I have tried FC5 and the livecd of linspire. I searched ubuntu and the problem exists there also.

What problem?

WPA and wireless nics.

I want a nice, clean interface (aka gui) that I can roam WPA, WEP, and open networks _easily_.

Is there a distro that has this mess sorted out?

Well, last time I tried Suse (version 10.0), it had all this stuff working pretty well.

What you have to remember is that this is free software. It is written by hobbyists in their spare time purely for their love of doing it. You can't roll up here and demand that things work a particular way like you can with commercial software.

As with several other things in Linux, wireless is still a work in progress. There was a recent "meeting of the minds," which was documented here:

http://www.reactivated.net/weblog/ar...reless-summit/

I'm currently using a manually configured wifi network under Slackware, since every other distro makes me feel smothered. It works extremely well, and has not required ANY tinkering since I first set it up.

Let me conclude by saying that if you need GUIs to configure things, boy is Linux the wrong choice of OS for you.

Personal experience,

I just was a bit frustrated with ubuntu dapper and wpa, until I got network manager and nm-applet running. Wow! it works great and is gui to boot!

I previously configured wpa using wpa_supplicant and setting up the wpa_supplicant.conf. This approach will work well with most any distro that runs wpa_supplicant as a daemon.

To get it working in dapper, I had to install network-manager, wpa_supplicant, and do the following fix to get nm-applet going:
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/icons/hicolor/

after that, all I had to do was start nm-applet and click on the icon in the notification area, select my home network, enter the password, it then stores the password in the gnome keyring. If I am out and about, I click on the icon, it shows me a list of networks that are available, and I click on the one that I want to join. It then connects.

I feel a little uneasy doing it this way, since I am so used to the wpa_supplicant.conf file, yet all has worked well without a hitch.

further reading on wpa_supplicant:
http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/

I agree that SUSE 10.0 is probably about as good as it gets with regard to having a good interface that works with WEP and WPA wireless networks. I'm not too sure regarding its track record on Laptops, though. (I am not implying that it is bad, but rather that it is unknown to me.)

There is no need to school me on linux. I still have my retail RH 5.0 cd's.

I dont need gui's. I dont need the hassle of dropping to command prompts and rememering commands while on the road to try and get wireless working either. If you have no internet connection, you cant exactly google how to fix it.

wpa_supplicant is how I was able to get FC5 working, but its clunky at best. If ubuntu has a graphical way of working with WPA, then thats exactly what I'm after. FC5 has a NetworkManager service, which sounds kind of like what youre talking about with ubuntu. The problem is that NetworkManager breaks my already working wireless :| If I turn it on and try and connect via the applet, my wireless quits working.

Sorry mate. I read the OP as a newb-ish type post.

You can configure wpa_supplicant for roaming as long as you know the essid & passphrase for all the networks you need to access. I just don't see the need for a GUI 'configurator' for this.

np


The reason for a GUI is, as I said, for ease of use. To be able to click something, see the networks, and connect. No hassle. No commands to remember, nothing. I have wireless working under FC5 now with WPA for my home WAP, however, trying to remember a set of commands _on the road_ that you only need to use once while at home isnt optimal, further, its not even a good idea.

What if I cant remember how to connect to the wifi being offered me?

I'm kinda screwed. And going down to the hotel lobby to use the free computer to RTFM on how to get my laptop connected doesnt appeal to me.

It isn't hard to remember these commands:

# ifconfig ath0 up
# iwconfig ath0 essid=ESSID key=WEPKEY
# dhcpcd ath0

You could even save a little cheat sheet text file with these commands on your desktop for future reference.

Surely, in the 7 years since RH5 you've come across bigger problems than this.

As I see it, the single biggest problem with Linux wireless is the state of the drivers. Connecting to a network is trivial once you've sorted your drivers out.

Having to apply kernel patches for wifi drivers in 2006 for a card made in 2004 is pretty poor.

I'm simply quite shocked at the horrible support of linux wireless. I'm not even talking about vendor or driver support. Im talking about ease of use. This weekend was the first time ive ever attempted it, and its an embarassment. How long has wireless been considered "standard equipment" on laptops? 2 years maybe? And there isnt a simple way to configure it yet? There isnt an excuse for that.

Of course I could make cheat sheets. Hell I could print off every man page and how-to on the internet. That doesnt fix the problem with linux.

How is wireless any different from wired?

I mean, take out the second line in the 3 commands in my previous post and the two commands you're left with are pretty much the exact same commands necessary to connect to a wired network.

It sounds to me like you tried using a binary package of wpa_supplicant. You need to download the source of wpa_supplicant and compile it properly for the exact wifi drivers you're using. Then you should learn how to configure it properly. Once this is done, connecting to wireless networks becomes trivial. In fact, I find it easier to connect thru WPA than WEP.

Try Slackware. It doesn't smother you anywhere near as much. And that applies to a lot more than just the networking side of things.

Thanks for the help. However, you dont understand the scope of the problem. Clearly. I would also appreciate more *unbiased* (also called distro-neutral) opinions and help.

OK. Let's simplify things for the slow. You know who you are.

Rob's 5 minute guide to setting up Linux (ANY DISTRO) to access a WPA protected network:

Step 1. Install the correct drivers for your card.

Step 2. Once your drivers are installed, compile & install & configure wpa_supplicant. You may have to read some instructions about how to do this properly. You should pay close attention to the "roaming" parts of the documentation if you want it configured for multiple networks. TIP: If you really want this to work DON'T USE A PRE-COMPILED BINARY PACKAGE OF WPA_SUPPLICANT. It can be made to work with a pre-compiled binary, but doing so involves more luck than anything else.

Step 3. # wpa_supplicant -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 (or ath0) -Bw -D(your driver)

Step 4. # ifconfig wlan0 (or ath0) up

Step 5. # iwconfig wlan0 (or ath0) essid xxxxxx (the ESSID of the router you wish to access)

Step 6. # dhcpcd (or dhclient) wlan0 (or ath0)

DONE. The hardest parts are steps 1, 2 and 3. If you don't get those 100% right, nothing will work. If steps 4, 5 and 6 don't work, then you haven't got the first 3 steps 100% right. Pure and simple.

But, hey, what do I know? I'm only typing this from my WPA-enabled Linux wifi desktop. Clearly I have no idea of the scope of this problem.
And with your attitude, this is the last time I'll ever answer one of your questions Hondaman.

Goodbye & good luck.

Actually, let me answer the question for both of us.

I have a bcm43xx card. The driver for this is included in the linux kernel from 2.7.17rc3 and up.

I downloaded and compiled 2.6.17-rc6

I yum installed bcm43xx-fwcutter

I executed the command: bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmw15.sys (bcmw15.sys is the windows driver that you need to download first)

I did: modprobe bcm43xx

I added: /sbin/modprobe bcm43xx to /etc/rc.d/rc.local

I told the wireless nic and wired nic to not turn on when the computer starts.

I enabled the services NetworkManager and NetworkManagerDispatcher

It works. With a gui. I can click at will on available networks, wired or not now in FC5. Have fun at the command prompt fiddling with wpa_supplicant in slack, rkelson!

Thanks! I will. Believe it or not, (and I don't expect that you'll be able to get your closed GUI mind around this) I LOVE the CLI.

Its what took my attention away from Windows in the first place.

It makes me sad that people can use Linux and not see its true power. Oh well. To each their own. Enjoy your point & drool GUI!