually in the beginning):

Code:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

Other than that, you shouldn't need much else. With ndiswrapper driver you might need to set eapol_version to a non-default value, but I haven't needed that with any other driver. Then just save and try if it works:

Code:

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
dhcpcd wlan0

Change wlan0 to eth1 or whatever you use if the device is not wlan0, and make sure the configuration file is correct. And if you use dhclient instead of dhcpcd (or something else), change that too. If that doesn't work,

Code:

killall -q dhcpcd
killall -q wpa_supplicant

modify configuration file and re-try (maybe with verbose output if you like).

The shortest file I used was somewhat like this if I remember it correctly:

Code:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
network={
	ssid="networkssid"
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	psk="verysecretpassphrase"
}

Not sure if key_mgmt was even needed. But anyway, it wasn't nearly as difficult as it looked like in the beginning

if you can connect with WEP encryption, WPA isn't much more difficult.

It might be even easier if you used one of the graphical tools of KDE to make the connection, but wpa_supplicant simply works.

proc · 05-24-2008, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0uncer

WPA isn't difficult at all, just use wpa_supplicant and that's it. Shortly put, create a configuration file (usually /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf) or modify existing one by adding a network section there for your connection.

You can create a basic network entry with wpa_passphrase:

Code:

wpa_passphrase network_ssid_here network_passphrase_here

Fill in network SSID and passphrase, and that prints a short network section with encrypted key; you can use the encrypted key or non-encrypted key, just make sure there is only one psk line in the section that is not commented. Copy that and paste it to the wpa_supplicant configuration file. Then add any extra configurations to the network section (or outside it if needed) you might want, such as

Code:

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

Also there should almost surely be this line outside the network sections (usually in the beginning):

Code:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

Other than that, you shouldn't need much else. With ndiswrapper driver you might need to set eapol_version to a non-default value, but I haven't needed that with any other driver. Then just save and try if it works:

Code:

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
dhcpcd wlan0

Change wlan0 to eth1 or whatever you use if the device is not wlan0, and make sure the configuration file is correct. And if you use dhclient instead of dhcpcd (or something else), change that too. If that doesn't work,

Code:

killall -q dhcpcd
killall -q wpa_supplicant

modify configuration file and re-try (maybe with verbose output if you like).

The shortest file I used was somewhat like this if I remember it correctly:

Code:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
network={
	ssid="networkssid"
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	psk="verysecretpassphrase"
}

Not sure if key_mgmt was even needed. But anyway, it wasn't nearly as difficult as it looked like in the beginning

if you can connect with WEP encryption, WPA isn't much more difficult.

It might be even easier if you used one of the graphical tools of KDE to make the connection, but wpa_supplicant simply works.

Thats the part that makes me scream I just did that character by character and nothing changes, it does the same thing it try to connect I even get wap_gui telling me it has associated but dhcpcd hangs then disabled wlan0 and I am back where I started.

proc · 05-24-2008, 06:11 AM

Found the problem, I donno how or why, but for fun I recompiled the b43 driver (my card is a bcm4318) and it works!

H_TeXMeX_H · 05-24-2008, 07:43 AM

oh, so you have a broadcom card ... those are know to be tough to configure, mostly because either the drivers are incomplete or the card manufacturer sucks.

b0uncer · 05-24-2008, 10:10 AM

Well the card manufacturer doesn't "suck", it's just that drivers haven't been released for Linux by them, so it makes the road a little bumpy..actually 4318 works pretty well today, compared to what it was like earlier.

I don't remember having to recompile b43 module, but if it helped, I'm glad for you

I had a fight with that card using ndiswrapper, but luckily found bcm43xx module after that, along with fwcutter..and then came along b43 and b43-fwcutter which have worked without any pains (other than having to get Windows drivers and run fwcutter after installation).

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the device wlan0 (or whatever it is called, but the wireless device anyway) should be "up" before running wpa_supplicant..so if it's not,

Code:

ifconfig wlan0 up

should be done as root. If wpa_supplicant does that too when it's run, good, but in case it doesn't.. (I don't remember right now if it does)

Another solution for mean wireless cards without Linux drivers is to buy a usually cheap USB-connected small wireless dongle that has native Linux drivers (such as A-Link's wl54usb). Of course it's money too, but around $20 isn't horribly much if it spares the user a lot of headache..and in addition it's easy to move to another machine if needed.

Stealthy_C · 05-24-2008, 12:34 PM

I only ran into a small problem with WPA. Before I noticed the wpa_gui app under "K->Internet" I had used Wireless Assistant to setup the WPA connection. But for some reason the connection still failed to connect.

Then I noticed in wpa_gui, that the Encryption was set to CCMP instead of TKIP. Works now

Stealthy_C · 05-24-2008, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0uncer

Well the card manufacturer doesn't "suck", it's just that drivers haven't been released for Linux by them, so it makes the road a little bumpy..actually 4318 works pretty well today, compared to what it was like earlier.

Another solution for mean wireless cards without Linux drivers is to buy a usually cheap USB-connected small wireless dongle that has native Linux drivers (such as A-Link's wl54usb). Of course it's money too, but around $20 isn't horribly much if it spares the user a lot of headache..and in addition it's easy to move to another machine if needed.

Or one could use NDISwrapper http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

Quote:

Originally Posted by NDISwrapper.sourceforge.net

Many vendors do not release specifications of the hardware or provide a Linux driver for their wireless network cards. This project implements Windows kernel API and NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) API within Linux kernel. A Windows driver for wireless network card is then linked to this implementation so that the driver runs natively, as though it is in Windows, without binary emulation.

With ndiswrapper, most miniPCI (builtin), PCI, PCMCIA (Cardbus only) or USB wireless network cards work in Linux with x86 or x86-64. Although ndiswrapper is intended for wireless network cards, other devices are known to work: e.g., ethernet cards, USB to serial port device, home phone network device etc.

proc · 05-24-2008, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealthy_C

I only ran into a small problem with WPA. Before I noticed the wpa_gui app under "K->Internet" I had used Wireless Assistant to setup the WPA connection. But for some reason the connection still failed to connect.

Then I noticed in wpa_gui, that the Encryption was set to CCMP instead of TKIP. Works now

for wpa_gui to work you need to do the following:

edit /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and add the following to the top of it.

Code:

update_config=1

restart wpa_gui it should ask you for the root password,
scan for an ap, double click on the ap you wish to connect to, now put in all the information you need click connect (this will also save the profile so you dont need to do this anymore for this ap anyways)

now open a terminal and as root type the following:

Code:

dhcpcd wlan0

this will connect you, I wish there was some way of passing info to wpa_supplicant to spawn a dhcpcd request on its own, but I can't see a way to do this yet.

anon099 · 05-24-2008, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Well the card manufacturer doesn't "suck"

Yes it does. imho.

I just replaced my broadcom 4309 card with and intel 2200. works like a dream and no more stupid broadcom issues. wifi cards are pretty cheap. I would recommend switching to a vendor that actively supports linux. A new issue pops up with broadcom every day like the latest Asus issue in the kernel right now.

fair_is_fair · 05-24-2008, 10:06 PM

Broadcom does suck. Linux users would be best served to avoid them like the plague.

Don't hold your breath for Broadcom Linux drivers. There are a couple of internet petitions regarding linux support and I believe the one petition is a few years old.

Thank goodness for Ndiswrapper and the efforts of those who are reverse engineering linux drivers.

http://www.petitiononline.com/bcmdrive/petition.html