On 08/07/07, jaytee(a)clear.net.nz <jaytee(a)clear.net.nz> wrote:
I have never had a problem with open access points so I wonder if I am incorrectly entering the key somehow ( does it need to be entered twice with a space/dash?) The key is a simple 5 letter dictionary word so I assume that it would be ascii though I did try the hexadecimal entry also.
What type of encryption is the access point using? If it's using the (old, insecure) WEP encryption then you should be able to set the key using iwconfig <interface> key s:<password> The s: tells iwconfig that you're specifying a key in ASCII. If it's using WPA or WPA2 encryption then you need to be using wpa_supplicant to do the authentication. In general however, if you're using network manager in Ubuntu (I seem to recall it's not always installed by default?) then you should be able to manage all of this through the GUI without having to even know about wpa_supplicant or bother with the commandline. My sugguestion for step 1 would be to determine whether you are using network manager to control the wireless. To do this go to http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/, do you have an interface like the screenshot next to the second paragraph titled "Flexible, Extendable, Open" - The dock icon with a dropdown list of networks and signal strength, etc? -- Matt Brown matt(a)mattb.net.nz Mob +353 86 608 7117 www.mattb.net.nz