Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[paulsiu]

I tried using the new Puppy 2.14's network wizard to connect to my WPA network. It just won't work. I am only able to connect by entering the settings into the RT73STA.dat file. Does wizard not work with rt73 drivers?

Paul

[tempestuous]

wpa_supplicant was only recently recompiled to support Ralink, and I think you're the first to attempt a WPA connection with Ralink since then -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=95596#95596

To troubleshoot the situation, you could run all setup commands one by one from rxvt -

EDIT: first modify /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf to include your SSID and Personal Security Key (PSK).

modprobe rt73
ifconfig rausb0 up
rm /var/run/wpa_supplicant/*
wpa_supplicant -i rausb0 -D ralink -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd
## hopefully you will see something like "EAPOL: startWhen --> 0"
## now open a second xterminal
rm /etc/dhcpc/*.pid
dhcpcd -t 30 -h puppypc -d rausb0

[paulsiu]

I downloaded and installed wpa_supplicant-0.5.7+ralink.tar, but apparently it did not work. I installed it, reboot and then use the Network Wizard to enter my AP's info. When I select Use this profile, it attempts to connect via WPA but faiiled. While it's connecting, I did a iwconfig rausb0 and notice that it had the right info except that the encrypting key is either off or zero.

Do I not have the latest wpa_supplicant or may be it just doesn't work with rt73?

Paul

[tempestuous]

Puppy 2.14 already contains that version of wpa_supplicant, so it's not necessary to install it.
I forgot one important instruction about modifying /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. See above.
Don't use the Network Wizard to add settings ... we're trying to bypass the wizard while troubleshooting.
Don't use iwconfig. iwconfig does not support WPA encryption.

[paulsiu]

Okay, I'll give it a try when I get home. Question: What the difference between doing it this way than using the RT73STA.dat file? Is it more reliable?

Right now, I can get WPA to work through the RT73STA.DAT file, but there are times when I can't get the bloody DHCP to work.

Paul

[paulsiu]

I tried:

wpa_supplicant -i rausb0 -D ralink -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

but I got the message

Unsupported driver 'ralink'

Am I missing a driver or something? What is the driver for rt73?

Paul

[tempestuous]

Well I just checked the README from the RT73 wpa_supplicant patch, and "ralink" should definitely be recognised as a valid driver (-D) parameter.
In theory, Puppy 2.14 should contain the latest wpa_supplicant revision ... but maybe not?
So to be certain, please download the one from here - http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=95640#95640
and install it like this -

cd /
tar -zxvf /path/to/my/downloads/wpa_supplicant-0.5.7+ralink.tar.gz

Be aware that this will overwrite your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
This version has the main executable located in /usr/local/bin/
so to make sure we're not using Puppy 2.14's original version it's important to specify this prefix in your commands. So the whole process is now -

Modify /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf to include your SSID and Personal Security Key (PSK).

modprobe rt73
ifconfig rausb0 up
rm /var/run/wpa_supplicant/*
/usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant -i rausb0 -D ralink -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd

## open a second xterminal
rm /etc/dhcpc/*.pid
dhcpcd -t 30 -h puppypc -d rausb0

If you still get the error message "Unsupported driver ralink" then maybe the README is wrong.
So replace "ralink" with "wext" and try again.

[paulsiu]

I tried what you asked. I edited the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf with the current ssid and key. When I attempt to use wpa_supplicant (the one in /usr/local/bin)

wpa_supplicant -irausb0 -Dralink -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

I got the following error:

[tempestuous]

Paul, thanks for testing.
Well at least we learned that "ralink" is a valid driver parameter, and wpa_supplicant made some progress before failing.
We also learned that the latest revision of wpa_supplicant (with Ralink patch) did not make it into Puppy 2.14.

Actually, RT73STA.dat is the most straightforward way to make a WPA-encrypted connection, because RT73STA.dat is simply a configuration file for the Ralink driver's inbuilt native WPA support.

wpa_supplicant, on the other hand, acts as a separate daemon. So why use wpa_supplicant at all? Because it supports more advanced forms of WPA encryption such as PSK/AES. But if you only need PSK/TKIP, then the inbuilt Ralink technique is fine.

[paulsiu]

I think ralink is a valid parameter. It's may be that I need to upgrade to a later version of ralink driver.

I have tried it with -Dwext, but it didn't work either. On well, at least I can get it to work.

[tempestuous]