HOW TO: Zydas ZD1211 wireless with automatic WPA
[Edit] I've included the versions of the packages used and cleared the text up. [/Edit]
Aim
I hope this helps you set up a WPA encrypted wireless network when using a ZD1211 based wireless card, such as Safecom SWLU-5400 dongle.
Thanks to ubuntu user dom for pointing me in the right direction 
User level
Intermediate. This isn't meant to be a simple list of commands to type in to a terminal because networking has too many options for any one script to cover. You may need to tweak some of the commands or files to your own system settings.
Pre-requisites
You have a 2.6.12-9 kernel. If you managed to get this working on another kernel type, then post your details.
You can navigate around the file system using the terminal
Can copy / move files using the terminal
Can untar packages
Can follow bad how to's
How To Part 1 - preparation
You will need the ZD1211 kernel module and wpa supplicant. Unfortunately, the versions supplied by ubuntu don't work, so we have to remove them first. Using synaptic or using a terminal and typing:
Code:
sudo modprobe -r zd1211
Code:
sudo apt-get remove wpasupplicant
The following may not be essential, but it's worth doing to ensure better success with other programs.
Code:
sudo apt-get install linux-tree
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install kernel-package
sudo apt-get install gcc
sudo apt-get install libncurses5
sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev
sudo apt-get install libqt3-mt-dev
sudo apt-get install wireless-tools
Unpack the linux source and create a standard symbolic link
Code:
cd /usr/src
sudo tar --bzip2 -xvf linux-2.6.12.tar.bz2
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.12 /usr/src/linux
Create standard symbolic link for the linux headers.
Code:
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.... /usr/src/linux-headers
Download the source to openssl from http://www.openssl.org/source/ and unpackage it /usr/src/openssl. I've used version 0.96m.
Download the latest zd1211 driver source from http://zd1211.ath.cx/download and unpackage it to /usr/src/zd1211src. I used version r38.
If you're having difficulty compiling these, there is an alternative source archive from http://www.zydas.com.tw/downloads/download-1211.asp. I've never got these to work, but it might help you.
Download the latest wpa supplicant source from
http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant
I used version 0.39.
Unpackage it to /usr/src/wpasupplicant. Inside the source folder, create a symbolic link called openssl pointing to /usr/src/openssl/include.
Code:
sudo ln -s /usr/src/openssl/include /usr/src/wpasupplicant/openssl
Go into the zd1211 source type
Code:
sudo gedit Makefile
Make sure that the lines
KERN_26=y
KERNEL_SOURCE=/usr/src/linux
are present. If not comment out the current values and replace with the above.
Compile the zd1211 module.
Code:
sudo make
sudo make install
Copy the resulting zd1211.ko to /lib/modules/...../net
Install the module
Code:
sudo modprobe -v zd1211
Attatch the dongle, dmesg should show the following
Code:
[4294699.485000] _____ ____ _ ____
[4294699.485000] |__ / _| _ \ / \ / ___|
[4294699.485000] / / | | | | | |/ _ \ \___ \
[4294699.485000] / /| |_| | |_| / ___ \ ___) |
[4294699.485000] /____\__, |____/_/ \_\____/
[4294699.485000] |___/
[4294699.485000] zd1211 - version 2.0.0.0
Note the version number and format may change. What you don't want are any sort of error messages as this indicates something is wrong.
How To Part 2 - Connecting to an open network
If your access point is unencrypted, you should now be able to connect to it. You can use the iwconfig wireless tools to specify your accessid etc. If you're having problems connecting, try the following articles:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=92142
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=86389
To see if your module is active type the following
will give a list of all network connections.
will give a similar list for all wireless connections. You should see something like this:
Code:
wlan0 802.11b/g NIC ESSID:"youressid"
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.462 GHz Access Point: your-access-point
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Retry:off RTS thr=2432 B Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=80/92 Signal level=30/154 Noise level=161/154
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:11601 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
will search out the wireless networks available. If you can see your network here then the module is working.
How To Part 3 - Connecting to an encrypted network
I don't recommend using a wireless network without some sort of encryption. If you want WEP encryption, use the gnome networking tool (system-administration-networking) and specify a WEP key.
If you want WPA encryption (stronger than WEP), then compile wpa supplicant.
Code:
sudo cp /usr/src/wpasupplicant
sudo make
Set up /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, changing the values in italics
Code:
network={
ssid="network id"
scan_ssid=1
pairwise=TKIP
psk="encryption key"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
}
Connect your dongle and type the following to activate the wireless network
Code:
sudo ifconfig eth0 down
to shut down your ethernet connection
Code:
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
to start your wireless connection
Code:
cd /usr/src/wpasupplicant
sudo ./wpa_supplicant -Bw -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -D zydas
After a few moments, use ifconfig to see if you have connected to your access point. If not, check dmesg and the system logs for error messages.
Once you're happy that you can use the connection, the final step is to automate the process. Backup and edit /etc/network/interfaces and add the following code
Code:
pre-up /usr/src/wpasupplicant/wpa_supplicant -Bw -i wlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -D zydas
post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant
To restart your network:
Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
and hopefully wpa should now be working..........
Hope this helps
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