cant get wireless working in Fedora 5
 

I have a TravelMate 290 that I just put Fedora 5 on. All the hardware seems to be detected and running properly, except the wireless.

It does recongnize my wireless in the Network Configuration > Hardware tab as Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG. How do I go about getting this recongnized hardware running as a device? Thanks

-BLADE

I am not sure how Fedora handles your wireless card but most likely you will want to download the wireless-tools RPM for Fedora here. These tools will allow you to setup your wireless connection and talk to other access points on the wireless network. Basically the hardware is working but you just need to load the software to be able to establish a connection and transmit to/from an AP (access point.) Once you do this, check out some of the wireless-tools FAQ's and walkthroughs out there to get familiar with the software.

Also, if you're using KDE, install knetworkmanager and add the applet to your application bar.

If you use GNOME, you should have the gnome-network-manager applet already installed.

Both these applets use the NetworkManager system, so YUM will add that when you install the applets if you haven't yet installed it.

If you're going to link to WPA or WPA2 protected access points, you'll also need to install the wpa_supplicant package.

Ive tried both methods mentioned with no avail. Im am quite new to linux so Im willing to bet that its my fault that neither of these techniques are working. Are there any good detailed walk throughs or can someone help me along step by step. Thanks

BLADE

There are a few wireless tutorials here on LQ that you can check out. I share your frustration though. The documentation on wireless that is out there sucks and I haven't ran across a decent one yet, but there is still hope. There are 2 different types of software packages out there that you can use: wireless-tools and wpa_supplicant. The last one is used for connecting to WPA encrypted access points (AP's), but I don't really use that. The one I do use is wireless-tools and it allows you to connect to unencrypted and WEP encrypted AP's. First, install wireless-tools on your system. Second, run iwconfig eth0 or iwconfig eth1 to make sure it can see your wireless card. Third, run iwlist eth0 scanning to find your AP's and then run iwconfig eth0 ap auto. If the AP is unencrypted, you should be able to connect to the AP. Once you do this, you can then type ifconfig eth0 up to bring up the device and run dhcpcd eth0 to get it running. These instructions are not absolute by any means but they are good hints to finding the right direction to detecting/connecting to AP's. Good luck!

Ok so I finally got my card recognized and created a wireless fevice with it. I have also installed wpa_supplicant. Now Im confused on how to get it working. I will have open and closed AP's to connect to. I have yet to find a decent article. Any help. Thanks to those that have posted before. Sorry for all the confusion.

BLADE

Try going through the wireless-tools route per my last post.

ok I have yet to get wireless tools to work as I have a WEP AP. how would I go about connecting to this? Also will I have to go though all these steps everytime or is there a gui or script that can be run to make these steps easier? Thanks

BLADE

The wireless connect process can be automated by configuring your /etc/conf.d/net file (this the location on Gentoo, not sure about FC.) Usually if you start the net.eth[0,1] service in your /etc/init.d directory (again, not sure the runlevel scripts location on FC) it will bring up the AP via iwconfig and the interface via ifconfig automatically. Were you able to install wireless-tools? Please be specific about what problem your are encountering currently so I can provide the best answer.