[NTLUG:Discuss] minimum kernel settings for linux wireless

[Mickeyd]

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 20:48:27 +0000
"james osburn" <jjosburn at hotmail.com> wrote:

> which of you have gotten linux wiress to work.
> and for those of you who have could you post you .config files and
> kernel version to this
> forum? if you have the time
> 
> thanks
> jim
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

James,

Wireless is just another device to Linux.  If you are using a recent
distribution, this is probably already enabled for you as a module
(and should have been compiled at build time).  You will have to setup
your modules.conf file to load the module.  The module depends on the
chipset of your nic.

If you are using Gentoo or similar distribution where you compile the
sources, you will need to enable wireless and probably the hermes module
stuff, then pick your driver from whats available or download the
correct driver and install it.

You may also want to download and install the wlan-ng programs to
manage the setup depending on how complicated your needs are.  They are
available in rpm, deb, and tarball format just google wlan-ng, or check
with linux-wlan.org.

I have a wireless (802.11b) installed on a Gentoo installation, and use
the modules prism2_pci and p80211.  On an older machine (Mandrake) I
used the orinco_pci driver (also prism) and had to install the pcmcia
module to get it to work, and on a laptop I used the pcmcia and the
orinco_cs modules. 

All machines connect to a Linksys WAP11 which is plugged into a Linksys
BEFSR41 router that is setup as a dhcp server, and they receive their
dhcp leases from the router.  The WAP is just setup as an ad-hoc access
point.  The router also has some hardwired machines so it controlls all
dhcp leases and i can simplify my network behind the router.

Don't let the 'wireless' part fool you, the difference between a wired
nic and a wireless nic is not significant from a *normal* users point of
view. They are both just a device and happen to use a different medium
to transmit their signal.  I even clobbered the device node once and
used eth0 instead of wlan0 to get the machine to connect.

----- 

Tom McDonald <tom at compuclaim.com>
Compuclaim Inc.


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