[ltp] wireless problem on X21

Mon, 31 Dec 2001 19:05:46 -0500 (EST)

On Mon, 31 Dec 2001, Bill Feiereisen wrote:

> I have an X21 with RH7.1 in a dual boot with Win2K. I am unable to get my 
> 802.11 wireless to work under linux, but other PCMCIA services work (for 
> instance an IBM microdrive).  The card is an Orinoco gold. The built-in 
> ethernet NIC works fine as eth0. I'd like to configure the PC card as eth1.
> 
Hi,

I recently asked this list for help geting wireless networking to work
and received some good suggestions. I have noticed a few messages
about this recently so I decided to share my experiences in the hope
it will help others. Please keep in mind that I am a novice at all
things networking and pcmcia.

I installed redhat 7.2 on an IBM Thinkpad T23. This laptop came with
three built-in pieces of networking hardware:

- internal: Mini PCI 56K V.90 modem card / Lucent chipset
- internal: 10/100 ethernet on Daughter Card / Intel 82562ET chipset
- internal: Mini PCI 802.11b wireless, Intersil Prism 2.5 chipset

I have not tried any of the internal devices. I've heard the modem
works. The ethernet card was discovered and configured by redhat on
installation. I have not tried the internal wireless card yet as I've
heard it doesn't work under linux. Any reports to the contrary would be
welcome.  

I also purchased an IBM High Rate Wireless LAN PC Card - 128 (PC Card
Type II). I don't need this card in Windows (the machine is dual
boot), but as I mentioned above, I don't think the internal mini PCI
device works under linux.

When I installed linux I had the wireless card inserted. I have no
idea if this is important. The ethernet card was configured
automatically as eth0. I was never asked about the wireless card when
installing.

On first booting up, the system tried to connect to a network via
eth0. This failed as I am not using the ethernet card. So my first
step was to edit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and change
the line ONBOOT=yes to ONBOOT=no.

The PCMCIA devices were working automatically. Inserting the wireless
card resulted in two beeps which the PCMCIA FAQ (or HOWTO, I forget)
says means all is okay. But I couldn't make a connection to the
network.

My next step was to fire up the Network Configuration tool that came
with 7.2. This tool can be run from the command line by typing
'neat'. On the devices tab click Add. Choose Wireless as the Device
type and click OK.  Then up comes the Wireless Device Configuration
dialog box. Give the device a nickname (I chose "eth1"). I did not
choose to active the device when starting as I use the computer to
connect to networks both at work and at home. Protocols should be
TCP/IP. On the hardware device tab I chose eth1 from the drop down
box. Finally I left the Wireless setting unchanged. (More on this
later).

I *think* all this does is create a new file -
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1, but I could be wrong. Any
further information would be very welcome. Anyway after I did this the
above mentioned file looked like this:

#/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
USERCTL=yes
DEVHOSTNAME=
NETMASK=
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
DOMAIN=
NAME=
HWADDR=
DEVICE=eth1
IPADDR=
GATEWAY=
TYPE=Wireless
ONBOOT=no
CHANNEL=1
FREQ=
KEY=
ESSID=
MODE=auto
RATE=auto
PEERDNS=no
#####################################################

I need to connect to two different networks - work and work. While the
home network does have an ESSID (provided by the router) this
information is not needed to make the connection. In contrast, my work
connection needs to specify both the ESSID and a KEY value. In what
follows I will set my work ESSID to "WorkESSIS" and the KEY to
"WorkKEY". You will need to change these to the correct values for
your network.

Next I needed to edit /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opt. This file contains
the following line:

# Note also that this script will work only with the original Pcmcia scripts,
# and not with the default Red Hat scripts. Send a bug report to Red Hat ;-)

I don't know if this is true or not, but for me this file was the key
to getting my system to work. 

I edited this file to look like this:

# /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opt
# Wireless LAN adapter configuration

case "$ADDRESS" in

home,*,*,*)
    INFO="Home Network"
    ESSID="any"
    ;;

work,*,*,*)
    INFO="WORK"
    ESSID="WorkESSID"
    KEY="s:WorkKEY"
    ;;

esac

This results in two different "schemes" - home and work. Each scheme is
made active by entering:

cardctl scheme <scheme-name> 

e.g. cardctl scheme home.

This allows me to switch networks easily.

(I *think* this tool is part of the wireless-tools package. If this
command does not work then you might need to install this package.)

So select your scheme and restart pcmcia: /etc/init.d/pcmcia restart

Finally bring up the network: pump -i eth1

(You may need to install pump).

You should now be connected.

The last two steps are necessary each time I switch networks (and
schemes).  But if I cycle the laptop at the same location the network
comes up automatically. I don't fully understand how this all works.
Perhaps some kind soul could explain.

Now a plea for help. I would like some sort of startup script that
can determine the correct scheme to use and start the network up
automatically. Perhaps it could try one scheme and if it fails try the
other. Any help would be appreciated.

I hope this helps. Time to go enjoy New Year's Eve.

Cameron

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