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evilben
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 128
Location: GA, USA
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 Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:34 pm Post subject: Selecting an AP by MAC (iwconfig) (~solved) |
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Hi all. Recently my apartment changed all of its AP's to the same essid, which has introduced an annoying and frequently occurring phenomenon, in that my card won't stick with the one really strong AP (the others don't give me a good signal at all).
I've tried fixing this in /etc/conf.d/net (where all my wireless settings are), by overriding the essid which is broadcast, but then my card (an Orinoco) won't connect to anything:
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modules=("dhclient" "iwconfig")
config_eth1=( "dhcp" )
dhcp_myap="nodns nontp"
mac_essid_00900e00ab95="myap"
essid_eth1="myap"
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A quote from /etc/conf.d/wireless.example:
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# You can also set any of the /etc/conf.d/net variables per MAC address
# incase you use Access Points with the same ESSID but need different
# networking configs. Below is an example - of course you use the same
# method with other variables
#mac_config_001122334455=( "dhcp" )
#mac_dhcpcd_001122334455="-t 10"
#mac_dns_servers_001122334455=( "192.168.0.1" "192.168.0.2" )
# Map a MAC address to an ESSID
# This is used when the Access Point is not broadcasting it's ESSID
# WARNING: This will override the ESSID being broadcast due to some
# Access Points sending an ESSID even when they have been configured
# not too!
# Change 001122334455 to the MAC address and ESSID to the ESSID
# it should map to
#mac_essid_001122334455="ESSID"
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This is the /etc/conf.d/net which gets me connected, but intermittently:
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modules=("dhclient" "iwconfig")
config_eth1=( "dhcp" )
dhcp_CommonSSID="nodns nontp"
essid_eth1="CommonSSID"
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A quick scan of wpa_supplicant docs doesn't suggest that it can do this. Any suggestions?
EDIT:
From the man page of iwconfig:
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ap Force the card to register to the Access Point given by the
address, if it is possible. When the quality of the connection
goes too low, the driver may revert back to automatic mode (the
card selects the best Access Point in range).
You may also use off to re-enable automatic mode without chang-
ing the current Access Point, or you may use any or auto to
force the card to reassociate with the currently best Access
Point.
Example :
iwconfig eth0 ap 00:60:1D:01:23:45
iwconfig eth0 ap any
iwconfig eth0 ap off
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So it seems possible with iwconfig--it's just that the net.lo script is messing up?
EDIT #2:
Maybe not--
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tux ~ # iwconfig eth1 ap 00:90:0E:00:AB:95
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.
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Last edited by evilben on Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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UberLord
Retired Dev
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 6835
Location: Blighty
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evilben
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 128
Location: GA, USA
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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tux conf.d # iwlist scan
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.
teql0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
eth1 Interface doesn't support scanning : Operation not supported
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The orinoco driver doesn't support it. I encountered that fact looking into apradar.
I have kismet working--would that help? |
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UberLord
Retired Dev
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 6835
Location: Blighty
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortuantely, mapping a MAC address to an ESSID requires scanning to work 
And even then, it still just informs iwconfig to select the ESSID and lets the driver select which AP to use - which is what you currently have if I understand correctly.
Maybe the best solution would be to purchase a better supported card?
Or try the orinoco driver in portage as I understand that one supports scanning, monitoring and other nice things
_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool |
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evilben
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 128
Location: GA, USA
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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Ok--I'll give the one in portage a swing, but I'll have to mess with the kernel a little--something to do when I'm bored! (which is not now!)
Maybe in the meantime I'll just campaign to get the essid's changed back.
Thanks for your help. |
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