Re: Why newbies don't RTFM...

From: Jeff (jeff_at_naol.com)
Date: 09/14/05 

Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 17:46:43 -0400

Dave Uhring wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:28:41 -0400, Jeff wrote:
>
>> Dave Uhring wrote:
>>> On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 11:18:22 -0400, Jeff wrote:
>
>>> And you are going to continue to struggle with Linux when you
>>> actually try to use it. If you do not use Linux even for something
>>> as trivial as posting to Usenet how do you ever expect to learn
>>> anything about it?
>>
>> Simple: before posting to Usenet, I need to get linux to successfully
>> connect to the web - a "trivial" something I and many helpful linux
>> gurus are "still" trying to achieve on my system, unsuccessfully so
>> far. I am therefore forced to use another OS to connect to the web
>> till I get linux to do it for me.
>
> I took a short look at your posting history WRT your networking
> problem
> and I saw that you failed to provide even the most minimal information
> regarding your hardware.
>
> If not already installed then install the pciutils rpm package on your
> system.
>
> # rpm -qa | grep pciutil
>
> Next execute
>
> # lspci
>
> and post the output.
>
> In the meantime read the wireless HOWTOs:
>
> http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/hardware.html#HWWIRELESS

Thank you Dave for offering to help.

You are correct, I did not provide information about my hardware because my
original query to this group was a very simple 2 line question :
"Is there a website that helps a newbie setup a wireless LAN under Linux?
I'm
using Suse 9.3 and need step by step instructions. Thanks." and I did not
want to ask to be spoon-fed. And then frustration took over, for which I
apologize.

But that is all water under the bridge and I appreciate your help. Here is
the info I have gathered so far.

To set the stage, I am using Suse 9.3 (triple boot) in a Toshiba Satellite
laptop with a Pentium 4, 2.66gHz with 512 ram. My primary problem is
getting this laptop to connect under linux to my home wireless lan so I can
connect to the internet. I succeeded in connecting to my router using a
network cable but have been unable to do so under wireless with either of 2
wireless adapters I own. I suspect wpa is just not being implemented despite
wpa_supplicant being installed because KInternet shows me connected but I am
not really. But I may be wrong. For what it is worth, the Scan for Networks
tab in KInternet remains empty even when the connected tab shows it to be
connected. (I am now studying how to use ndiswrapper) or wpa is just not
being implemented despite wpa_supplicant being installed.

The wireless adapters are (only one tried at a time):
a) a built in Toshiba mini-pci B wireless adapter which uses a TI (Texas
Instrument) chip set.
b) PC Card (PCMCI) Hawking HWC54G.
Both work with no problems in XP. Both were installed and configured (DHCP)
in YaST because I am still not proficient with linux CLI.

YaST tells me that pciutil is installed, but the command lspci (under su)
will not work for me (I get "command not found"). Instead, here is some
recent data I acquired ("connected" to neighbor's secured wlan - see end of
message - and using built-in wireless adapter):

 # ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:3............
          inet6 addr: fe80::2........... Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:19 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:8130 (7.9 Kb)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0xaf00

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:.................
          inet addr:192.168.2.4 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::.......... Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:17 errors:3 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:4068 (3.9 Kb) TX bytes:3190 (3.1 Kb)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0x100

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:52 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:52 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:3360 (3.2 Kb) TX bytes:3360 (3.2 Kb)
...........................
 # iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"neighbor's" Nickname:"............."
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:.............
          Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3
          Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=6/92 Signal level=-87 dBm Noise level=-93 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:1 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
...................................
 # cat/etc/resolv.conf
bash: cat/etc/resolv.conf: No such file or directory
wierdhost:/home/jeff # cat/etc/hosts
bash: cat/etc/hosts: No such file or directory
wierdhost:/home/jeff # route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
192.168.2.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth1

....................
 # route-n
bash: route-n: command not found
.............................
 # route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
192.168.2.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
0.0.0.0 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth1
............................

One major problem I am having is that I have found no way to force the
adapter to connect to my own network rather than the neighbor's. That is
because the KInternet screen that should allow me to select which network to
connect to, always remains blank. I'm still working on figuring why that is.
I could connect to the internet by 10/100 cable and have updated my Suse
installation so that it is up-to-date.

Hope you can help and I appreciate the effort even if you cannot.

Jeff

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