LinuxQuestions.org - ifplugd, wpa_supplicant & WEP clarification

I already have the wireless connection working on this laptop but not the way i'd like.
Currently I use a GUI included with MEPIS to configure the wireless connection and if it changes I need to manually change it.

I have read on several sites that ifplugd and wpa_supplicant can work together. I assume wpa_supplicant should take care of assigning the essid and deal with the authentication based on the contents of /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

This just doesn't seem to be working correctly.. if my wireless interface isn't set to auto in /etc/network/interfaces then it's never brought up. I have the wifi interface set as a normal interface for ifplugd, not a hotpluggable one since it is built it

The wifi card is a ipw2200 and i'm using a 2.6.15 kernel so i have wpa_supp set to use the wext driver. Both ifplugd and wpa_supplicant are started at boot.
How should this work?

Does wpa_supp scan for access points? What triggers ifplugd to bring a wireless interface up? I am so confused I feel like a complete noob again.

MEPIS is a debian based distro. My config files follow. Most of this is from here: http://www.vollink.com/gary/deb_wifi.html
I'm not trying anything fancy yet, just trying to get this to work at my house which has a fixed 128bit WEP key which works with manual configuration using either the MEPIS config tool or wireless-tools

/etc/default/ifplugd:

Code:

INTERFACES="eth0 eth1"

HOTPLUG_INTERFACES=""

ARGS="-q -f -u0 -d10 -w -I"

SUSPEND_ACTION="stop"

/etc/network/interfaces:

Code:

# The loopback network interface

auto lo

iface lo inet loopback



# The primary network interface

allow-hotplug eth0

iface eth0 inet dhcp



# Wireless... (this section may or may not already exist)

allow-hotplug eth1

iface eth1 inet dhcp

/etc/default/wpasupplicant:

Code:

ENABLED=1

OPTIONS="-w -i eth1 -D wext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"

/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:

Code:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

ctrl_interface_group=0



eapol_version=1

ap_scan=1

fast_reauth=1



# Single key 128bit WEP - Home network

network={

        ssid="WLAN"

        key_mgmt=NONE

        wep_key0=ABCDEF0123456789012345

        wep_tx_keyidx=0

        priority=5

}



# open

network={

        ssid=""

        key_mgmt=NONE

        priority=6

}