[clue-tech] wireless problem

[Matt Gushee]

Dennis J Perkins wrote:
> After looking at possible wireless cards, I bought the D-Link DWL-AG660.
> I added wireless support to the kernel and I have compiled madwifi.  But
> an IP address is not assigned automatically, although I can do it
> manually.
> 
> What file or files need to be modified?

That's distribution-dependent. But I think several distros have a file 
called /etc/network/interfaces. If that file exists, you will need to 
specify something there, e.g.

     wlan0 = "dhcp"

Or maybe

     iface wlan0 inet dhcp

There may be other parameters, too. You can start by copying the 'eth0' 
section, which almost certainly exists, and modifying as it seems 
appropriate.

Your kernel version could be important, too. It appears that in the most 
recent kernels (say >= 2.6.10), pcmcia-cs has been placed under the 
control of hotplugd. So I think what's supposed to happen is that 
cardmgr/hotplugd detects your card, and attempts to bring up an 
interface on it; if that step is successful, dhcpd is invoked to obtain 
an IP address; then the wireless interface is aliased to eth0 (or maybe 
eth1, if you happen to have an internal ethernet card or such); and 
finally the network can start. Getting all these steps to happen 
automatically and in the right order seems to be a non-trivial task. 
Though it's probably a bit easier with an older kernel, since cardmgr is 
pretty well documented, unlike hotplugd.

Hope this helps a bit.

--
Matt Gushee
Englewood, CO, USA