Some questions

[Robert Moskowitz <rgm htt-consult com>]

Hello, I am new here.  Running 0.6.4 in Centos 5.1 on an HP nc2400 
notebook with the Intel ipw3945 dkms code from rpmforge.

I just switched my operation over the this nc2400 from my old nc4010 
which had an Atheros card using the madwifi dkms code from rpmforge and 
I did everything via wpa_supplicant.conf (and the wpa_cli program!).

So with this install, I could not get the wpa_supplicant working.  Seems 
like it only supports the ipw2200 card?  And I found NetworkManager; 
good job! So far  :)

I am plowing through the archives to find answers, but this is slow!  No 
way that I can find to download them and import them into Thunderbird 
for better searching.  So here goes:


The nc2400 expects the OS to manage the card.  There are no buttons to 
turn the radio on and off like on my old nc4010.  Here I am on a plane 
with the radio on.  Now I work with Boeing people (and work on 802.11 
standards), so I have some inside knowledge of 802.11 and airplanes in 
flight, but that is not the point.  The radio is eating power!  I need 
that  battery life!  How can I turn off the radio.  I tried iwconfig 
eth1 power on (to turn on power management), but the card is still 
happily scanning for APs, I think.

I seem to recall a way with lmsensor to turn the LEDs on and off, but I 
think that only tied the LEDs into the reality of the operation of the 
card, not impacting the card at all.

This notebook also has builtin ethernet.  But shortly I will be at the 
IETF conference in Philly, and I want to run Firestarter with its NATing 
functions so I can plug another computer into the notebook to give it 
access through my one wireless connection.  How can I get NetworkManager 
to leave the wired alone so Firestarter can manage it and run services 
like DHCP?

My home network runs WPA-PSK (yeah, I know the risks, I wrote the attack 
paper, but my Radius server is currently down).  I frequently run into 
the situation where NetworkManager is not succeeding in authenticating 
to the AP.  I have no sniffing data; I would like to see some packets, 
but Wireshark does not show interface eth1 (the wireless one).  I end up 
having to reboot to get wireless working, or switch to wired.

Now I notice that my AP is on channel 1, and I am picking up "Oakland 
Wireless" also on channel 1.  This should NOT be causing the problem (I 
hope), but I add the data point.  Actually I would like the option to 
tell NetworkManager to ignore "Oakland Wireless" when I am at home, just 
not when I am over at the local park, come springtime.  When I used 
wpa_supplicant.conf, I could comment out various configs (or uncomment 
them) and reload the conf file at least.  Ah the pains of a real nice 
integrated gui!

I can't test anything at home until I get back on friday, but thought I 
would mention it now while I am venting.

Plane is decending.  Will be connected in a couple hours.