TOPIC: Configuring a USB 802.11b key

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

D-Link DWL-122 (prism3 chipset) Linksys WUSB11 v2.6 (prism 2.5 chipset)

The D-Link 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 the standard YDL v5.0 2.6.17 source), pulled ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.8.tar.bz2 to build, unzip, and make:

wget ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.8.tar.bz2 [ENTER]
tar jxvf linux-wlan-ng-0.2.8.tar.bz2 [ENTER]
cd linux-wlan-ng-0.2.8 [ENTER}
make config (only built the Prism2.5 USB (_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 2
    /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 20-35 meters with 50% signal.

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