[lug] WiFi utils

[Rob Riggs]

Bryan Field-Elliot wrote:

> I'm using RedHat 9 and am underwhelmed by the support (or maybe just 
> the documentation) for Wifi...
>
> I roam between three SSID's frequently: My home, my office, and a 
> local coffee shop (Cafe Soleil actually). I'd like for my 
> configuration to always be watching for any of these SSID's, and if I 
> roam to a new one, then automatically connect as well as run DHCP client.


I use WiFi at my home, Caffe Sole, and my GF's house, and it all works 
fine.  I use a couple of WiFi PCMCIA cards and as long as the ESSID is 
not set or set to "default", it roams just fine.  As soon as I plug it 
in, it connects -- like magic.  It has done this on RH 7, 8 and 9.

Now, I am ejecting the PCMCIA card when I am done, and plugging it in 
when I need to connect.  It's not just constantly roaming to new 
networks and reattaching, which is what you seem to be looking for.  I 
cannot do that with Linux or with Windows, so I am unsure of how you 
have come to set your expectations.  

On the rare occasion that I have left the WiFi card plugged in between 
locations, all I ever recall needing to do is reconfiguring the network 
via DHCP using either pump or dhcpcd.  One could write a script that 
polls WiFi subsystem using iwconfig or iwlist and runs the preferred 
DHCP client when the machine associates with a new access point.  That 
should not take too many lines of bash scripting.

-Rob