On 1/5/07, Charles Blair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I currently have a computer running Windows, on which I > plan to install openBSD. The machine uses a Linksys Wireless-G > USB adaptor, model WUSB54GC to make contact with a cable modem. > Luckily for me, the thing came with an idiot-proof installation CD. > > Advice about how I deal with this during the openBSD installation > process would be welcome. If there is not an equally painless > installation command, I am hoping that I can look up some data in > a file somewhere in the present system, then copy that into an > appropriate OpenBSD counterpart. >
Wifi is always very troublesome, because companies make it troublesome. There's a good chance drivers for this adaptor don't exist, or if they do, do not work for it. It depends. All the drivers for devices in OpenBSD are written by the developers of OpenBSD; I believe ndiswrapper (google it) does work on OpenBSD but it's a bad idea. I can't find this device's chipset on google or http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List (useful resource!!) so to find out, you will have to run an OpenBSD kernel and plug the device in to it. Actually, you sound like you have never run a Unix before, so before you destroy your Windows computer, get yourself a test box that you can install OpenBSD on and play around with -- you will probably reinstall it several times before you're satisfied (I'm on my fifth and I'm still just learning). Here is the listing of all the wifi drivers that the OpenBSD devs have written: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=wireless&sektion=0&manpath=OpenBSD+Current&arch=i386&apropos=1&format=html note that the drivers are for a /chipset/, which is not the same as the adaptor. The chipset is a little chip inside the adaptor; there are several companies that make them: atheros, broadcom, intel, ralink, and a few others. Then, end-user manufacturers (D-link, Belkin, etc.) buy from these companies and make devices that you can plug in out of them. (by the way, http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi is a good address to memorize, for when you are sitting around one day, reading misc@openbsd.org or openbsd-newbies@sfobug.org) Also, you seem to be confused: cable modems don't usually include wifi, rather you plug a wifi router's WAN port into the cable modem. The information you will need to know, once you get a supported card, is: Wireless network name WEP key (if any) -- note that other encryption schemes e.g. WPA are not supported on OpenBSD yet (WPA probably won't ever be; I don't know why myself, but Theo has said that WPA is a false sense of security; WEP is only supported because it was written before the weaknesses in it were found) To use the card then, do this: 1) Plug it in. Some kernel messages in blue will come up on the console (so long as you have stayed on tty0). These will tell you what device it's registered as. Let's assume it's an atheros chip, so that it's known as ath0 2) run this command as root: `ifconfig ath0 nwid <network name> nwkey <network key> up` The lights should blink but if they don't don't worry. Run `ifconfig ath0` repeatedly to see if it says "Active". If it does then you're in business 3) run this command as root: `dhclient ath0` This gets DHCP from the router. If this doesn't work, but ath0 is "Active", then either the driver doesn't work for this card, sorry, or you got the WEP key wrong. The wep key can either be ASCII or Hex. If ascii, just type it in. If hex, you must precede it with 0x, eg. `ifconfig ath0 nwid default nwkey 0x9E4DBE0F up` Sorry this response is so disorganized. There are a *lot* of details in wifi, especially on OpenBSD which expose them entirely to you, and I'm more concerned with pointing you the right way so you don't have to spend so much time (and even, wasting money) to learn. Best of luck! Ask again if you need more help. -Nick _______________________________________________ Openbsd-newbies mailing list Openbsd-newbies@sfobug.org http://mailman.theapt.org/listinfo/openbsd-newbies
