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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:03 pm Post subject: wireless interface[SOLVED] |
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Where, if at all, does a script occur during the bootup inits to create a wireless interface for the network for gentoo?
For most other distros, it occurs by the calling of a script called network or networking within /etc/init.d.
For gentoo, the only solid script is net.eth0, which accounts for a regular wired network card.
I have a wireless card and have the appropriate driver installed into the kernel to utilise it, namely ath_pci of the madwifi package.
Using the standard wireless network manager of kde, all 4 config interface options report there's no wireless interface to work on. There exists an eth0 and a sit0. It's certainly not created by net.eth0. A wireless interface might be wlan0.
So, how does one create one?? Using ifconfig or iwconfig?
How? _________________ idella4@aus
Last edited by idella4 on Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:12 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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alex.blackbit Advocate

Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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that is covered in the documentation. did you read it?
for a starting point... you will need to make a symlink to net.lo. |
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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:28 am Post subject: |
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At the risk of sounding glib, just which documentation.
I looked through the list at gentoo home. There are all sorts of topics, but wireless isn't listed as such.
Feel free to point me towards it and I'll read, but gentoo's indexing isn't as complete as it could be.
(Good documentation ought ensure good access)
I understand a sym link, but to where I can't guess. _________________ idella4@aus |
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alex.blackbit Advocate

Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:46 am Post subject: |
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on google, try "gentoo wireless". |
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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:13 am Post subject: |
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ok, shall do. That sounds logical. _________________ idella4@aus |
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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 9:44 am Post subject: |
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Right I've read through the document, but I still end up wondering how to create an interface for a wireless configuration.
The document describes wireless-tools and wpa_supplicant, and that's about all. It's in depth but completely misses the mark in informing how to actually configure a system.
Kde has a standard wireless management tool. It's a waste because it relies upon a wireless interface being created to work upon.
I'm not closing this off as solved because it isn't.
The question remains, how do you create a wireless interface? No more referring to the 'documentation'. It just misses the target. My hunch is to use either ifconfig or iwconfig, in which case all there is to help are the man pages!
Does anyone disagree??? _________________ idella4@aus |
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alex.blackbit Advocate

Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:50 am Post subject: |
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as with all network interfaces in gentoo you "create" it by making a symlink to net.lo.
depending on your card, that could be net.eth1, net.wlan0, net.ath0, etc.
you should find out by doing "ifconfig -a".
but i agree, that is not clearly described in the official documentation, at least i do not find it either.
this should be improved. contact one of the authors, please.
the unofficial gentoo wiki describes that better. |
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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:41 am Post subject: |
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This looks as if it just goes unanswered.
A wireless interface should arguably be called wlan0. I created a link called net.wlan0 as a sym link to /etc/init.d/net.lo.
On starting it, it once again says 'no such interface'. It doesn't create it in the first place.
The question is still unanswered. How do you CREATE the damned interface?
It seems nobody here knows! The documentation makes a point of not saying.
The wireless network card and the driver will have to sit there with nothing to do.
I thought you could get these things done in Gentoo! _________________ idella4@aus |
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alex.blackbit Advocate

Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:37 am Post subject: |
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idella4, i answered your post, did you read it? it does not seem so.
if you have the right driver in your kernel, then you will get a interface, that is visible when you run "ifconfig -a".
you have to make a symlink to net.lo with net.<name-of-interface>. not with the name you would like it to have.
i hope that makes it clear. and since you say you have to use the madwifi driver, the name of the interface will be ath0. |
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alex.blackbit Advocate

Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:41 am Post subject: |
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idella4 wrote: | A wireless interface should arguably be called wlan0 |
idella4, i answered your post, did you read it? it does not seem so.
if you have the right driver in your kernel, then you will get a interface, that is visible when you run "ifconfig -a".
you have to make a symlink to net.lo with net.<name-of-interface>. not with the name you would like it to have.
i hope that makes it clear. and since you say you have to use the madwifi driver, the name of the interface will be ath0. |
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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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ok Alex. I accept what you say. I've cooled down a bit now too. I read it but still don't, or didn't quite follow.
I will add this. Using ifconfig -a, the response is as follows
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idella@Gentoo ~/programs/gspcav1-20071224 $ sudo ifconfig -a
Password:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1F:C6:1A:AC:BD
inet addr:192.168.0.5 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21f:c6ff:fe1a:acbd/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:301147 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:178502 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:428318702 (408.4 Mb) TX bytes:13361939 (12.7 Mb)
Interrupt:219
ip6tnl0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
NOARP MTU:1460 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:579 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:579 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:49763 (48.5 Kb) TX bytes:49763 (48.5 Kb)
sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
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As far as I can decipher, eth0 is the interface for my standard newtork card. That network card has a cable directly plugged into the adsl modem and provides the internet connection. So I figure it plays no part in wireless configs.
lo is the loopback.
ip6tnl0 I don't really follow or know what to do with.
That leaves interface sit0, rather than ath0.
From what you say, I should then make a sym link called net.sit0 to /etc/init.d/net.lo?? Is this correct? It will at least be working on an interface that exists.
The madwifi driver is called ath_pci and it has been loaded and is present in the system at the calling of ifconfig -a.
I have found this driver initially in ubuntu. It makes an interface ath0.
Am I missing an interface ath0, or is sit0 the one for gentoo to utilse?
I don't doubt your sincerity in answering but it seems I have all the parts but can't put them together in a meaningful way to configure the wireless card. _________________ idella4@aus |
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alex.blackbit Advocate

Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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sit0 is something completely different.
you do not have the inferface you need.
are you sure you have the right driver?
examine the output of dmesg.
describe how you think the driver gets in tough with your kernel. |
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idella4 Retired Dev


Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1600 Location: Australia, Perth
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:55 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for persevering with this, but I don't know what to add at this point. As you can see gentoo doesn't make the required interface which is why I wanted to manually create it. As far as the driver is concerned, I discovered it in ubuntu which seems to be able to use the wireless network card, albeit intermittently. I also used the driver in fedora, and it tended to create an interface wlan0.
I don't know how the driver gets in touch with the kernel. It seems that it isn't selected and loaded during the bootup processes, it has to be manually loaded after bootup. I've looked through dmesg and I can't see anything helpful, though it's very long.
At this point, I just don't expect to use the wireless card in gentoo despite having a proven driver.
Right. forget it. The rotten wireless card had come loose in the slot. Now it works _________________ idella4@aus |
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