Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

Shirakawasuna · 2007-04-11 04:19:11

Hi, I'm trying to get my laptop + arch to work so that I can walk into any hotspot and simply type "/etc/rc.d/network restart" and it will eventually connect via dhcp. First: I apologize if this issue has been beaten to death, but I swear, I did a lot of searching and can't find an obvious or clean source for this functionality.

I've just set up network profiles, which work great, but so far the best method I've found for connecting to 'random' access points, like various libraries, university buildings, and coffee shops, is to scan and then manually put that ID as my 'preferred' ID into a dhcp-enabled wireless profile. I remember this being so much simpler in the other distros I used - even with gentoo it would automatically do all of this for me in a pretty straightforward fashion, so I just assumed there would be something similar available in arch. If not, would it be difficult to simply borrow part of gentoo's scripts?

klixon · 2007-04-11 07:22:00

have you tried http://wifi-radar.systemimager.org/?
There's some info in the wireless wiki-page about it. I haven't tried it myself, but it should scan for available AP's on boot and connect to the one that's available. If there are more available you can give priority to the profiles.
There a package for it in AUR

Shirakawasuna · 2007-04-11 23:06:09

Thanks, I'll look into that. This seems like something arch should have the ability to do by default, so I'm going to look into gentoo's scripts and see how it all works and how easy it'd be to implement.

iphitus · 2007-04-12 08:42:31

i'm already working on new network scripts for arch.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Network_Scripts

Once these are a bit more complete, you should be able to leverage these to write a daemon to do what you would like.

James

waters · 2007-04-16 12:15:03

Shirakawasuna wrote:

Hi, I'm trying to get my laptop + arch to work so that I can walk into any hotspot and simply type "/etc/rc.d/network restart" and it will eventually connect via dhcp. First: I apologize if this issue has been beaten to death, but I swear, I did a lot of searching and can't find an obvious or clean source for this functionality.

Ubuntu can easily find a hotspot after the first installation, and the Live CD can also do this great job. But I don't know how to configure Arch to do the same job also. I am a newer to Linux, it's far more difficult for me. As I thought, if Ubuntu can then Arch also can, but how?

raymano · 2007-04-16 12:42:51

Forget about new network scripts or anything like that. Ubuntu and a number of the popular distros use NetworkManager and I have been using it under Arch and KDE with knetworkmanager. It works both for wired and wireless. So when you plugin a wired network it automatically detects that too.

Here's the Wiki entry:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Networkmanager

It shows you how to use it under KDE and Gnome. As it mentions you need a combination of dhcdbd, networkmanager and hal.

P.S. Don't waste your time with wifi-radar. It's not as good of a solution as networkmanager and it only works for wireless devices.

Last edited by raymano (2007-04-16 13:22:15)

STiAT · 2007-04-16 15:21:37

I've been using networkmanager for all my notebooks. It really is rock stable, and very well integrated.

waters · 2007-04-17 16:27:56

raymano wrote:

Forget about new network scripts or anything like that. Ubuntu and a number of the popular distros use NetworkManager and I have been using it under Arch and KDE with knetworkmanager. It works both for wired and wireless. So when you plugin a wired network it automatically detects that too.
Here's the Wiki entry:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Networkmanager
It shows you how to use it under KDE and Gnome. As it mentions you need a combination of dhcdbd, networkmanager and hal.
P.S. Don't waste your time with wifi-radar. It's not as good of a solution as networkmanager and it only works for wireless devices.

Thanks. Very simple and effective!

Xilon · 2007-04-20 07:55:27

raymano wrote:

Forget about new network scripts or anything like that. Ubuntu and a number of the popular distros use NetworkManager and I have been using it under Arch and KDE with knetworkmanager. It works both for wired and wireless. So when you plugin a wired network it automatically detects that too.
Here's the Wiki entry:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Networkmanager
It shows you how to use it under KDE and Gnome. As it mentions you need a combination of dhcdbd, networkmanager and hal.
P.S. Don't waste your time with wifi-radar. It's not as good of a solution as networkmanager and it only works for wireless devices.

Great, but is there a non-GUI solution? I think I may prefer the new scripts

Last edited by Xilon (2007-04-20 07:55:38)

.:B:. · 2007-04-20 09:35:56

I agree with Xilon: you shouldn't have to install half a DE just to get your wireless to connect automatically . On a non-Gnome system Networkmanager has quite some dependencies .

You shouldn't be dependent on a GUI to get your stuff working (and especially not on Arch). So I think those new scritps are by far preferable to installing just another GUI tool, however good it might be .

STiAT · 2007-04-20 13:18:10

Networkmanager isn't half that good as it sounds... i don't mind since i use a DE (kde), and in combination with kwallet it works fine.

I'm still waiting for the new network scripts as well - and hope iphitus will get around this soon...

Last edited by STiAT (2007-04-20 13:19:05)

eyolf · 2007-05-04 13:15:12

I'm also using Networkmanager, and it works flawlessly - when it works. However, it seems to have some problems interacting with wpa_supplicant. For me, at least, the outcome is that once in a while (and I haven't figured out if there is a pattern there), the connection just gets cut off. Some of the times, I can reconnect again directly, but other times, there is no way to get back online again, other than shutting down and starting over again. In some cases, the whole wireless card goes down as well, so that no networks at all show up in the list.

lloeki · 2007-05-04 19:49:25

I'm using a combination of ifplugd and daemonized wpa_supplicant. totally DE independent. even works in pure console mode.

spotman · 2007-05-05 05:10:53

I actually have had great luck with wifi-radar. I used to use networkmanager, but it seems like it is very moody. Sometimes I have to rmmod my wifi module to get network manager to reconnect.

With wifi-radar, it comes with a daemon, and an /etc/rc.d init script. As long as you can configure /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, its really very easy. I believe its python based, if im not mistaken.

cheers

edit: also works from cmdline, via that init script

Last edited by spotman (2007-05-05 05:11:51)

eyolf · 2007-05-05 09:14:02

lloeki: That sounds interesting - could you be a little more specific re. setup? What should I do?
spotman: I'll try out wifi-radar. Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-04-11 04:19:11

Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#2 2007-04-11 07:22:00

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#3 2007-04-11 23:06:09

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#4 2007-04-12 08:42:31

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#5 2007-04-16 12:15:03

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#6 2007-04-16 12:42:51

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#7 2007-04-16 15:21:37

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#8 2007-04-17 16:27:56

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#9 2007-04-20 07:55:27

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#10 2007-04-20 09:35:56

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#11 2007-04-20 13:18:10

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#12 2007-05-04 13:15:12

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#13 2007-05-04 19:49:25

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#14 2007-05-05 05:10:53

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

#15 2007-05-05 09:14:02

Re: Automatic Wireless Detection and Connection

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