TOPIC: Configuring a USB 802.11b key

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I got two USB 802.11b keys working on the iBook G4:

Dlink DWL-122 (prism3 chipset)
linksys wusb11 v2.6 (prism 2.5 chipset)

The Dlink is by far cooler, and pretty much worked right off the shelf. It is one of the thumb-sized ones, and was just $19.99 at Fry's Electronics. I used the drivers found at www.linux-wlan.org.

Had to update the kernel (built Owen's new 2.6.8 from source), pulled ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre20.tar.gz to build, unzip, and make:

tar zxvf linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre20.tar.gz [ENTER]
cd linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre20 [ENTER}
make config (only built the usb driver) [ENTER]
make all [ENTER]
make install [ENTER]

... didn't change any of the default configs, just made a little script to set up the card:

<dlink.sh>

#!/bin/sh
/sbin/modprobe prism2_usb prism2_doreset=1
sleep 1
/sbin/wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
/sbin/wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=linksys authtype=opensystem
/sbin/ifup wlan0

</dlink.sh>

... where "linksys" could be replaced with "any". Then create this file in /etc/systemconfig/network-scripts/wlan0:

<ifcfg-wlan0>

BROADCAST=""
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
DEVICE=wlan0
NETWORK=""
IPADDR=""
ONBOOT=no
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
PEERDNS=yes

</ifcfg-wlan0>

And you're all set. This configuration will connect by dhcp any open network in range -- my experience is about 30-60 meters with 50% signal.

This HOWTO was written by Bill Mueller, Terra Soft Solutions.