Fedora (Core 5 x86_64) successfully detected my wireless card after I updated my kernel to 2157 - a "Broadcom BCM4318 Airforce one" by the way, but I have no idea how to set it up.

When I open system-config-network, and click "Activate", t just says:

(I had just been using it to connect to a wireless network under Windows earlier, so I know it works).

Is there some extra information I have to provide? Why is it asking me about cables when it's a wireless device?

On windows it detected everything automatically and I just pressed "connect"... I really have no idea what to do here.


Can you help?
Thanks

If you have a wired LAN card that is probably what eth1 is, I get that error every time I start up Fedora because I rarely use a wired connection, try connecting your computer to the router with a wire and see if the error goes away. My guess is you are thinking eth1 is your wireless card when in reality it is your wired LAN card. When I type iwconfig I see eth0 (wired) and ath0 (wireless). I found a thread on FedoraForum stating how to setup your wireless card, here's the link:

http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/pri...d.php?t=115572

I don't believe Fedora has any wireless drives that are automatically installed during setup, maybe prism based cards, my wifi uses the atheros chipset which is a very linux friendly wireless card and I still had to install the drivers manually.

After you get your drivers installed I would enable Network Manager and Network Dispatcher in "Services", it might work right off the bat, I had to do some tinkering to get it to work with my wireless card, you may have to connect manually using the Console if it does not work, here's what I use to connect manually:

iwconfig ath0 essid router
iwconfig ath0 ap 00:13:10:1B:3A:27 <----mac addy of router
iwconfig ath0 key 29E3B4351F7C753EDABF4CB1B9 <-----wep key as displayed on router
dhclient ath0 <-----to pull an IP

I put this in a text file, made it executable, and put it in /bin so all I had to do to connect was type "home"


Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmm... I checked, and eth0 is my wired Ethernet connection. Eth1 is my wireless.

This is the first time I've ever tried to setup a wireless card. I not really that familiar with "SSID"s and "MAC" numbers, etc.

However, as I said, from 2139 wireless networking is built into the kernel. Besides, Fedora has deteced and installed my wireless card fine (I think): I'm just wondering about how to configure it.

When I open system-config-network, it displays my wired ethernet on eth0, and my Broadcom card on eth1. Clicking on Activate displayed the error message as described. However, I then clicked on "Edit", and I haven't changed any of the settings that are there: most of the fields are empty.

I don't have a router though. What I'd like to do is connect to public access wifi spots, e.g. in libraries, or Starbucks.

...So, how can I get my wireless card to do so? What information do I have to enter into the settings after I press "Edit"?

(This is it really: All the manuals I've read are about getting your wireless card *installed*; they provide no details about what to do after that, and how to configure the card so you cannect to Wifi Spots e.g. in Starbucks... )

Thanks for the link, but it would be great if I could get a native linux driver to work instead of using a Windows one / ndiswrapper. Then I can use kismet instead of having to boot into windows to use netstumbler to find the strongest wifi connections.

So what extra information do I need for the card's settings? Where do I get an IP from? How can I connect to a public access wifi (Has anyone tried this?)

You can enter the wireless parameters via wireless tools (iwconfig commands) or through a GUI such a wifi-radar, KWiFiManager, etc. Once there, you can obtain an IP address (depending on your distro) with ifup eth1, dhclient eth1, pump, etc.

Ok... do you know of any good HOWTO's you could point me to on the subject?

Thanks

For enabling or verifying the bcm43xx driver: http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail...ch/000804.html

For configuring the wireless parameters: man iwconfig

For FC5, the command ifup <interface name> should pull an IP address. The Fedora docs are also a good source, especially for editing the network config scripts.

Do you still ahve to do this even with the latest kernels? I thought 2139 onwards had inbuilt networking.

generates: "Determining information for eth1... failed; no link present. Check cable?"

Exactly where is it looking for the IP information (the internet)? Are all the issues I have had because I don't have the internet on my laptop?

If this is the problem, do you know how I can statically set the IP address? How about the "Subnet mask" and the "Default gateway address"?

Will different wifi public access points I try to connect to have different gateway addresses, etc.?

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4...hot3tc5pp3.png
http://img429.imageshack.us/my.php?i...apshot4xc6.png
http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?i...apshot5cn2.png
http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?i...apshot6dg7.png

...This is what the settings for my wireless card look like

And another:
http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?i...apshot2ae7.png

hi im new to linux,but have some idea about wireless,ssid is the name of the service provider so for example,when your asked to input an ssid you need to know what the companys name is thats providing the internet connection,so thats whats typed into ssid,as for ip address most isp use dhcp which means in case you may not know gives ip address automaticaly,so you shouldnt have to concern with that,im sure its the same for linux as other systems,

Where in the hell did you come up with that?

ESSID is an abbreviation for Extended Service Set Identifier. It's a way for a wireless LAN to advertise it's existence and has absolutely nothing to do with the ISP. It's a user setting and can be anything you want it to be. Cox is my ISP, but my ESSID can be hackmeifyoucan.

Please read before posting things about which you know nothing.

144419855310001,

Please post the output of iwconfig, ifconfig, lsmod and route.

hey relax,they said ssid not essid,quote,This is the first time I've ever tried to setup a wireless card. I not really that familiar with "SSID"s and "MAC" numbers, etc.
unquote, i meant to say the ap or router that the company that gives you the the connection to the internet has an ssid,and this added to the client utility on your computer is part of the proper configuration.

Still incorrect.

I'm relaxed. People read this forum to get answers and if inaccurate information isn't challenged, it might be assumed to be factual and send someone on a time-wasting wild goose chase.

SSID & ESSID are used interchangably, but neither is dependent in any way on an ISP unless you get your service from a wireless service provider; the vast majority of users here are served by DSL or cable providers.

You also said "im new to linux,but have some idea about wireless" You can see my confusion regarding your experience & expertise on the subject.

ok for the benefit of 144419855310001, i will give a walkthrough on how important ssid is in the connection,
this is from a real life working internet connection,
step 1, i need to know there is an access point i can connect to,
step 2 i need the access points ssid,it could be called anything,
step 3 i get the ssid of the access point,now i go to my computer open my client utility ,note, client utility`s may differ,the one i use has this layout, first thing,profile name this can be anything,next ssid 1 2 or 3
i will choose ssid 1, i now enter the name of the access point,that i have aquired,it could look something like this, netwire 2211,most households are given broadband routers or access points,from phone companies with these ssid,s in them,for their dsl connections,this is the case for western europe, now say for example i go back to my client utility,and i change the ssid but keep the same profile, immediately my internet connection is down,that says to me that ,profile,encryption and channel mean noting unless the ssid is correct.

Well, I'm vexated. But I'm hoping perhaps I can get this sorted by this weekend. (Thanks for the responses though)

Yes. I'm sitting in a public library right underneath a wireless hotspot with a very strong signal. I just checked this in Windows with NetStumbler, and was able to connect to the hotspot network on XP. (Everybody knows what I mean by "hotspot", yes?)

Well, I thought perhaps on Linux you have to "Scan for Networks" with KwifiManager to manually find out the information you need, i.e. SSID, MAC and [critically] the IP numbers of the Starbucks/Library router you're trying to connect to.

However, though it detected my card, Kwifimanager said that no networks were found, despite what I wrote above about being in the middle of a strong signal.
(Here's a snapshot: http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9...t7kwifiut9.png )

So I read through the Kwifimanager documentation, and it said that either 1) I'm not logged in as root (which I definitely am) or 2) the card / driver does not support scanning.

I hear that the bcm43xx driver is still quite experimental. Could this be the reason? (Does it support scanning?)
How about Gateway address and "Subnet mask"?

Here also is the result of iwconfig. I will get back to you on the results of the other commands.

A couple of things:

You don't have to scan for wireless networks. If you know the name, enter it manually - iwconfig eth1 essid <access_point_name>. You can test to see if scanning works with the bcm43xx driver with: iwlist eth1 scan

The iwconfig output confirms that you're not associated with the network.

You're getting a mismatch error on the wireless tools version (the programs that include the iwconfig). Update to the latest version.

Also, the bcm43xx driver is still immature. You might be better off with ndiswrapper. Unload the bcm43xx driver before trying to load ndiswrapper (modprobe -r bcm43xx).

Don't log in as root, at least not into X. Just run KWiFiManager as root from a command line to have access to wireless parameters.