[COLUG] Auto-attaching to arbitrary wireless networks

[Mark Erbaugh]

Have you tried Wicd?

wicd.sourceforge.net

It allowed me to connect to the wireless network in a hotel that usually
requires a windows logon.

Mark




On Mon, 2007-11-19 at 10:48 -0500, Rob Funk wrote:
> The strange thing about being among the first on the block to use some new 
> technology is that when a newer (and probably easier) way comes along it 
> tends to get ignored... and then sometimes the hard way stops working, 
> and a search begins for that newer (presumably easier) way.
> 
> In this case it's wireless networking.  I started using 802.11b back 
> around when the Apple Airport came out, and got to "help test" an early 
> version of OSU's wireless infrastructure.  I still have and use the Cisco 
> AiroNet 802.11b card I bought around 1999-ish.  It's always been my most 
> reliable wireless card, but I also have an rt2500-based Zonet/Ralink 
> 802.11g card (mainly for home use) and a USB-connected prism-based 
> 802.11b adapter specially made to go on the back of my Compaq Evo laptop.  
> I know my way around iwconfig, and when forced I can muddle my way 
> through wlanctl-ng a bit.
> 
> I'm now using Kubuntu Gutsy.  I've managed to set things up so I can plug 
> in the Cisco card, boot up the machine, go near an open access point, and 
> have it automatically associate.  I did this by putting these lines 
> in /etc/network/interfaces:
> 
> auto eth1
> iface eth1 inet dhcp
> 	wireless-mode managed
> 	wireless-essid any
> auto wifi0
> iface wifi0 inet dhcp
> 	wireless-mode managed
> 	wireless-essid any
> 
> However, when there are multiple access points nearby, I have to 
> use "iwlist scanning" to see what's nearby, then use iwconfig to set the 
> channel and essid, and ifdown/ifup the interface.
> 
> knetworkmanager doesn't seem to help much (sadly no convenient list of 
> nearby access points).  For a while I've had things configured so that 
> the Ralink card defaults to my home settings, and the Cisco card defaults 
> to wherever else I happen to go most often, but the Ralink driver has 
> changed so the new interface name for that conflicts with the interface 
> name for the Compaq wireless module (both wlan0), which ideally I'd like 
> to turn into my random-public-access-point interface.
> 
> So, is there an easier way to arbitrarily detect and connect to random 
> wireless networks with these various interfaces?  No points for a 
> half-GUI, half-command-line solution, since that's worse than the 
> all-command-line solution I use now.
> 
> My dream would be to be able to set up a series of essids (optionally 
> ending with "any") to try until one succeeds, and attach to that.  That 
> would eliminate my hack of a different card for each different network.  
> As far as I know that's not currently possible, though I'd love to be 
> proven wrong.
>