Improved Network Wizard (and rc.network)

[tempestuous]

wpa_supplicant has a driver (-D parameter) named "ndiswrapper", obviously meant for use with Windows drivers c/o ndiswrapper.
Currently, the wizard does not allow WPA for such drivers.
Is there any reason not to allow it?

The "ndiswrapper" -D parameter only applies to old versions of ndiswrapper - before version 1.12. Refer -
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/joom ... 33/id,wpa/
Since then ndiswrapper has used the generic "wext" -D parameter with wpa_supplicant.

I remember the early version of WAG had a button to "Re-seat " the wireless card. I have found that when the link light on my card begins to flash, the card does not respond or scan but if I eject it and begin again it works perfectly.

Yes, it might be worthwhile to reintroduce that feature. From Puppy 4.1 onwards these are the correct commands:

Code: Select all

pccardctl eject
pccardctl insert

It might(?) also be necessary to restart pcmciautils, like this -

Code: Select all

pcmcia-socket-startup

[Dougal]

Code: Select all

# ifconfig eth2
eth2      Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-06-1B-00-20-0B-01-EC-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          inet addr:10.0.0.11  Bcast:10.255.255.255  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:339 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3506 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:60308 (58.8 KiB)  TX bytes:411955 (402.2 KiB)

# 

You are right, it does't say ethernet.

Well, we'll have to try and find a way to recognize it.
We can't just take anything that's reported by "ifconfig -a", since, apart from "lo", it can give some strange things: with the new wireless drivers, my wlan0 is accompanied by wmaster0.
Note also that the HWaddr for it is different than for the ethernet devices, which would cause trouble with the wizard...

[Dougal]

Whilst you are sorting out PC to PC via firewire, would you also verify that usb to usb for PC to PC is also included/functional,
as their protocols are probably the same

To use firewire, you load the eth1394 module, which sets the device up an an interface -- you'll have to find out what to do to turn a usb port into an interface...

[Dougal]

Since then ndiswrapper has used the generic "wext" -D parameter with wpa_supplicant.

So we can enable WPA with the "wext" parameter...

[tempestuous]

Yes.

[Béèm]

Code: Select all

# ifconfig eth2
eth2      Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-06-1B-00-20-0B-01-EC-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          inet addr:10.0.0.11  Bcast:10.255.255.255  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:339 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3506 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:60308 (58.8 KiB)  TX bytes:411955 (402.2 KiB)

# 

You are right, it does't say ethernet.

Well, we'll have to try and find a way to recognize it.
We can't just take anything that's reported by "ifconfig -a", since, apart from "lo", it can give some strange things: with the new wireless drivers, my wlan0 is accompanied by wmaster0.
Note also that the HWaddr for it is different than for the ethernet devices, which would cause trouble with the wizard...

For me, personally, there is no hurry. I can get the thing working.
But for newcomers it's not that obvious.
So yes there is work to do and if I can help testing, just say so.

[Aitch]

.....you'll have to find out what to do to turn a usb port into an interface...

yes, thanks, I know exactly what you mean - not!

Would someone please explain the difference between a port, an interface, and an event driven FIFO?, [all of which are applied to usb/usb via pcmcia] as it's still jargon to many of us non-experts/non-coders

see my comment to Raffy here

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 574#226574

Aitch

[JustGreg]

I have tested the parameter scan_ssid=1 with both a broadcast ssid and a "hidden" ssid on WPA@ network. It works with both. The test computer was a 2goPc using Puppy 4 alpha 6 full installation. I used my normal script to connect.

I checked with wpa_cli status to ensure wpa_supplicant completed its process. In the case of the open broadcast, wpa_cli status reported 4 way handshake was in progress. However, with my desktop computer using Puppy aplha 6 fugral installation, wpa_cli status was completed. I was able to connect to Google and Puppy Linux Forum.

For the "hidden" broadcast, wpa_cli status reported completed and the connection supported normal Internet operations.

I decided to try using both ap_scan=1 and scan_ssid=1 parameters in the wpa2.conf file. For both the open broadcast of ssid and hidden ssid broadcast, a completed normal connection was made.

I did some Google searches on wpa_supplicant and the parameters ap_scan and scan_ssid. I found that ap_scan is a global parameter. It applies to all networks. The parameter scan_ssid is a network specific one. It has to be in the network section of the configuration file.

Here is some specific information that I found:

For ap_scan:

AP scanning/selection
By default,‭ ‬wpa_supplicant requests driver to perform AP scanning and then ‬uses the scan results to select a suitable AP.‭ ‬Another alternative is to ‬allow the driver to take care of AP scanning and selection and use
‬wpa_supplicant just to process EAPOL frames based on IEEE‭ ‬802.11‭ ‬association ‭‬information from the driver.
‬1:‭ ‬wpa_supplicant initiates scanning and AP selection
‬0:‭ ‬driver takes care of scanning,‭ ‬AP selection,‭ ‬and IEEE‭ ‬802.11‭ ‬association‭ ‬parameters‭ (‬e.g.,‭ ‬WPA IE generation‭); ‬this mode can also be used with‭ ‬non-WPA drivers when using IEEE‭ ‬802.1X mode‭; ‬do not try to associate with‭ ‬APs‭ (‬i.e.,‭ ‬external program needs to control association‭)‬.‭ ‬This mode must‭ ‬also be used when using wired Ethernet drivers.
‭ ‬2:‭ ‬like‭ ‬0,‭ ‬but associate with APs using security policy and SSID‭ (‬but not ‭ ‬BSSID‭); ‬this can be used,‭ ‬e.g.,‭ ‬with ndiswrapper and NDIS drivers to‭ ‬enable operation with hidden SSIDs and optimized roaming‭; ‬in this mode,‭ ‬the network blocks in the configuration file are tried one by one until‭ ‬the driver reports successful association‭; ‬each network block should have‭ ‬explicit security policy‭ (‬i.e.,‭ ‬only one option in the lists‭) ‬for‭ ‬key_mgmt,‭ ‬pairwise,‭ ‬group,‭ ‬proto variables

For scan_ssid:

‭ ‬0‭ = ‬do not scan this SSID with specific Probe Request frames‭ (‬default‭)
‭ ‬1‭ = ‬scan with SSID-specific Probe Request frames‭ (‬this can be used to ‬find APs that do not accept broadcast SSID or use multiple SSIDs‭;‭ ‬this will add latency to scanning,‭ ‬so enable this only when needed‭)

I do not know enough to recommend the inclusion of scan_ssid. It does seem to work. The example wpa2.conf files I found on the Internet were not constistent in use of both ap_scan or scan_ssid. The examples given on the wpa_supplicant web site have scan_ssid=1 in them for wireless connections. However for wired (ETHERNET) connections, ap_scan was used. Examples on the Ubuntu forum had neither parmater. For my home network use, I am including both parameters (ap_scan= 1 and scan_ssid=1).

If you think of any more tests, then tell me and I will try them out.

[mbe]

Hi Dougal

I have found a few bugs in testing the wizard

1. Scan incorrectly identified my AP as running WPA2 encryption when it is WPA
2. I connected by filling in the table manually using the WPA/TKIP tab and then saved the new profile before selecting "use this profile" but the new profile subsequently doesn't appear in drop down select list.
3. My AP is broadcasting the SSID but I could not connect unless I used the default "hidden" tick box in the wizard.
4. The cleanup may not be fully working, during repeat attempts I found a partially deleted directory at /var/run/wpa_supplicant that root did not have rights to delete.
Hope this helps
Martin

[Dougal]

For me, personally, there is no hurry. I can get the thing working.
But for newcomers it's not that obvious.
So yes there is work to do and if I can help testing, just say so.

I've tried looking a little at how we could identify interfaces that don't
identify as ethernet.
Does

Code: Select all

cat /sys/class/net/eth2/type

give you 24?

The file include/linux/if_arp.h contains a list of "ARP protocol HARDWARE
identifiers".
In the interfaces that identify as ethernet, the "type" file contains 1,
which seems to match

Code: Select all

#define ARPHRD_ETHER 	1		/* Ethernet 10Mbps		*/

and the wmaster0 has 801 as the type, which seems to match

Code: Select all

#define ARPHRD_IEEE80211 801		/* IEEE 802.11			*/

so I assume your case should be 24:

Code: Select all

#define	ARPHRD_IEEE1394	24		/* IEEE 1394 IPv4 - RFC 2734	*/

I don't have the code for ifconfig here to look through, so I don't know
why it is listed as unspecified...

I could add a check for unspecified interfaces and, if they're named eth[0-9],
add them to the list of interfaces, but I'll need you to check a few things,
to make sure the wizard can find info about them. I'll need the results
of the following commands:

Code: Select all

readlink /sys/class/net/eth2/device
readlink /sys/class/net/eth2/device/driver
ls /sys/class/net/eth2/device

What I'm not sure of is if we should just treat them as normal ethernet
interfaces: doesn't a NIC have some mechanical parts in it that can't be
just emulated in a driver? What I mean is, can it do everything a "normal"
interface can do?

[Dougal]

yes, thanks, I know exactly what you mean - not!

With the firewire port, when you just boot there's nothing special about it, as far as I can tell. It's a port -- just like usb -- that has a basic hci module (ehci1394) loaded. Then you load eth1394 and the interface (eth2) is created.
The question is if you can do the same with usb.
I tried looking through the kernel sources but couldn't find anything like that.
There's CONFIG_USB_ETH, which is described as something for usb ethernet, but the module it builds (g_ether) is for "usb gadgets" and wouldn't load for me... so I guess it needs some device to work with.

You should try and google and see if you can find any info about connecting computers via usb...

[Dougal]

I have tested the parameter scan_ssid=1 with both a broadcast ssid and a "hidden" ssid on WPA@ network. It works with both. The test computer was a 2goPc using Puppy 4 alpha 6 full installation. I used my normal script to connect.

I checked with wpa_cli status to ensure wpa_supplicant completed its process. In the case of the open broadcast, wpa_cli status reported 4 way handshake was in progress. However, with my desktop computer using Puppy aplha 6 fugral installation, wpa_cli status was completed. I was able to connect to Google and Puppy Linux Forum.

For the "hidden" broadcast, wpa_cli status reported completed and the connection supported normal Internet operations.

I decided to try using both ap_scan=1 and scan_ssid=1 parameters in the wpa2.conf file. For both the open broadcast of ssid and hidden ssid broadcast, a completed normal connection was made.

But was there any difference from when you didn't use it?
As the info in the sample .config file says, it adds latency, so we don't want to add it when it's not needed -- I was thinking of adding it just in case of hidden SSIDs.

I did some Google searches on wpa_supplicant and the parameters ap_scan and scan_ssid. I found that ap_scan is a global parameter. It applies to all networks. The parameter scan_ssid is a network specific one. It has to be in the network section of the configuration file.

Yes, I know that, which is why I pointed out that you should put it inside the "network" section...
The ap_scan being global isn't really relevant to us, since we don't use one long config file that includes all the networks.
That's also why I wasn't sure if we need it at all:

‭ ‬2:‭ ‬like‭ ‬0,‭ ‬but associate with APs using security policy and SSID‭ (‬but not ‭ ‬BSSID‭); ‬... ‬in this mode,‭ ‬the network blocks in the configuration file are tried one by one until‭ ‬the driver reports successful association‭; ‬each network block should have‭ ‬explicit security policy‭ (‬i.e.,‭ ‬only one option in the lists‭) ‬for‭ ‬key_mgmt,‭ ‬pairwise,‭ ‬group,‭ ‬proto variables

[Dougal]

1. Scan incorrectly identified my AP as running WPA2 encryption when it is WPA

Oh, my... I guess I'll go back to it just saying "on" or "off"... what does the scan actually show, though? (iwlist wlan0 scan)

[/quote]2. I connected by filling in the table manually using the WPA/TKIP tab and then saved the new profile before selecting "use this profile" but the new profile subsequently doesn't appear in drop down select list.[/quote]
Did you name it? Does it exist in the profiles directory (/etc/network-wizard/wireless/profiles)?

3. My AP is broadcasting the SSID but I could not connect unless I used the default "hidden" tick box in the wizard.

Hmm. I think this might be related to the ap_scan parameter we were just discussing. What happens if you select "Driver"?

4. The cleanup may not be fully working, during repeat attempts I found a partially deleted directory at /var/run/wpa_supplicant that root did not have rights to delete.

Well, root not having the rights to delete something seems rather strange...
In any case, the question is what's in there: I've made it only clean up what is relevant, so the socket named after your interface should be gone, but other things are left alone (like if there's another instance of wpa_supplicant, it's socket is untouched).

[Dougal]

My problem in the past was getting the scan feature to work. This version seems to do this well unless I choose other options like "Open" before the scan, then I get "No networks detected"

I don't know why it won't return any results, but there is no reason to press anything before scanning -- that's why I moved the scan button to the top and made it more prominent.

I remember the early version of WAG had a button to "Re-seat " the wireless card. I have found that when the link light on my card begins to flash, the card does not respond or scan but if I eject it and begin again it works perfectly.

That can be done, but I'll have to try and figure a place to fit such a button...

I am using an open network protocol, a Senao, nl-2511cd plus with the autoloaded orinoco_cs module. I am 99% sure it is a prism2 chipset @ 200mw high power.

I have several other adapters I can try if that helps.

There are some modules that I suspect might support WPA, but since we don't know for sure aren't allowed WPA by the wizard... so if you have HW that uses any of them and can manually test to see if they support WPA, it will be good.
These are the drivers:
libertas_cs, usb8xxx, prism54, zd1211rw, atmel_*, airo*

Atheros card works correctly after the second scan. Very Nice!

You mean ath5k? What speed does it work at? It is supposed to default to 1M so I added special code to up it to 11M.

[Aitch]

yes, thanks, I know exactly what you mean - not!

With the firewire port, when you just boot there's nothing special about it, as far as I can tell. It's a port -- just like usb -- that has a basic hci module (ehci1394) loaded. Then you load eth1394 and the interface (eth2) is created.
The question is if you can do the same with usb.
I tried looking through the kernel sources but couldn't find anything like that.
There's CONFIG_USB_ETH, which is described as something for usb ethernet, but the module it builds (g_ether) is for "usb gadgets" and wouldn't load for me... so I guess it needs some device to work with.

You should try and google and see if you can find any info about connecting computers via usb...

Dougal, sorry, I already posted this as a new thread, as I felt disappointed at the lack of explanation

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=32830

As far as booting is concerned, I have an IBM lappy which could in theory boot from various devices in its pcmcia slots
I have various items including a firewire CDR but nothing ever gets recognised until after x is up - far too late to find puppy!
Neither could I get the pcmcia-ide/flash interface to work, so booting an external laptop h/d or a flash CFdisk [or microdrive] failed also
Same for usb, only worse - usb seems the most difficult to enable via pcmcia slot even after puppy has booted
Network -pcmcia also fails [pxe]

However, you could just take note of this:
The type of usb cable/connector is here, it's cheap, and is quite useful for PC2PC & PC2Lappy filecopying/ISO transfers etc

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Free_UK_Deliver ... 600_v2.htm

I also have loads of pcmcia adapters, [relating to my new post], including combo firewire/usb2;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Max-Value-Combo ... B00126AI8U

So any network/usb2usb solution should include pcmcia-usb/usb2 IMHO

.....& SCSI [via pcmcia/scsi adapter or via pcmcia2usb + usb2scsi adapter, for zip/jaz drives] - another boot failure & source of otropogo/crash thread that has given so much grief - I am not convinced wakepup is needed as drivers are available - just not loaded early enough!
However, it is also possible, AFAIK, to scsi to scsi link 2 PCs also!! [but that's a whole new ballgame ]

Aitch

[Béèm]

For me, personally, there is no hurry. I can get the thing working.
But for newcomers it's not that obvious.
So yes there is work to do and if I can help testing, just say so.

I've tried looking a little at how we could identify interfaces that don't
identify as ethernet.
Does

Code: Select all

cat /sys/class/net/eth2/type

give you 24?

The file include/linux/if_arp.h contains a list of "ARP protocol HARDWARE
identifiers".
In the interfaces that identify as ethernet, the "type" file contains 1,
which seems to match

Code: Select all

#define ARPHRD_ETHER 	1		/* Ethernet 10Mbps		*/

and the wmaster0 has 801 as the type, which seems to match

Code: Select all

#define ARPHRD_IEEE80211 801		/* IEEE 802.11			*/

so I assume your case should be 24:

Code: Select all

#define	ARPHRD_IEEE1394	24		/* IEEE 1394 IPv4 - RFC 2734	*/

I don't have the code for ifconfig here to look through, so I don't know
why it is listed as unspecified...

I could add a check for unspecified interfaces and, if they're named eth[0-9],
add them to the list of interfaces, but I'll need you to check a few things,
to make sure the wizard can find info about them. I'll need the results
of the following commands:

Code: Select all

readlink /sys/class/net/eth2/device
readlink /sys/class/net/eth2/device/driver
ls /sys/class/net/eth2/device

What I'm not sure of is if we should just treat them as normal ethernet
interfaces: doesn't a NIC have some mechanical parts in it that can't be
just emulated in a driver? What I mean is, can it do everything a "normal"
interface can do?

I didn't quite understand the #define part.
I suppose there is nothing to do for me.
Also it isn't ehci1394 but ohci1394
And yes FireWire being more general then ethernet (can be usd for other FireWire devices like cameras, CD/HDD drives, video devices, it might more tricky.
Here is the output you asked for:

Code: Select all

# cat /sys/class/net/eth2/type
24
# 

# readlink /sys/class/net/eth2/device 
../../../fw-host0
# 

# readlink /sys/class/net/eth2/device/driver
../../../../../bus/ieee1394/drivers/nodemgr
# 


# ls /sys/class/net/eth2/device
00061b00200b01ec  host_id        irm_id     is_irm   node_count    selfid_count
0010dc00010c009d  ieee1394_host  is_busmgr  is_root  nodes_active  subsystem
driver            in_bus_reset   is_cycmst  net      power         uevent
# 

# lsmod | grep 1394
eth1394                19460  0 
ohci1394               33456  0 
ieee1394               92216  2 eth1394,ohci1394
# 
# modprobe ehci1394
FATAL: Module ehci1394 not found.
# 

[mbe]

1. Scan incorrectly identified my AP as running WPA2 encryption when it is WPA

Oh, my... I guess I'll go back to it just saying "on" or "off"... what does the scan actually show, though? (iwlist wlan0 scan)
Reply:
iwlist wlan0 scan correctly shows cell 01 by hardware mac address and encryption key:on but it shows two entries starting IE: WPA Version 1 Group Cipher : TKIP Pairwise Ciphers Authentication Suites (1) : PSK and IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1 Group Cipher TKIP Pairwise Ciphers (2) TKIP CCMP Authentication suites (1) PSK

2. I connected by filling in the table manually using the WPA/TKIP tab and then saved the new profile before selecting "use this profile" but the new profile subsequently doesn't appear in drop down select list.[/quote]
Did you name it? Does it exist in the profiles directory (/etc/network-wizard/wireless/profiles)? Reply Yes I named it. I think this is a bug in 4.1Alpha6 as I was running a first boot frugal install. I later found that it DOES appear after I have created a pupsave.2fs file.

3. My AP is broadcasting the SSID but I could not connect unless I used the default "hidden" tick box in the wizard.

Hmm. I think this might be related to the ap_scan parameter we were just discussing. What happens if you select "Driver"? Reply - now works OK with "broadcast" since I created the pupsave file

4. The cleanup may not be fully working, during repeat attempts I found a partially deleted directory at /var/run/wpa_supplicant that root did not have rights to delete.

Well, root not having the rights to delete something seems rather strange... Reply: It was just an empty directory - I changed the access rights and deleted it then carried on. However this hasn't happend since I created a pupsave file

In any case, the question is what's in there: I've made it only clean up what is relevant, so the socket named after your interface should be gone, but other things are left alone (like if there's another instance of wpa_supplicant, it's socket is untouched).[/quote]

[mbe]

I tried again from a first boot frugal of 4.1alpha6 overwritten with the updated wizard. - Entered a profile name and ESSID then selected the WPA/TKIP and added a key, changed tick box to broadcast and saved - nothing appeared in the drop down and no profiles were generated in etc/network-wizard/wireless/profiles. Tried several times without result then tried pressing Scan button and selected cell 1 and save. - The profile name then appeared in the drop down but I couldn't connect (presumably because the scan was reporting WPA2 rather than WPA) so I reselected tab for WPA/TKIP and re-entered key then saved and "use this profile" -connection works ! Also there is now a profile in etc/network-wizard/wireless/profiles.
Hope this helps
Martin

[Dougal]

As far as booting is concerned, I have an IBM lappy which could in theory boot from various devices in its pcmcia slots
I have various items including a firewire CDR but nothing ever gets recognised until after x is up - far too late to find puppy!
Neither could I get the pcmcia-ide/flash interface to work, so booting an external laptop h/d or a flash CFdisk [or microdrive] failed also
Same for usb, only worse - usb seems the most difficult to enable via pcmcia slot even after puppy has booted
Network -pcmcia also fails [pxe]

The reason the firewire drive isn't recognized at boot is that the firewire modules are not in the initial ramdisk. It should be easy to add support for firewire-booting, it's just never been raised before...
As for pcmcia devices, there is the "pccard" boot option that loads the base pcmcia drivers, which might help.

With all the strange kinds of HW, if you want them supported by the wizard you'll have to manage to get them working yourself first, so I'll know what to implement. I can't just make the code up out of my imagination...

[Dougal]

1. Scan incorrectly identified my AP as running WPA2 encryption when it is WPA

Oh, my... I guess I'll go back to it just saying "on" or "off"... what does the scan actually show, though? (iwlist wlan0 scan)

iwlist wlan0 scan correctly shows cell 01 by hardware mac address and encryption key:on but it shows two entries starting IE: WPA Version 1 Group Cipher : TKIP Pairwise Ciphers Authentication Suites (1) : PSK and IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1 Group Cipher TKIP Pairwise Ciphers (2) TKIP CCMP Authentication suites (1) PSK

That's what I assumed was happening: the second IE: line reporting it as WPA2. Does the router support WPA2? I was thinking maybe that's why it reports it. In any case, that info from iwlist is obviously not reliable, so I'd better just go back to the old way, to avoid confusing people.

2. I connected by filling in the table manually using the WPA/TKIP tab and then saved the new profile before selecting "use this profile" but the new profile subsequently doesn't appear in drop down select list.

Did you name it? Does it exist in the profiles directory (/etc/network-wizard/wireless/profiles)?

Yes I named it. I think this is a bug in 4.1Alpha6 as I was running a first boot frugal install. I later found that it DOES appear after I have created a pupsave.2fs file.

I think there might be a problem with saving files in /etc at first boot...
However, something I forgot yesterday: did you fill in the profile details without running a scan first and selecting a network? In such a case the profile will not be saved, since it has no AP MAC address associated with it.