===== Wireless-LAN with grml =====

Here you will find some tips how to use wireless-lan (WLAN) with grml. Basically WLAN should work out-of-the-box on grml, if consider any problems check out the tips on this page. If you still notice problems feel free to [[http://grml.org/contact/|contact us]].

==== status of some WLAN-devices ====

^                Wireless-LAN devices                 ^^^^^
^  vendor  ^  device name  ^  chip  ^  info  ^
| Cisco           | AIR-CB21AG       | atheros      | working  |
| Cisco           | AIR-PCM352-RF    | atheros (?)  | working  |
| D-Link          | DWL-122          | prism2       | working with wpa_supplicant and linux-wlan-ng |
| D-Link          | DWL-G650         | atheros      | working  |
| Intel           | PRO/Wireless 2200BG  | ipw2200  | working  |
| Intel           | PRO/Wireless 3945ABG | ipw3945  | working  |
| Linksys         | WPC11 (802.11b)  | unspecified  | working  |
| Linksys         | WPC54G (v2)      | unspecified  | working  |
| Linksys         | WPC54G (v3)      | unspecified  | working; please take a look on [1] at the link-section on this page |
| Linksys         | WPC54GS          | unspecified  | working; please take a look on [1] at the link-section on this page  ) |
| Linksys         | WMP54G           | unspecified  | working; please take a look on [1] at the link-section on this page  |
| Linksys         | WMP54GS          | unspecified  | working; please take a look on [1] at the link-section on this page  ) |
| Netgear         | WAG511           | atheros      | working  |
| RaLink          | Ralink RT2500 802.11  | unspecified  | working; Cardbus Reference Card  |
| SMC             | 2835W            | prism54      | working  |
| Surecom         | EP-9428-g (54 MBit)  | unspecified  | woking; notice: interface might be called raX, not ethX (e.g. ra0) |
| Toshiba build-in| Wireless LAN Card | ?Lucent/Agere 6.14 | working (needs tweaking on hdinstall) |

==== how to get wlan working with grml ====

=== ipw2100 ===

If using the ipw2100 modules fails with something like:

<code>
ipw2100: eth1: Firmware 'ipw2100-1.3.fw' not available or load failed.
ipw2100: eth1: ipw2100_get_firmware failed: -2
ipw2100: eth1: Failed to power on the adapter.
ipw2100: eth1: Failed to start the firmware.
</code>

adjust the firmware loading timeout through:

<code>
modprobe firmware_class
echo 100 > /sys/class/firmware/timeout
rmmod ipw2100
modprobe ipw2100
</code>

You can use the fwtimeout bootoption to run this automatically during bootup. Useage example "grml fwtimeout=100".

=== linux-wlan-ng ===

You can get a more recent version of the [[http://linux-wlan.org|linux-wlan-ng]] modules on grml 0.6 via running:

<code>
# aptitude update
# aptitude install linux-wlan-ng-modules-2.6.15-grml
</code>

Now your 802.11b-modules should be up to date.

=== madwifi-ng ===

A debian package of the madwifi-ng drivers is available in /usr/src/ on the grml 0.6 and grml 0.7 iso. Timo 'Spida' Boettcher thankfully contributed a script named 'ath-switcher' which tries to detect the Atheros chipset and install the madwifi-ng package if necessary. To manually install the package run 'dpkg -r madwifi-modules-$(uname -r) ; dpkg -i /usr/src/madwifi*.deb'.

=== D-Link DwL-122 USB ===

  * please update the linux-wlan-ng modules as mentioned above
  * connect your device with the usb-bus
  * load the required modules (see 'hwinfo --netcard'):

     # modprobe prism2_usb

  * configure and adapt the config-file (/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf)
  * enable your wlan-device:

     # wpa_supplicant -Bw -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dhostap -iwlan0

  * now you can configure your interface (static) with:

    # ifconfig wlan0 your_ip netmask your_netmask
    # vim /etc/resolv.conf  # insert your nameserver
    # route add default gw your_default_gateway

  * or (dynamic network via dhcp):

    # dhclient wlan0

=== Toshiba Wireless LAN Card ===
This card get's detected after loading the needed module:

    # modprobe orinoco_cs

On a HD-install pcmcia-utils don't get started by default, so modify the /etc/runlevel.conf to have an entry like this

    # 40 - 2,3,4,5 /etc/init.d/pcmciautils

Or, add yenta_socket (and orinoco_cs) to /etc/modules. [added by jpjacobs]

==== Tips ====

Unfortunately it seems there are no prism cards available anymore.
Nearly all wlan cards with prism chipsets use atheros now.
Below is a list with cards which work flawlessly with grml using madwifi drivers.

  - D-link DWL-G650 32bit cardbus (with atheros lettering below the speed specification)
  - Netgear WG511T 108 Mbps Wireless 32bit cardbus (with atheros)

You should configure your card to your local frequencies with the right [[http://www.unicode.org/onlinedat/countries.html|countrycodes]] (040 is Austria):

                modprobe ath_pci countrycode=040

To make this changes permanently add the following line to /etc/modutils/options and execute update-modules:

                options ath_pci countrycode=040

=== how to use wpa_supplicant ===

  * -D<driver> --- here you can set the driver for your wlan-card. There are some drivers you can use:

    hostap     : prism 2/2.5/3
    hermes     : Hermes 1/Hermes 2
    madwifi    : madwifi (atheros, etc.)
    atmel      : ATMEL AT76C5XXx (USB, PCMCIA)
    wext       : Linux wireless extensions (generic)
    ndiswrapper: Linux ndiswrapper
    broadcom   : Broadcom wl.o driver
    ipw        : Intel ipw2100/2200 driver
    wired      : wpa_supplicant wired Ethernet driver
    bsd        : BSD 802.11 support (Atheros, etc.)
    ndis       : Windows NDIS driver

  * -i<interface>   --- deliver the interface to wpa_supplicant
  * -B              --- starting a daemon in background
  * -w              --- wait for the interface
  * -c<config-file> --- use this config-file

Information taken from [[http://hostap.epitest.fi/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/hostap/wpa_supplicant/README?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/plain|wpa_supplicant README]]

==== Links ====

  * [1] See [[http://www.jimmy.co.at/weblog/?p=58|Jimmy's blog posting]] for instructions.
  * [[http://www.fehu.org/atheros-en.html|atheros installation guide]]