I have a laptop running Kubuntu 6.10, which is recognising its 3Com wireless USB dongle (3CRUSB10075) using ndiswrapper. When I run "dhclient eth1" it even gets itself an IP address and seems to work fine.
Where I'm stuck is getting it to run dhclient itself automatically when the WLAN dongle is connected.
The laptop is for a customer who is collecting it this afternoon, so I'm hoping for some quick suggestions if anyone has any.
[Apologies to any PLUG subscribers who are here also for the duplication, I'm hoping for a wider audience given the limited timescale I have to get this working.]
On Thu, Nov 23, 2006 at 12:25:59PM +0000, Mark Rogers wrote:
I have a laptop running Kubuntu 6.10, which is recognising its 3Com wireless USB dongle (3CRUSB10075) using ndiswrapper. When I run "dhclient eth1" it even gets itself an IP address and seems to work fine.
Where I'm stuck is getting it to run dhclient itself automatically when the WLAN dongle is connected.
Try adding the lines
auto eth1 iface eth1 inet dhcp
to /etc/network/interfaces (not tested in the slightest it probably won't work, I use network manager in gnome to deal with my wireless stuff, there should be something similar for kde).
Adam
Mark Rogers mark@quarella.co.uk wrote:
Where I'm stuck is getting it to run dhclient itself automatically when the WLAN dongle is connected.
The network/interfaces previously posted sounds the best bet. Alternatively:
If it's running Udev, maybe try adding KERNEL=="eth1", RUN+="dhclient eth1" to the udev rules file.
If it's hotplug, maybe try adding to /etc/hotplug/net.agent
If it's running ModuleInitTools add install ndiswrapper modprobe --ignore-install ndiswrapper && dhclient eth1 to /etc/modprobe.conf
I should probably do sort something like this myself, instead of hacking the network init script. ;-)
Hope it works,
Adam Bower wrote:
Try adding the lines
auto eth1 iface eth1 inet dhcp
to /etc/network/interfaces
Those lines were already there.
Looking at the output from "ps" after I plug the device in, dhclient appears to be running - maybe it's too soon?
Playing some more, what seems to be necessary (and works if I create a shell script) is sudo iwconfig eth1 essid MYSSID sudo iwconfig eth1 enc MYWEPKEY sudo dhclient eth1
I can then unplug the USB device, plug it in, run the script, and I'm away. Note that the essid and wep (hex) key are also in /etc/network/interfaces. I don't seem to need any significant delay between plugging in the dongle and running the script, and the script runs pretty much instantly, whereas when I try changing any of the wlan settings through the KDE network config it takes a long time to apply any changes (about a minute?), as if its waiting for dhclient to timeout.
MJ Ray wrote:
Alternatively:
If it's running Udev, maybe try adding KERNEL=="eth1", RUN+="dhclient eth1" to the udev rules file.
For the time being I'm going to stop experimenting in case I break something which is "good enough" but I want to understand a bit more about how this all fits together - I'll no doubt get chance to try all this again soon....
I'm pretty sure Kubuntu 6.10 uses udev, but how do I check? Where's the rules file?
If it's hotplug, maybe try adding to /etc/hotplug/net.agent
All I have under /etc/hotplug is a logitech mouse driver, although I suspect hotplug is relevant for a removable WLAN connection like this?
If it's running ModuleInitTools [...]
How do I tell?
[I really should know more about this stuff, although I reckon I've learnt a hell of a lot in the last few days.]
Hope it works.
Me too!!
Mark Rogers mark@quarella.co.uk wrote:
[...] Note that the essid and wep (hex) key are also in /etc/network/interfaces. [...]
New to me, I'm sorry to say. How are they in it?
I'm pretty sure Kubuntu 6.10 uses udev, but how do I check? Where's the rules file?
pgrep udev man udev
If it's running ModuleInitTools [...]
How do I tell?
dpkg -s module-init-tools
Mark Rogers wrote:
I have a laptop running Kubuntu 6.10, which is recognising its 3Com wireless USB dongle (3CRUSB10075) using ndiswrapper. When I run "dhclient eth1" it even gets itself an IP address and seems to work fine.
Where I'm stuck is getting it to run dhclient itself automatically when the WLAN dongle is connected.
The laptop is for a customer who is collecting it this afternoon, so I'm hoping for some quick suggestions if anyone has any.
[Apologies to any PLUG subscribers who are here also for the duplication, I'm hoping for a wider audience given the limited timescale I have to get this working.]
My suggestion would be to use NetworkManager if it is for a customer and they are going to be using gnome/kde. It makes connection to accesspoints a breeze and supports both WEP and WPA (if wpa_supplicant is also installed).
HTH,
Mark
Mark Brier wrote:
My suggestion would be to use NetworkManager if it is for a customer and they are going to be using gnome/kde. It makes connection to accesspoints a breeze and supports both WEP and WPA (if wpa_supplicant is also installed).
Right, I've done this and it does improve things (the client didn't collect the laptop Thursday, so with being out of the office yesterday I gained this morning to work on it as he wants it at midday today).
However, I still have essentially the same problem; if I use KNetworkManager to connect to the wlan, it sits and thinks for a long time, before eventually popping up the login box into which I (re-)enter the WEP key and this time it connects. The WEP key is stored so there is obviously some delay in making a connection, which NetworkManager takes as meaning the passphrase is wrong (annoyingly it doesn't then remember the key and I have to re-enter it).
If I could introduce a delay somewhere so that it worked, or a retry, that would be great. For the time being I'm going to have to just hope its a problem with my access point and let the customer try it themselves. I find the odds of that strategy working out for the best to be fairly minimal.
[Aside: Yesterday we took delivery of a Belkin F5D7050 which I know to be supported, except of-course I get the new 4000 model which has a new and unsupported - even by ndiswraper it seems - chipset. The sooner the Win* monopoly is removed and manufacturers consider other people the better we'll all be.]
Just a quick update after all my laptop wifi woes:
I sent the laptop to the client with the 3COM card, which here in the office had been taking ages to connect requiring re-entering WEP key details, despite them having been stored in KWallet.
Well it turns out that when he got it home it connected straight to his AP without problems, so whatever was wrong was either my office or my AP.
Thanks for the network manager suggestion - that made the process cleaner. I'm now trying to find a USB wireless dongle I can rely on in Linux for future.
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Adam Bower -
Mark Brier -
Mark Rogers -
MJ Ray