[lug] WiFi utils

[Nate Duehr]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2003 at 05:08:12PM -0600, Rob Riggs wrote:
> 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.  

Actually, not being a proponent of Windows in any way, but WinXP Pro
does handle roaming between closed WiFi networks perfectly.  I wish my
linux machine would do the same, and there's probably a way, but I
handle it like many here... just reconfigure.  XP also has a checkbox
for whether or not you'd like to look for open AP's or not, another
nice feature for the road warrior.

XP stores the ESSID and authentication information and you can set 
up a list of Access Points to try in a particular order.  If you
fall out of coverage of one, it will start the search again.  It will
also re-DHCP as needed.  It pops up a little notification in the taskbar
when a) you've switched networks or b) you're in range of a network you
haven't authorized it to connect to.  A little mini-sniffer for open
AP's, you might say.  (On my work laptop on the 9th floor of a Downtown
Denver office building it's constantly letting me know about "new" AP's
it has detected while I'm plugged into the hardwire Ethernet port on the
laptop.  LOL!  Today's open AP du-jour was "camswirelessnetwork".  Hi
Cam, whoever you are!)

It's one of those rare areas where one of the Distro's could come up
with a slick automatic solution and "catch up" to the MS product. (If
someone hasn't already.)

Unfortunately with network interface configuration being a pretty
distro-centric thing (everyone does it differently) probably no one
solution will work for everyone.  And some people will refuse to use it
anyway as it would probably store sensitive WEP keys in cleartext
somewhere on the drive.  (I have no idea if WinXP's is stored securely.)

-- 
Nate Duehr <nate at natetech.com>