wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

pfpearson · 2014-03-20 15:46:32

I'm setting up a laptop for someone, using OpenBox without a display manager (i.e. the user types startx). This person will primarily be using wireless at home, but will want to use public wifi as well. I've not had to do much with wireless in Arch (or Linux in general), so I may be (likely am) missing something; I'm certainly missing some experience. Also, I haven't used Arch in a year or so; I chose Arch for this since its installer actually worked on the laptop. This has been my first time working with systemd (I've been doing RHEL 6 at work for several years). I wonder if that's part of my problem?

I see this discussion which seems possibly relevant, but I don't think is exactly applicable to my problem.

I read and followed (as correctly as I can -- obviously I missed something) the following guides:

* Network Configuration
* Wirelss network configuration
* WPA supplicant
* Broadcom wireless (my wifi chipset)
* dhcpcd

I have wired Ethernet working fine. Following the manual steps in the Wireless network configuration and WPA supplicant guides, I was able to get an ip address over wlan0.

However when I use wifi-radar (had to put the user into the wheel group to get anywhere) I get the message that it could not obtain an ip address. Running 'ip a' shows two address on my wired ethernet, leading me to believe that dhcpcd is being run twice. When I edited the home wifi profile in /etc/wifi-radar.conf, setting "use_dhcp=False", wifi-radar hangs when I try to connect.

So, what am I doing wrong? I recall something about dhcpcd having a hook for wpa_supplicant; should I disable that hook? I didn't think to try that until just now while I'm at work.

Scimmia · 2014-03-20 15:50:09

When using a 3rd party manager, you generally want to have dhcpcd disabled and let the manager take care of it. I have no experience with wifi-radar, though.

pfpearson · 2014-03-20 21:31:23

Scimmia wrote:

When using a 3rd party manager, you generally want to have dhcpcd disabled and let the manager take care of it. I have no experience with wifi-radar, though.

Since I'm using dhcpcd for my wired ethernet, are you suggesting that I should (copying from the dhcp gude)

add nohook wpa_supplicant into dhcpcd.conf

Scimmia · 2014-03-20 23:58:38

No, if you want dhcpcd for just the one interface, you use dhcpcd@<interface>.service.

I'm not sure that'll even do it. Many times you need to disable it completely and let the manager manage that interface as well. wifi-radar seems to be specific to wifi, so it may be different, though.

Last edited by Scimmia (2014-03-21 14:24:25)

pfpearson · 2014-03-21 18:06:31

Scimmia wrote:

No, if you want dhcpcd for just the one interface, you use dhcpcd@<interface>.service.
I'm not sure that'll even do it. Many times you need to disable it completely and let the manager manage that interface as well. wifi-radar seems to be specific to wifi, so it may be different, though.

So, in your opinion, am I making things too hard? Should I rethink how I'm doing this? I was envisioning the following behavior:

* wired ethernet gets configured automatically when detected, without user intervention
* wi-fi connection requires explicit user intervention
* public wi-fi can be connected with minimal effort ("Do you want to use the Startbucks Wi-Fi?" Yes / No)
* home wiffi can be connected with minimal effort, assuming the configuration file is set up.

I'm beginning to wonder if doing everything with systemd is what I should be doing. I know so little about doing that.

BTW, I realize that my issues aren't really Arch specific (well, maybe wifi-radar hanging when I set 'use_dhcp=False' is). If there's a good site to read about the pros/cons and philosophies of the various ways of managing wireless in modern Linux, I'm fine with reading it.

ewaller · 2014-03-21 18:14:47

There are a couple little quirks with your vision. It is not a good idea to obtain both a wired and a wireless connection on the same subnet, It can create some subtle, and some not so subtle problems.

I use netctl and wifi-menu. But, were I setting up a machine for someone else, I would use wicd. It has CLI interfaces, curses interfaces, and a nice GUI/tray interface. It manages wired and wireless, provides site surveys, and manages pass phrases.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-03-20 15:46:32

wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

#2 2014-03-20 15:50:09

Re: wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

#3 2014-03-20 21:31:23

Re: wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

#4 2014-03-20 23:58:38

Re: wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

#5 2014-03-21 18:06:31

Re: wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

#6 2014-03-21 18:14:47

Re: wifi-radar can't get an IP address with WPA2

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