wireless lan configuration

guldo · 11-12-2006, 12:39 PM

Hello.
I have some trouble making my lan work.
I have a desktop linux pc on which I installed a dlink wireless card using the RaLink driver.
I have a laptop windows pc with a built-in wireless card.
I would like the two PCs to talk to each other.
On linux, the ralink module is loaded, and the card is configured as follows:

Code:

ra0       RT61 Wireless  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:1 MHz  Cell: 5A:14:70:69:11:EA   
          Bit Rate=11 Mb/s   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=0/100  Signal level:-121 dBm  Noise level:-80 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

How come the two PCs do not ping each other?
There is no firewall in between.
Is there anything missing/wrong with the configuration?
Is there any special config I should change on windows?
Could any other wireless lan nearby cause any conflict?

tizzef · 11-13-2006, 05:04 AM

Hi

Please could you tell me the version of GNU/Linux your are running (GNU/Debian, RedHat ES, Mandriva)
As you can see you haven't got an essid set correctly so you cannot connect to an adhoc WAN.
You must set your essid either on the win32 host.
I had the same conf at home and it works corretly (with some bug somstimes

)
You can set your essid with the iwconfig tools.
And if you are running a Debian, you can set the wireless link to comes up with your laptop (/etc/network/interface).

Cheers.

guldo · 11-13-2006, 04:28 PM

Thanks for the reply.

I can't figure out how to deal with the essid, though...
I thought it could be any random sequence of up to 32 alphanumerical characters, but there's something I don't get...
I mean, for instance:

Code:

debian:~# iwconfig ra0 mode ad-hoc essid "GuldoNet01" 
debian:~# iwconfig ra0
ra0       RT61 Wireless  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:1 MHz  Cell: 2E:82:AF:62:7B:C6   
          Bit Rate=11 Mb/s   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=0/100  Signal level:-121 dBm  Noise level:-107 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

debian:~#

So how am I supposed to set this parameter?

p.s.: I have a debian testing on linux 2.6.17