RT2X00 Problems - DHCP, WPA-PSK/TKIP

[northwood2.8]

Okay. So I reinstalled Puppy.
I figured it could have been a foobar driver problem, as it happens every so often (as is my experience in Linux and MS), so yeah...set it up, and waited until everything was done to plug in my Ralink/Linksys WUSB.

Plugged in, hit "Connect" on Desktop - opened setup. Picked RAUSB0, gave it the correct ESSID, and it connected to my INSIDE AP - the one without a passphrase/encryption (only temporarily disabled to facilitate testing) - with no difficulty. Then, it asked to do either Static or DHCP - well, I chose DHCP, and nothing. My AP is set to DHCP - it gets an IP from my DSL modem. I haven't tried connecting to the outside one yet, as it has encryption.

However, I put up a 63-character "easy" ASCII (universally printable characters, anyone?) on my inside AP, and then RAUSB0 failed to connect. Attempted to establish a WPA connection, but failed out (GUI).

So now what? I really don't want to run my APs without WPA. Is there a pupget I need or something?

[Bruce B]

I just wanted to acknowledge your post has been answered. The only suggestion I have is set it up without WEP and see if all works well. If so working out the bugs in WEP is probably your only problem. Sort of like a deductive, step by step approach to configuration.

[northwood2.8]

Okay, well, I got it to connect to the Internet.

It involved disabling WEP, and dealing with a (very broken-looking) DHCP feature in P. Network Monitor.

Auto DHCP simply does NOT seem to work for me - and I have a DHCP server setup on the network, it's my DSL modem (that the APs talk to).

I had to set my internal IP to 192.168.0.70, 0.0.0.0, then my AP (inside, open) to 192.168.0.67 255.255.255.0...(ifconfig can help you with this)
Also, I had to set my Gateway... route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0...

As far as I know, I FINALLY got it working this way - just pointed it to Google and it got there.
However, when I powered up my Puppy this morning, it had forgotten all of the Wireless Driver settings. So, went to GRUB's menu.lst file in /, changed the ro (kernel) to rw...I think that should do it. I hope.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get encryption back up...I really can't run these access points open.

[northwood2.8]

Just don't use the RT2x00 series.

Lol.

But seriously, I think I have a workaround. Get two access points that support bridging (like I have, the Netgear wg602v3 - MAKE SURE you get a v3 if this is the case) - I got mine for 20$ a piece, so it's not really that bad.
Wireless-G, encryption is supported, fairly decent coverage w/ stock antenna/firmware...
But anyway. Bridge the two AP's, then set one in repeater mode - Cat5 it to the repeater box, and boom.
You've just successfully fooled Puppy into thinking you're on a wired network!

More details on this later.

[northwood2.8]

And have 128bit WEP enabled.

I know, WEP sucks, but it's better than nothing.

Anyway, performance isn't too bad this way.

Oh, and I've converted my main desktop to Puppy 2.17, as well. n_n