Accessing a WIFI hotspot by hand: howto?

Hello.

I'm looking for command-line commands to connect to an open, non-encrypted
WIFI access-point.

I already use my WIFI connection to connect to the internet at home. I'd
like to be able to connect out of home, when there are free access points
around.

I don't use KDE or Gnome, so I don't have any autosearching and autofinding
tools; I'd like to know how to do it « by hand ».

My card is setup, I can use iwlist wlan0 scan to scan the nearby
access-points, and see some of them that have no encryption.

How do I go on after that?

--
Fabrice DELENTE

(E-Mail Removed) schrieb:
> Hello.
>
> I'm looking for command-line commands to connect to an open, non-encrypted
> WIFI access-point.


# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwconfig wlan0 mode managed
# iwconfig wlan0 essid any
# iwconfig wlan0 enc off
# dhclient/pump/dhclient3 wlan0 (dhcp-client of your choice)

should do the job, if the desired ap has no MAC-filtering etc active


hth,
lutz

lutz golke wrote:

> # ifconfig wlan0 up
> # iwconfig wlan0 mode managed
> # iwconfig wlan0 essid any
> # iwconfig wlan0 enc off
> # dhclient/pump/dhclient3 wlan0 (dhcp-client of your choice)
>
> should do the job, if the desired ap has no MAC-filtering etc active

If you want to connect to a specific access point then you need to get a list of all available access points.
That list is obtained via:


iwlist wlan0 scan


....or some other wireless interface (ath0 ?)

Rui Maciel

<(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>I'm looking for command-line commands to connect to an open, non-encrypted
>WIFI access-point.

You do not say which distro you have. What you want I think is not "by
hand" but "by command line". On at least some distros, there is a command,
ifup which sets up wired or wireless networks, which is a bash script or
set of scripts. On Mandriva it uses data in
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth? ( or wlan? or whaterever your
card is called-- the ? is a number)
You set up that file and then run ifup (eg
ifup eth1
if eth1 is your wireelss card)

>I already use my WIFI connection to connect to the internet at home. I'd
>like to be able to connect out of home, when there are free access points
>around.

>I don't use KDE or Gnome, so I don't have any autosearching and autofinding
>tools; I'd like to know how to do it « by hand ».

>My card is setup, I can use iwlist wlan0 scan to scan the nearby
>access-points, and see some of them that have no encryption.

>How do I go on after that?

>--
>Fabrice DELENTE

> # ifconfig wlan0 up
> # iwconfig wlan0 mode managed
> # iwconfig wlan0 essid any
> # iwconfig wlan0 enc off
> # dhclient/pump/dhclient3 wlan0 (dhcp-client of your choice)

That seems to cover it, thanks. I didn't know about "essid any".

--
Fabrice DELENTE

Fabrice Delente schrieb:
>> # iwconfig wlan0 essid any

> That seems to cover it, thanks. I didn't know about "essid any".

You may specify a special "essid" given by "iwlist s" or "any" for
the first reachable AP. More options to be read in iwconfig-manpage.

Cheers,
Lutz

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:27:46 +0200, lutz golke wrote:

> Fabrice Delente schrieb:
>>> # iwconfig wlan0 essid any
>
>> That seems to cover it, thanks. I didn't know about "essid any".
>
> You may specify a special "essid" given by "iwlist s" or "any" for the
> first reachable AP. More options to be read in iwconfig-manpage.
>
> Cheers,
> Lutz

Interesting. I wonder what would happen if an available network had the
essid of 'any'.

On 2009-04-29, lutz golke <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> # ifconfig wlan0 up
> # iwconfig wlan0 mode managed
> # iwconfig wlan0 essid any
> # iwconfig wlan0 enc off
> # dhclient/pump/dhclient3 wlan0 (dhcp-client of your choice)
>
> should do the job, if the desired ap has no MAC-filtering etc active

I've found "iwconfig eth0 essid any enc off" works pretty well.

--

John ((E-Mail Removed))