I have a mis-match between the protocols on the Belkin N900 WAP and wicd (1.7.4.2) on the notebooks running Slackware-14.0/x86_64.

The most secure mode and authentication supported by the Belkin are WPA/WAP2-Personal (PSK) and WPA2-PSK. WPA2-PSK is supported by wpa_supplicant which is found in /usr/sbin/ and called by /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless

Wicd does not have these protocols on the version with Slackware-14.0. My choices are:
WPA 1/2 Hex
WPA PEAP
WPA Password
WPA2 LEAP
WPA2 PEAP

I try selecting WPA Password and putting in the PSK used by the Belkin but cannot authenticate and connect. I also try WPA 1/2 Hex and the two WPA2 offerings with the same results. I've not found where I can add WPA2-PSK to wicd on the laptops here.

Advice from those who know wireless networking is needed.

TIA,

Rich

You have not given details of the wireless card in the notebook. Check the output of 'lspci'.
It is possible that you need to get your device properly recognised so that the needed protocol is made available.

The use of /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless is deprecated, and is unlikely to be needed in your situation.

allend:

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (rev 35)

Over the past three years this laptop has connected to a wide variety of wireless access points in hotels, coffee shops, and previous WAPs here in the office. Wicd puts up the proper interface (wlan0) and communicates with the Belkin but cannot authenticate the PSK password even though it is the same on both sides. On the laptop the protocol is 'WPA 1/2 Hex' and on the Belkin it is 'WPA2-PSK'; I'm told these are equivalent.

Thanks,

Rich

Curious. What you are doing looks like it should work. Have you tried connecting using wpa_supplicant directly with the debug switch?

Please accept my apologies for not responding sooner; it's been a busy month or so here. I've resolved this issue by learning how I had the Belkin N900 mis-configured, and properly configuring it.

I set the Belkin to DHCP on its own subnet. Then I reconfigured /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf on the Sony to have no static IP address on any interface. The Sony now communicates with wireless access points and the networks behind them both here and elsewhere. Seems rather extreme, but it works and my friend is happy that she can use the Sony everywhere there's a wireless access point.

Thanks all,

Rich