Wifi Connectivity

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If you want to connect to the internet, and you are using Sugar, see Connecting to the Internet page at the Sugar Labs Wiki.

See also Give Me the Internet, Please for 8.2.0.

Troubleshooting Guide

The Wifi Troubleshooting Guide provides a step by step checklist to review prior to contacting Technical Support.

Overview

XO laptops were designed for children in developing nations, where it was faster and less expensive to introduce wireless networks rather than traditional cabled infrastructure. The XO laptop was designed to use these networks, or to connect with other XO laptops using a mesh network or an ad-hoc network.

Setting up a Wireless Network

When setting up a wireless network for XO laptops, configure access points as follows:

• use a single channel, not "Automatic",
• it is generally best to choose channels Channels are 1, 6, and 11, to ensure interference between networks is kept to a minimum,
• if available, the wireless network mode should be "Mixed" or "Wireless-G", not "Disabled" or "Other",
• if Wireless MAC Filtering is enabled, the MAC address for the XO laptops must be entered,

Channel

With 802.11b or 802.11g, use channel 1, 6 or 11 in the US or Canada. Use of any other channels will degrade your own wireless signal and that of others.

Therefore, the mesh networking and ad-hoc network between XO laptops is designed to work with channels 1, 6 or 11.

Security

Set up the access point for WPA2 security.

Do not use WEP, it is not secure.

MAC Filtering

Wireless MAC filtering is a security measure that restricts access to the access by MAC address. Every XO has a unique address assigned at the time of manufacture.

However, the measure is only effective against naive users, because MAC addresses can be changed.

The MAC address for the XO is displayed using the Linux command ifconfig.

See also

• Hidden networks,
• Manual Wireless Association
• Wireless Access Point Compatibility