Talk:WPA Manual Setting

Got our olpc from G1G1 on Dec 15, build 650. The WPA instructions do not work. There is a file created on /home/olpc/.sugar/default/nm/networks.cfg. The bssids is empty. I tried wpa_ver 2 and 4. I tried putting in AP from iwconfig on this laptop for bssids (without colons to mimic key). Our WPA access point does not show up on the neighborhood.

-- StuartGathman 23:25, 16 December 2007 (EST)

Please see the Release Notes General_Release_Notes for details on this bug. We have a fix now and should be able to release the patch to the general public in another week or so.

-- kim

Looks like it might work!

I just received my children's OLPC yesterday (2007-12-17) and my biggest disappointment was the lack of WPA support. Anyone who is serious about wireless security (which may include the vast majority of G1G1 participants!) would not use any less than WPA2 at home.

I am using an Apple Airport Extreme router which did work for me last night without encryption at all, but that's an unacceptable option. I literally put the OLPC back in the box it came in, until a solution became available. Now I am betting on the power of Linux to come through with what looks like an extremely simple fix. Will post again with the results!

-Jeff Robelen, NY

A small error

The script does not quote the passphrase before passing it to wpa_passphrase, so if it is truly a phrase and contains spaces or other shell chars, it won't work. To fix this just change the line

key=`$wpapass $ssid $pass | grep psk= | grep -v "#" | cut -d= -f 2`

to

key=`$wpapass $ssid "$pass" | grep psk= | grep -v "#" | cut -d= -f 2`

It worked!

I got it to work on my WPA network, although not before making yet a further modification to the script. You do in fact have to allow for both password and ssid to contain spaces (as mine do). Once you change

   key=`$wpapass $ssid $pass | grep psk= | grep -v "#" | cut -d= -f 2`

to

   key=`$wpapass "$ssid" "$pass" | grep psk= | grep -v "#" | cut -d= -f 2`

you are good to go!

And after playing with this system, I am ready to get another one, so both children can have one, and grow up with these. Awesome!

-Jeff