zd1211rw with WPA - scripts stopped working!
 

My problem is that I really don't know the best way to use the zd1211rw driver with WPAPSK and TKIP. After a lot of trial and error, I somehow got it working on a 2.6.20.9 kernel (I couldn't use the slackware 12 stock kernels due to a timer bug). Now I have upgraded to 2.6.23.9 and am facing difficulties getting my wireless back. The modules zd1211rw and ieee80211softmac are loaded and the scripts are unedited from before. However, when I try to bring my wireless interface up using the /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 script it complains about the "SetAuth=", "EncrypType=" and "WPAPSK=" being invalid commands. On startup, there is a considerable delay (around a minute) when udev is called in rc.4, resulting in no connection.

The interface shows up on ifconfig with all the settings filled in, on iwconfig everything is filled in except for the Encryption part. In my rc.inet1.conf, it currently uses wpa_supplicant with the wext driver. The key is in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.

To be quite honest, I have had no end of trouble setting slackware up with wireless! Every time it has suddenly worked I have just left a mess with various entries in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf and /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf. Is there a "right" way to use these scripts in combination? I have found trouble locating any useful documentation on the current state of the zd1211rw driver, I hope it's not out there and too obvious. Do I need to use wpa_supplicant at all any more?

Apologies for any vague areas in this post; I have had to resort to windows to get on the internet and all details are from memory. If any further information is needed about my configuration I can probably provide it. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

There is no need to use rc.wireless.conf for your wireless configurations, you can add them all to rc.inet1.conf . If you google for "rc.inet1.conf wlan_wpadriver" you will see several good links about setting up wireless in Slackware.

One article which describes setting up WPA is http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...wpa_encryption

Your errors of "SetAuth=", "EncrypType=" and "WPAPSK=" are caused by the fact that the WLAPN_IWPRIV[x]="" syntax has changed in Slackware 12.0. Look at the example in the new rc.inet1.conf file which comes with Slackware 12.0. The new syntax is
A copy of that file is here: rc.inet1.conf

Eric

Just to say thanks for such a quick response. It turned out that compiling the zd1211rw module directly into the kernel, along with all its dependent kernel modules made it work fine. I used wpa_supplicant for all the encryption settings, left rc.wireless.conf blank except for the encryption key (which I'm not sure is completely necessary) and used the rc.inet1.conf file to call wpa_supplicant using the wext driver. The "WLAN_IWPRIV" settings in rc.inet1.conf are commented out, presumably the driver doesn't work using these and relies solely on wpa_supplicant.

If anyone out there wants to see any of this in any more detail then I will be happy to post my config files, although I think the main point is that the driver is built in.