WirelessFaq
Introduction
Welcome to the irc.freenode.net/#wireless Frequently Asked Questions page. Look here first for resources and tips on doing your Wifi magic.
Other websites you should look at for help are:
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux : The Linux WLAN Driver HowTo page
http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php : Linux support for Prism54 based 802.11a/g cards.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/ : Linux support for Atheros based 802.11a/g cards.
http://acx100.sourceforge.net/ : Linux support for TI ACX100/111 based cards.
http://www.mattfoster.clara.co.uk/madwifi-faq.htm : MADwifi FAQ
http://madwifiwiki.thewebhost.de/wiki/FrontPage : MADwifi wiki. Contains helpful 'user recipes'
http://hostap.epitest.fi/ : Linux support for Prism 2.0/2.5 802.11b cards.
http://linux.oldcrank.com/tips/wpc11 : Tips for setting up a Linksys WPC11 (or, get a real card).
http://nocat.net/faq.txt : The NoCat Wireless FAQ
Hardware Comparison pages
http://www.wifi.com.ar :
http://m0n0.ch/wall : An all in one firewall package.
http://wifiadmin.sourceforge.net/ : A hotspot management system with user support.
http://www.wireless.navigator.co.uk : Tools and information.
Community Wireless Networks who hang out here.
http://www.manchesterwireless.net : The Manchester Wireless broadband project.
http://www.houstonwireless.org : The Houston Wireless User's group.
http://www.nycwireless.net : New York City Wireless - Hotspots for the pigeons/
http://www.seattlewireless.net : The Seattle Wireless User's group.
http://www.bcwireless.net : The BC Wireless Project.
http://www.personaltelco.net : The Personal Telco Proejct.
See also : WirelessCommunities
The Questions!
Introduction
General IRC Channel Questions
Who runs the channel
I asked a question but no one is answering me!!
Some asshole named 'aml' banned or kicked me. Wtf?
Why am I op'd?
Who is WifiFred?
Are there channel archives?
Community Wireless Issues
Where can I find a Community Wireless Group to hook up with?
Where can I find peering agreements for Community Wireless networks?
Where can I find an acceptable use policy for my community wireless hotspot?
Commercial (for-profit) Wireless Issues
How can I make money?
Why are WISPs so hostile to community wireless?
General Linux Stuff
How do I install <blah> package?
Are there any small linux distros with wireless?
Wireless Network Card Questions
What is the best 802.11b wireless card?
Will my D-link DWL-650+, 3Com USR2210 (or other TI chipset 22 Mbps hardware) work in Linux or *BSD?
Will my Broadcom chipset wireless card work in Linux or *BSD? (Linksys wmp11v2.7 and Dell Truemobile 1180 for example)
Will my Atmel chipset wireless card work in Linux or OS X? (SMC2632W)
I'd like to try doing ___________ with 802.11b. Will it work?
Do 802.11a cards work under Linux or *BSD?
Do 802.11g cards work under Linux?
I'm trying to use my ________ (prism2 chipset card) under linux, and I can't figure out wlan-ng, help!
What driver should I use for Linux?
How do I get my Linksys WPC11 to work under Linux?
How can I find out what chipset my network card uses?
I want a wireless network scanner under Linux, or help configuring one, please?
Will my USB wireless adapter work under Linux?
How can I find what version of Firmware my Wireless Network card has?
I want to install some kind of authentication software for my wireless network, can I do that?
Antennas and stuff
dB, dBm, dBi, mW, W.... What is all this stuff?
How can I calculate the distance my antenna will have?
What is the best antenna?
How can I hack an antenna onto my wireless card?
I want to build my own antenna, where are instructions to do that?
What's the deal with reverse polarity (RP) connectors?
Connecting to Networks
How do I find wireless networks around me?
How do I connect to a wireless network?
How do I hack into my neighbors Wireless Network?
How do I crack WEP?
What system do I need for 902.10 Wireless on my TV
Network Configuration help
How do I setup my network to automatically get an IP address?
What commands do I need to use?
Building A HotSpot or Network
What is a captive portal?
What captive portal/gateway software is available?
Security Concerns
How broken is WEP, anyway?
So what could I use, then?
General IRC Channel Questions
Who runs the channel
The #wireless channel is maintained by people from various wireless groups and walks of life. The rule of the channel is largely egalitarian in reflection of the openness of unlicensed radio spectrum and the spirit of many community wireless networks.
I asked a question but no one is answering me!!
Most of us have jobs away from chatting in IRC. If you asked a question but no one answered, it's likely because no one knows, or has the time to answer. Hang around for a while and someone might have an answer for you. Don't repost your question over and over though, it'll only serve to annoy other people in the channel.
Some asshole named 'aml' banned or kicked me. Wtf?
As part of a new initiative to return the signal to noise ratio of #wireless to something endurable, jackasses will now be kickbanned whenever 'aml' notices them. The criteria for jackassery include, but are certainly not limited to: describing your commercial activity with such vigor and repetitiousness it becomes a shill so shrill only dogs can hear it, answering questions pedantically and then immediately transitioning into shilling, asking stuff in the FAQ over and over again like a moron, etc. etc. In general, don't be stupid.
- AndrewWoods
Why am I op'd?
Short answer: No particular reason.
Long answer: Some of us (notably matthewa) observes that privillege is more or less irrelevent. Some people think that having "ops" is a symbol for having higher privellege, or stature, but in the real-world of license-exempt wireless networking there is no such thing. Consider being a victim of mass-oping a sign of the times, no one has more obvious privilleges than the other.
Some people, like grumpydog, view +o as an issue of status. They believe that no one but those few who individuals who contribute in some way (often in the form of monetary investment to the host network, FreeNode) to give them an absolute right at having control over others. Ignore these people, they're full of shit.
If you think it's dumb that everyone has ops, that's fine. If you think everyone having ops is asking for trouble, you could be right, but maybe you should read WhyWikiWorks to get an idea of why it doesn't *really* matter. If you still don't get it, don't fret, no one will bother explaining it to you. The concept may simply be too obvious for you to "get".
Who is WifiFred?
WifiFred is our IRC Bot, he maintains a database of various Wireless and Internet related things like Cable types and Internet Standards. He also does simple calculations on Fresnel zones and Path Loss. For brief help, use !help .
See WifiFred for a complete command reference and additional information.
Are there channel archives?
Yup. IRC logs are kept here (as of Sep 15 2004).
Community Wireless Issues
Where can I find a Community Wireless Group to hook up with?
The WirelessCommunities page has a list of groups around the world.
The FreeNetworks.org WirelessNetworkingProjects page lists some more.
NodeDB.com lists community wireless nodes around the world.
Where can I find peering agreements for Community Wireless networks?
The original PicoPeer agreement
FreeNetworks Peering Agreement
Also check out the FreeNetworks community mailing list.
Where can I find an acceptable use policy for my community wireless hotspot?
See AcceptableUseDisscussion
Commercial (for-profit) Wireless Issues
How can I make money?
Q: I have a great idea on how to serve my local starbucks and makes loads of cash. How do I do it?
A: Go here and don't bug us.
Why are WISPs so hostile to community wireless?
Not all are, but occasionally we run into the odd WISP who will spew fud about Community|Open Wireless Networks.
Just ignore them, they're nothing more than PissAnts.
General Linux Stuff
How do I install <blah> package?
Read this.
Are there any small linux distros with wireless?
Yes. Pebble Linux has the latest wireless tools plus things like NoCatAuth built right in. It is a FreeNetworks project maintained by Terry Schmidt of NYCWireless. It is designed for single board computers, but can run on a laptop, old PC and other x86 based machines. Pebble is the default OS on the Metrix Kits
LEAF is another small distribution that requires less space and has a menu interface, but has less advanced features.
Other: CQureAP (one floppy, kernel 2.6, hostap), [http://sourceforge.net/projects/warlinux/ WarLinux (outdated)].
Wireless Network Card Questions
What is the best 802.11b wireless card?
This is a highly subjective question. It all really depends on what you are going to do with it.
Some say the best all around wireless card is an old Lucent/Orinoco Silver or a Gold card. They have good OS support, an internal as well as an external MC-Card antenna jack, and have one of the highest receive sensitivities on the cards in the 30mw-50mw range.
If you are looking for a high powered PCMCIA card, you may want to get a 200mw Senao Card. There are two models of card, one with an Internal Antenna only, or a card with 2 diversity (both listen to the wireless signal, and the antenna with the most signal wins) external MMCX antenna jacks. Senao cards are less flexible since there are two models, but the added power and excellent receive sensitivity make them a good choice for outdoor links as well as wardriving and monitoring applications.
If you are looking to make a machine act as an access point under linux, you really only have two options. HostAP and MadWifi. HostAP has been around longer and is considered stable, but because it is based around the Prism2 chipset, it lacks 802.11g and 802.11a support. Old hermes based chipsets (the old Orinoco cards) cannot act as an AP under linux without HermesAP which may get you in hot water, and also you will miss out on a lot of the new stuff.
If you are going the HostAP route, you might want to look into the Zcomax Prism2Card or the Senao 200mW cards. An unofficial support page for <a class="external" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/SenaoCa
Welcome to the irc.freenode.net/#wireless Frequently Asked Questions page. Look here first for resources and tips on doing your Wifi magic.
Other websites you should look at for help are:
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux : The Linux WLAN Driver HowTo page
http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php : Linux support for Prism54 based 802.11a/g cards.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/ : Linux support for Atheros based 802.11a/g cards.
http://acx100.sourceforge.net/ : Linux support for TI ACX100/111 based cards.
http://www.mattfoster.clara.co.uk/madwifi-faq.htm : MADwifi FAQ
http://madwifiwiki.thewebhost.de/wiki/FrontPage : MADwifi wiki. Contains helpful 'user recipes'
http://hostap.epitest.fi/ : Linux support for Prism 2.0/2.5 802.11b cards.
http://linux.oldcrank.com/tips/wpc11 : Tips for setting up a Linksys WPC11 (or, get a real card).
http://nocat.net/faq.txt : The NoCat Wireless FAQ
Hardware Comparison pages
http://www.wifi.com.ar :
http://m0n0.ch/wall : An all in one firewall package.
http://wifiadmin.sourceforge.net/ : A hotspot management system with user support.
http://www.wireless.navigator.co.uk : Tools and information.
Community Wireless Networks who hang out here.
http://www.manchesterwireless.net : The Manchester Wireless broadband project.
http://www.houstonwireless.org : The Houston Wireless User's group.
http://www.nycwireless.net : New York City Wireless - Hotspots for the pigeons/
http://www.seattlewireless.net : The Seattle Wireless User's group.
http://www.bcwireless.net : The BC Wireless Project.
http://www.personaltelco.net : The Personal Telco Proejct.
See also : WirelessCommunities
The Questions!
Introduction
General IRC Channel Questions
Who runs the channel
I asked a question but no one is answering me!!
Some asshole named 'aml' banned or kicked me. Wtf?
Why am I op'd?
Who is WifiFred?
Are there channel archives?
Community Wireless Issues
Where can I find a Community Wireless Group to hook up with?
Where can I find peering agreements for Community Wireless networks?
Where can I find an acceptable use policy for my community wireless hotspot?
Commercial (for-profit) Wireless Issues
How can I make money?
Why are WISPs so hostile to community wireless?
General Linux Stuff
How do I install <blah> package?
Are there any small linux distros with wireless?
Wireless Network Card Questions
What is the best 802.11b wireless card?
Will my D-link DWL-650+, 3Com USR2210 (or other TI chipset 22 Mbps hardware) work in Linux or *BSD?
Will my Broadcom chipset wireless card work in Linux or *BSD? (Linksys wmp11v2.7 and Dell Truemobile 1180 for example)
Will my Atmel chipset wireless card work in Linux or OS X? (SMC2632W)
I'd like to try doing ___________ with 802.11b. Will it work?
Do 802.11a cards work under Linux or *BSD?
Do 802.11g cards work under Linux?
I'm trying to use my ________ (prism2 chipset card) under linux, and I can't figure out wlan-ng, help!
What driver should I use for Linux?
How do I get my Linksys WPC11 to work under Linux?
How can I find out what chipset my network card uses?
I want a wireless network scanner under Linux, or help configuring one, please?
Will my USB wireless adapter work under Linux?
How can I find what version of Firmware my Wireless Network card has?
I want to install some kind of authentication software for my wireless network, can I do that?
Antennas and stuff
dB, dBm, dBi, mW, W.... What is all this stuff?
How can I calculate the distance my antenna will have?
What is the best antenna?
How can I hack an antenna onto my wireless card?
I want to build my own antenna, where are instructions to do that?
What's the deal with reverse polarity (RP) connectors?
Connecting to Networks
How do I find wireless networks around me?
How do I connect to a wireless network?
How do I hack into my neighbors Wireless Network?
How do I crack WEP?
What system do I need for 902.10 Wireless on my TV
Network Configuration help
How do I setup my network to automatically get an IP address?
What commands do I need to use?
Building A HotSpot or Network
What is a captive portal?
What captive portal/gateway software is available?
Security Concerns
How broken is WEP, anyway?
So what could I use, then?
General IRC Channel Questions
Who runs the channel
The #wireless channel is maintained by people from various wireless groups and walks of life. The rule of the channel is largely egalitarian in reflection of the openness of unlicensed radio spectrum and the spirit of many community wireless networks.
I asked a question but no one is answering me!!
Most of us have jobs away from chatting in IRC. If you asked a question but no one answered, it's likely because no one knows, or has the time to answer. Hang around for a while and someone might have an answer for you. Don't repost your question over and over though, it'll only serve to annoy other people in the channel.
Some asshole named 'aml' banned or kicked me. Wtf?
As part of a new initiative to return the signal to noise ratio of #wireless to something endurable, jackasses will now be kickbanned whenever 'aml' notices them. The criteria for jackassery include, but are certainly not limited to: describing your commercial activity with such vigor and repetitiousness it becomes a shill so shrill only dogs can hear it, answering questions pedantically and then immediately transitioning into shilling, asking stuff in the FAQ over and over again like a moron, etc. etc. In general, don't be stupid.
- AndrewWoods
Why am I op'd?
Short answer: No particular reason.
Long answer: Some of us (notably matthewa) observes that privillege is more or less irrelevent. Some people think that having "ops" is a symbol for having higher privellege, or stature, but in the real-world of license-exempt wireless networking there is no such thing. Consider being a victim of mass-oping a sign of the times, no one has more obvious privilleges than the other.
Some people, like grumpydog, view +o as an issue of status. They believe that no one but those few who individuals who contribute in some way (often in the form of monetary investment to the host network, FreeNode) to give them an absolute right at having control over others. Ignore these people, they're full of shit.
If you think it's dumb that everyone has ops, that's fine. If you think everyone having ops is asking for trouble, you could be right, but maybe you should read WhyWikiWorks to get an idea of why it doesn't *really* matter. If you still don't get it, don't fret, no one will bother explaining it to you. The concept may simply be too obvious for you to "get".
Who is WifiFred?
WifiFred is our IRC Bot, he maintains a database of various Wireless and Internet related things like Cable types and Internet Standards. He also does simple calculations on Fresnel zones and Path Loss. For brief help, use !help .
See WifiFred for a complete command reference and additional information.
Are there channel archives?
Yup. IRC logs are kept here (as of Sep 15 2004).
Community Wireless Issues
Where can I find a Community Wireless Group to hook up with?
The WirelessCommunities page has a list of groups around the world.
The FreeNetworks.org WirelessNetworkingProjects page lists some more.
NodeDB.com lists community wireless nodes around the world.
Where can I find peering agreements for Community Wireless networks?
The original PicoPeer agreement
FreeNetworks Peering Agreement
Also check out the FreeNetworks community mailing list.
Where can I find an acceptable use policy for my community wireless hotspot?
See AcceptableUseDisscussion
Commercial (for-profit) Wireless Issues
How can I make money?
Q: I have a great idea on how to serve my local starbucks and makes loads of cash. How do I do it?
A: Go here and don't bug us.
Why are WISPs so hostile to community wireless?
Not all are, but occasionally we run into the odd WISP who will spew fud about Community|Open Wireless Networks.
Just ignore them, they're nothing more than PissAnts.
General Linux Stuff
How do I install <blah> package?
Read this.
Are there any small linux distros with wireless?
Yes. Pebble Linux has the latest wireless tools plus things like NoCatAuth built right in. It is a FreeNetworks project maintained by Terry Schmidt of NYCWireless. It is designed for single board computers, but can run on a laptop, old PC and other x86 based machines. Pebble is the default OS on the Metrix Kits
LEAF is another small distribution that requires less space and has a menu interface, but has less advanced features.
Other: CQureAP (one floppy, kernel 2.6, hostap), [http://sourceforge.net/projects/warlinux/ WarLinux (outdated)].
Wireless Network Card Questions
What is the best 802.11b wireless card?
This is a highly subjective question. It all really depends on what you are going to do with it.
Some say the best all around wireless card is an old Lucent/Orinoco Silver or a Gold card. They have good OS support, an internal as well as an external MC-Card antenna jack, and have one of the highest receive sensitivities on the cards in the 30mw-50mw range.
If you are looking for a high powered PCMCIA card, you may want to get a 200mw Senao Card. There are two models of card, one with an Internal Antenna only, or a card with 2 diversity (both listen to the wireless signal, and the antenna with the most signal wins) external MMCX antenna jacks. Senao cards are less flexible since there are two models, but the added power and excellent receive sensitivity make them a good choice for outdoor links as well as wardriving and monitoring applications.
If you are looking to make a machine act as an access point under linux, you really only have two options. HostAP and MadWifi. HostAP has been around longer and is considered stable, but because it is based around the Prism2 chipset, it lacks 802.11g and 802.11a support. Old hermes based chipsets (the old Orinoco cards) cannot act as an AP under linux without HermesAP which may get you in hot water, and also you will miss out on a lot of the new stuff.
If you are going the HostAP route, you might want to look into the Zcomax Prism2Card or the Senao 200mW cards. An unofficial support page for <a class="external" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/SenaoCa
