At 05:25:23 on Wednesday Wednesday 23 December 2009, James Knott <james.knott@rogers.com> wrote:
Stan Goodman wrote:
Let's cover some of the obvious.
Correct SSID set Correct auth type set and passwd.
Those were points that I left empty, hoping to come back to them. But I don't see how to find where they are.
What I didn't understand about SSID is that all the elements in a net must share the identical one. But in a laptop machine with DCHP, and used for travel and expected to work with arbitrary networks of which I am not the administrator, what SSID must I set?
The SSID is the WiFi network name. If you don't have one that matches the WiFi router or access point you will not be able to connect. Are you using your own router/access point? Or at work or other? Can you see any WiFi activity with KNetworkManager? The other items mentioned are for encryption. If you're trying to connect to an existing WiFi network, you'll need those. If your own, initially configure for no encryption, to verify you can connect. Also, pick a name for the SSID. The DHCP stuff comes in after the WiFi connection is made. Once you have a connection, you can enable security. WPA2 is preferred. You can get a 63 random character string, for a password, from here: https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm Choose the alpha numeric string to avoid problems with some devices that choke on certain characters.
I did not set an SSID in the wireless card, but left that rubric empty. Once I got it rhrough my head what to look for after loading knetworkmanager, I was immediately able to see the router, which announced its own SSID, which I recognized. Once I clicked on it, I was able to communicate with the 'Net. To repeat, I did not write an SSID in the wireless card's configuration. Now that I see all this, I recall that this configuration was exactly what I had done years ago in OS/2; my confusion now has been because my memory didn't serve me well. I apologize. As for security, I can contribute an anecdote about a remarkable stupidity here. A novice friend had a wireless network installed in his home. The telephone company did that for him, and sold him the wireless router. (I didn't go that route.) The following day he told me that when he fired his machine up, he was able to see his router, but it was listed three times, not once, with three different signal strengths. Explanation: The telephone company gives the same SSID to all the routers that they deploy in peoples' homes, and the spurious signals were those of his neighbor on the right and the one on the left. They also fail to install WEP or WPA, despite the fact that this is a country of mostly multiple dwellings and apartment houses. He and I have single dwellings, but I'm sure that there are many people who can't be sure through whose account they are accessing the 'Net. There should be a group rate for such cases, like with hospitalization, but there isn't. -- Stan Goodman Qiryat Tiv'on Israel -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org