Now first my level of experience with linux - 2 days.

I've tried out other programs and Slackware 12.0 seems to run best on my Compaq Armada M700. (speed vrs funtionality) I tried unbunto, xunbunto, dreamlinux, & Zenwalk. Now I'm trying to get it connected to my Wifi.

Could somebody please tell me in very, very simple, directions how to get the friggen thing to connect to my WPA encrypted home network. I'm talking about key by key directions. I've looked at wpa_supplicant and can't make heads or tails of it. I look at the wpa_gui and really want to get that working for when I travel. Is there some simple program that can manage this? I've looked around and cannot find one.

I did manage to use ndiswrapper to activate my Airlink101 card (was easy after I found the right driver). It only took me about 4 hours to get that far.

What exactly is your problem?
Dont you get wpa_gui started?

Otherwise wpa_supplicant is pretty easy to use.
first:
wpa_passphrase <ssid> [passphrase]

Then edit wpa_supplicant.conf:
And put the psk value of the output of wpa_passphrase in this config.

Change the ssid accordingly.

When you want to start the wireless:
Change everything to your setup.
When the wpa_supplicant command is executed you should see some messages about "Associated" and "Connected"

Firstly, you mean "Ubuntu" and "Xubuntu".

Now, back to your problems. You'll need to do all this stuff as root, so open a terminal (xterm, Konsole, etc), type "su" (without quotes) and enter your root password. I'm assuming you've got a regular user account that you use for every day things and aren't using root all the time (which is not sensible). You'll then be able to run text editors and have permissions to edit the various files.

1. You'll probably want the ndiswrapper kernel module loaded every time you boot your machine, so you'll need to edit the file /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and add the line "/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper" to it (I added it near the end, but it doesn't really matter), without the quotes.

2. Do you have the WPA Supplicant package installed? If not, it should be in the "n" directory on CD 1 or any Slackware mirror, such as this one. Install it with "installpkg wpa_supplicant-0.5.7-i486-1.tgz" from the directory in which it's located (after you've downloaded it or mounted the CD).

3. Add an entry to the file /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf for your wireless network. Here's a simple example of what mine looks like:

4. Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf and find the section under "Example config information for wlan0". You'll want to uncomment (i.e. remove the leading #) and edit the following lines so they look the same:

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
WLAN_WPA[4]="wpa_supplicant"
WLAN_WPADRIVER[4]="wext"

If you get your IP address via DHCP (i.e. it's assigned automatically by your router), then you also want the following line:

USE_DHCP[4]="yes"

After that, you should just be able to run "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 restart" and it should work.

Nylex I followed what you said and when I did
"/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 restart"
I got this error message

"Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory"

@Deadeyes:

You missed the part about key by key directions. I don't have a clue what your talking about. Remember I have 0 experience so write out every command. I did my best and all I got was:

Failed to read or parse configuration 'wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf'

Ok, first thing to check: do you have a wlan0 interface listed if you run "ifconfig -a"?

Yes I have a wlan0 listed.

So what happens if you run "wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"? Substitute /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf with the full path to your wpa_supplicant.conf, if it's not in /etc. Edit: posting your wpa_supplicant.conf would also be a good idea.

I get this
oot@rwebrats:/etc# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Line 1: Invalid configuration line 'See /usr/doc/wpa_supplicant-0.5.7/wpa_supplicant.conf.sample'.
Failed to read or parse configuration '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'.


Here is my wpa_supplicant.conf file

See /usr/doc/wpa_supplicant-0.5.7/wpa_supplicant.conf.sample
# for many more options that you can use in this file.

# This line enables the use of wpa_cli which is used by rc.wireless
# if possible (to check for successful association)
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
# By default, only root (group 0) may use wpa_cli
ctrl_interface_group=0
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

# WPA protected network, supply your own ESSID and WPAPSK here:
network={
ssid="rwebrats"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40
#psk=""
psk=4ccc10693691f7b3a2f5aa08605fd63959c62a3252d5ad0bcba3837a147a3c6d
}

# Plaintext connection (no WPA, no IEEE 802.1X),
# nice for hotel/airport types of WiFi network.
# You'll need a recent version of wireless-tools for this!
network={
ssid="any"
key_mgmt=NONE
priority=2
}

Right, comment out the first line and try again.

# = Doh! I hate these things.

now I get CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys

I drug the computer into the office today because the boss is still on vacation.

Can you post the entire output please?

Wifi is up and working.
I'm just went home to where my router is. Booted up and connected with no problems. Thanks for your help Nylex.

Strange, but glad to hear you got it working .

No key by key directions?
I gave you every command you need to test the connection.
The only thing I did not mention is that you need to be root.

whatever...