Ts75xx 802.11

This board optionally supports 802.11 through the #WIFI-N-USB module which will create the interface ra0 using the rt3070sta module. You can load this by running:

modprobe rt3070sta-7500

Scan for a network

ifconfig ra0 up

# Scan for available networks
iwlist ra0 scan

In this case I'm connecting to "default" which is an open network:

          Cell 03 - Address: c0:ff:ee:c0:ff:ee
                    Mode:Managed
                    ESSID:"default"
                    Channel:2
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:9 Mb/s

To connect to this open network:

iwconfig ra0 essid "default"

You can use the iwconfig command to determine if you have authenticated to an access point. Before connecting it will show something similar to this:

# iwconfig ra0
rausb0    RT73 WLAN  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:""
          Mode:Auto  Frequency=2.412 GHz  Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=0/100  Signal level:-121 dBm  Noise level:-115 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

If you are connecting using WEP, you will need to define a network key:

iwconfig ra0 essid "default" key "yourpassword"

If you are connecting to WPA, you will need to use wpa_passphrase and wpa_supplicant:

wpa_passphrase the_essid the_password > /etc/wpa_supplicant_custom.conf

You will need to edit the /etc/wpa_supplicant_custom.conf file so the network block contains "proto=RSN". For example:

  network={
        ssid="default"                     
        proto=RSN
        #psk="yourpassword"
        psk=your-key-encoded                                                
  }

The default image contains a patched wpa_supplicant for an older device, but for the WIFI-N-USB you will need to remove this and use the version from Debian:

mv /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant.old
apt-get update && apt-get install wpasupplicant #This assumes a proper internet connection is established
 
# reset the shell to find the new wpa_supplicant
exec bash
 
# Verify that it is the correct version (0.6.4):
wpa_supplicant -v

Now that you have the configuration file, you will need to start the wpa_supplicant daemon:

wpa_supplicant -irausb0 -Dralink -c/etc/wpa_supplicant_custom.conf -B

When you have successfully connected, it will list an "Access Point" bssid, and a "Link Quality" of greater than 0/100.

# iwconfig rausb0
rausb0    RT73 WLAN  ESSID:"default"  Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.417 GHz  Access Point: c0:ff:ee:c0:ff:ee  
          Bit Rate=11 Mb/s   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=63/100  Signal level:-70 dBm  Noise level:-99 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Now you are connected to the network, but this would be close to the equivilant of connecing a network cable. To connect to the internet or talk to your internal network you will need to configure the interface. See the #Configuring the Network for more information.