[kismac] Re: 10.3.4 & KisMac 0.12a issues

  • From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: kismac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 02:36:21 +0200

At 1:12 AM +0200 2004-07-28, Michael Rossberg wrote:

 My wife's own laptop accessed the network without encryption just fine,
 but I could not.

same time frame? because eurospot is switching to WPA over here.

Yup, same time frame. The two machines were side-by-side. Indeed, I'm finally logged onto the network now, via the LinkSys WPC54G 802.11b/g card that I previously mentioned -- the original Apple AirPort just couldn't do the job, but this works like a charm. I can't use it and have the Airport card installed at the same time, because then MacOS X gets very confused and thinks I have zillions of AirPort cards installed, and I can't do passive scanning with the LinkSys, but at least it gets me on the 'net.


Strangely, the Belkin is recognized as an 802.11g card, and while the manual says it supports 802.11b, it doesn't actually work to get me on the 'net -- until I fire up KisMac and start scanning. At which point, it suddenly starts working. Bizarre. Oh, well -- the sales guy did warn me that LinkSys was good stuff and Belkin wasn't. Can't really fault him for telling the truth. ;)

Using Broadcom-based chipsets in active mode (as third-party AirPort Extreme cards, with the built-in MacOS X driver), the APs show up as being unencrypted, but no traffic is seen -- signal strength is there, but bytes are zero. Using the previous original Apple AirPort card in passive mode, I couldn't get on the network, but I could capture traffic and read the words "eurospot" in the tcpdump output I had in a Terminal window.


Now, the Atheros D-Link card, that's another animal. I tried it a few minutes ago, and as soon as KisMac tried to load the driver, my machine locked up as tight as a drum. Had to pop the battery and pull the power cord. It works fine at the OS level, but the KisMac 0.12a Atheros driver nukes the machine. Until I can get some better idea of good testing methodology that doesn't risk wasting the whole machine, I'm not inclined to test this card again.


                                                                    also i
 do not believe iStumbler and Macstumbler are capable of detecting WPA.
 but let me explain what might cause the problem too: there are basically
 two fields in beacons. one flag for encryption and one for WPA. now if
 they set WPA and do not set encryption, then kismac thinks it is WPA
 while others think it is unencrypted.

Fair enough. But then maybe we need two columns in the display, for the same reason?


                                        do they maybe offer WPA
 encryption optional? this of course does not explain your problems.

So far as I can tell, WPA is not available. Certainly, I'm not using a wireless network password right now. All I have to do is log into their web page, and I'm good to go.


--
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@xxxxxxxxx>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

    -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
    Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

  SAGE member since 1995.  See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.

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