Re: [SLE] SuSE 10.0 on Dell XPS Laptops
I just purchased a sweet Dell XPS M170 laptop.
Is it made of candy?
Does anyone on the list have experience installing and using SuSE 10. on these new systems.
No, but if you send me one, I'd be happy to reply back with the results. :) Seriosly, Dell is pretty good with SUSE and Linux in general on their laptops. I've read several laptop reviews which often put Dell at or near the top of the OOTB laptop > Linux studies. I am running an eight-month-old Inspiron 600m with almost no issues. (Sometimes the sound buttons on the keyboard with the OSD don't want to work if I've been running Amarok.) You really just need to check your WiFi card to make sure it is Intel, which works flawlessly. YMMV if you're running the Broadcom wireless chip. Also, don't expect any help from Dell. They're clueless about running Linux on their laptops. :) In any case, I wiped XP off of this thing back in October and haven't looked back. The only thing I miss about Wintendo is - um - well - um.... ...oh, yeah. You can't use WPA encryption with the WiFi card. You have to stick with WPE. Or, if you're like me and don't have time to type in your WPE password, just occasionally attach to one of your friendly neighbors' unencrypted 802.11g networks and surf on thier dime. :) -- kai ponte www.perfectreign.com linux - genuine windows replacement part
Kai Ponte wrote:
I just purchased a sweet Dell XPS M170 laptop.
,,,,
...oh, yeah. You can't use WPA encryption with the WiFi card. You have to stick with WPE. Or, if you're like me and don't have time to type in your WPE password, just occasionally attach to one of your friendly neighbors' unencrypted 802.11g networks and surf on thier dime. :)
On my 600m I use 64-bit WPA-PSK on Device: pci 0x4220 "PRO/Wireless 2200BG" SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation" Driver: "ipw2200" WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap wpa-leap Requires: ipw-firmware -- "This world ain't big enough for the both of us," said the big noema to the little noema.
On Thursday 23 February 2006 04:48 pm, ken wrote:
Kai Ponte wrote:
I just purchased a sweet Dell XPS M170 laptop.
,,,,
...oh, yeah. You can't use WPA encryption with the WiFi card. You have to stick with WPE. Or, if you're like me and don't have time to type in your WPE password, just occasionally attach to one of your friendly neighbors' unencrypted 802.11g networks and surf on thier dime. :)
On my 600m I use 64-bit WPA-PSK on
Device: pci 0x4220 "PRO/Wireless 2200BG" SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation" Driver: "ipw2200" WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap wpa-leap Requires: ipw-firmware
Okay, well, when I go into KInternet, there's no place for a WPA password. It only gives you the option of typing in a WEP password. So how do you connect? Also how did you get all that above information? I don't see it in KInternet or in KWifiManager. -- kai www.perfectreign.com linux - genuine windows replacement part
kai wrote:
On Thursday 23 February 2006 04:48 pm, ken wrote:
Kai Ponte wrote:
I just purchased a sweet Dell XPS M170 laptop. ,,,,
...oh, yeah. You can't use WPA encryption with the WiFi card. You have to stick with WPE. Or, if you're like me and don't have time to type in your WPE password, just occasionally attach to one of your friendly neighbors' unencrypted 802.11g networks and surf on thier dime. :) On my 600m I use 64-bit WPA-PSK on
Device: pci 0x4220 "PRO/Wireless 2200BG" SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation" Driver: "ipw2200" WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap wpa-leap Requires: ipw-firmware
Okay, well, when I go into KInternet, there's no place for a WPA password. It only gives you the option of typing in a WEP password.
Suse Pro 9.3 GUI configgers didn't do it for me. (I've found this to be very often true of GUIs in general.) (Now don't get me wrong... GUIs are fine most of the time... they just need to make sense and do the job.) Had to go into /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-* files and hand-edit things. Sparce and vague docs meant quite a bit of guesswork and assumptions, reading through ../scripts and testing (of course). Getting it configured correctly wasn't a straight-line process, so (sorry) I can't delineate a finite series of steps. I may not have configured it in the best possible way either, but it works for me and works reliably. Here's some ifcfg-* values that are probably right: WIRELESS_AUTH_MODE='psk' WIRELESS_WPA_PSK='passwd2AP' # Matches passwd in AP WIRELESS_KEY_1='' WIRELESS_KEY_2='' WIRELESS_KEY_3='' WIRELESS_ESSID='whatever' # Matches setup in AP WIRELESS_MODE='Managed' There's more items in the ifcfg-* to set, but I'm thinking they depend upon how your AP is set up and what its capabilties are.
So how do you connect?
Initially I had STARTMODE='manual' in my ifcfg-wlan-id-* and would use cat /proc/net/wireless to determine the device (eth[0,1]), then "ifup _device_" to fire it up. After I got the config to work reliably, I changed "manual" to "onboot" so now I don' do nuttin'... it starts its own self. All the cybercafes I've been to use 802.11b, so I have a different ifcfg-wlan-id-* file for each cafe. Just copy/overwrite the main config file (with the MAC address in its filename) and run either ifup or dhcpcd (again, with _device_ as the arg), sometimes both, depending upon how the cybercafe's AP is set up (which "iwlist scan" will tell you) and depending on whether I'm having regular coffee or cappucino.
Also how did you get all that above information? I don't see it in KInternet or in KWifiManager.
hwinfo --netcard IMO, Linux should put more effort into documenting manual configuration (i.e., editing the ASCII config files). After that's completely transparent to all but the noobiest, then and only then put together the GUIs. But then putting together a GUI-- even one that does only half the job-- is more glamorous than writing docs, so this is probably a futile suggestion. hth, ken non-glam linux advocate -- "This world ain't big enough for the both of us," said the big noema to the little noema.
On Friday 24 February 2006 01:56 am, ken wrote:
kai wrote:
Okay, well, when I go into KInternet, there's no place for a WPA password. It only gives you the option of typing in a WEP password.
Suse Pro 9.3 GUI configgers didn't do it for me. (I've found this to be very often true of GUIs in general.) (Now don't get me wrong... GUIs are fine most of the time... they just need to make sense and do the job.)
Well, yes. When we write an app - either GUI or command line - it should. I'm kind of disappointed that the KInternet tool doesn't.
Had to go into /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-* files and hand-edit things.
See, now that just sucks. I hate having to go tweak files. Gives me about the same amount of warm fuzzies as I had while using regedit in the hkey_local_machine hive.
Sparce and vague docs meant quite a bit of guesswork and assumptions, reading through ../scripts and testing (of course). Getting it configured correctly wasn't a straight-line process, so (sorry) I can't delineate a finite series of steps. I may not have configured it in the best possible way either, but it works for me and works reliably.
Maybe this is an area I can contribute to. I'll look into it.
Here's some ifcfg-* values that are probably right:
<snip> Okay, I'll follow your advice and see what I can get. I'd really rather have WPA encryption since I have WEP crackers which work pretty well against "test" networks. :) -- kai www.perfectreign.com <?=$OffensiveSignature?>
kai wrote:
Okay, I'll follow your advice and see what I can get.
I'd really rather have WPA encryption since I have WEP crackers which work pretty well against "test" networks. :)
I use WEP on my home network. However, I've placed the WiFi on the hostile side of my firewall, so you have to use SSH or VPN to access my network. They are a bit harder to break than WEP or WPA.
participants (4)
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James Knott -
kai -
Kai Ponte
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ken