Arch Linux

not_insane

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 2

Ad hoc wifi network

Hi there,
I have installed arch linux on my ancient dell inspiron 4000 for a little project, and as my messing-around box (I have ubuntu on my netbook but I have files I would miss there if I messed up, so Im trying out stuff on my old laptop). I have to say, arch linux is doing rather well. I have a ralink rt2500 pcmcia card.

So, I am trying to set up an ad hoc wifi network in my room. I have used an old ubuntu 9.04 live cd, and I am able to do it. However, trying out the following commands in arch linux:
ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc
iwconfig wlan0 essid adhocnet
iwconfig wlan0 channel 5
ifconfig wlan0 10.0.0.1 up

Seems to work in arch, ifconfig says I'm connected, iwlist scan says it can find my network (full signal, obviously). The problem is that nothing else can see the network. It simply isnt boadcasting its ssid. I've tried from my other computers and my android htc desire. I can only conclude that it is the fault of the drivers. However, it seems to work in ubuntu 9.04 which is pretty old.

Can anyone help me, please?

Last edited by not_insane (2011-06-17 16:31:22)

not_insane

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 2

Re: Ad hoc wifi network

No-one replied here (thanks a lot ) but I managed to fix the problem. Basically, the rt2500pci drivers are slightly rubbish, so I blacklisted them in /etc/modprobe.d/ and used a windows driver (found after extensive googling, heres a link to anyone who's lost - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=699583) through ndiswrapper. I obviously had to recompile ndiswrapper because its been removed from the official repos. Just a note, from the download at sourceforge, you need to apply a patch for it to work with a kernel >= 2.6.35, and modprobe ndiswrapper wont work - you need to do insmod /lib/modules/misc/ndiswrapper.ko

This surprisingly also increased the sensitivity of the wifi card. Anyway, I fixed my problem and just posting this here if anyone has the same problem.