I have been trying for months to get wireless working on Debian and after reading far and wide and getting help from irc.debian.org, I realized that there really is no Cookbook in getting wireless set up. Thus having just done it I want to commit to 'paper' so that you all can use it and I can refer to it knowing it is safe somewhere. :)
By required I mean, here is what I used to get this to work, and may serve as guide to anyone who wants to know what really works.
BEFW11S4- EtherFast? Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router w/4-Port Switch. I really really like this WAP (Wireless Access Point). It is OS independent (read, linux friendly) and is configured using a browser so no need to touch Microsoft software at all, even to configure it. And if you don't know what a switch is, let me tell ya, they rock. Essentially they allow the NIC to communicate in both directions at the same time. I highly recommend one.
Link-sys WPC11. I have a version 3.0 and don't recommend any thing less than a version 2.5 Cost about 80 dollars
Table 1. Debian Software Requirements
Software | Version | URL link | notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Debian Distribution | Stable ("Woody") | www.debian.org | linux-2.4.20.tar, patched with patch-2.4.21-pre3.bz[a] | |
Absolute Systems | 0.1.16-pre8 | Abosulte systems | Make sure you download the 11Mbps version. Works for 0.1.16-pre8 | |
pcmcia-source | Stable |
| <---type this | |
pcmcia-cs | stable |
| <---type this | |
wireless-tools | Stable |
| <--type this | |
pump | stable |
| Useful to see if card works | |
kernel-package | stable |
| Good way to build kernel and the one I describe. | |
Kernel | 2.4.20, patched with patch-2.4.21-pre3.bz2 | www.kernel.org | You must know how to build and patch a kernel to do this. Its not hard and I will show you[b] | |
Notes: a. This new patched kernel worked amazingly well b. Note to patch a kernal you type
|
You will also need some way to setup you IP address on your wireless card, I recommend either
apt-get install DHCP-client |
Or at least have the pump application, which also will query a DHCP server and get you an IP address from the DHCP server. Note I tend to use pump when I am trying out new hardware to see if there is a connection, since to test a particular device, say eth0 I would type
pump -i eth0 |
pump -i wlan0 |
I also recommend you use the "kernel-package" package when you want to build your new kernel, which I will get to. This tool is very good and you should be using it anyway when you are building new kernel for the Debian distribution. You can install it by typing
apt-get install kernel-package |
In order to use the wireless tools, like iwconfig, which will allow you tell how good your connection is, you need to enable support for Wireless LAN (Non-Ham Rasio).
In these examples, I use
make menuconfig |
You can do this by:
Go to:
Network Device support -->
then Select:
Wireless LAN (non-hamradio) --->
Then Choose the options, so that it looks like below, or something as close to this. Note I am uing 'make menuconfig' to configure my kernel
[*] Wireless LAN (non-hamradio)
< > STRIP (Metricom starmode radio IP)
< > AT T WaveLAN & DEC RoamAbout DS support
< > Aironet Arlan 655 & IC2200 DS support
< > Aironet 4500/4800 series adapters
< > Cisco/Aironet 34X/35X/4500/4800 ISA and PCI cards
<*> Hermes chipset 802.11b support (Orinoco/Prism2/Symbol)
< > Hermes in PLX9052 based PCI adaptor support
<*> Prism 2.5 PCI 802.11b adaptor support
One of the main stumbling blocks was to realize that the pcmcia support in the kernel is not as good as the pcmcia-source support that one gets when you build it from pcmcia-source.
I use either
make xconfig |
make menuconfig |
General setup |
Nor do you want to select any particular pcmcia card under
Network device support |
![]() | Be sure to download all the necessary components before you take pcmcia support out of the kernel, otherwise, if you were using a pcmcia card for net access, you will not be able to connect to the Internet using the new kernel, until you have built both pcmcia support and module drivers for the wireless card |