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14 <TITLE>Linux and Wireless Ovislink Airlive WL-1100AP/WL-1100PCM with Intersil Prism2 Chipset</TITLE>
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25 <H1 align="center">Ovislink Airlive WL-1100AP Access Point<BR>Ovislink Airlive WL-1100PCM PCMCIA Adapter</H1>
33 On this page you will a find a short guide on how to set up this wireless hardware under Linux.<BR>
34 I wrote it because when I searched google I found <span style="font-weight:bold">nothing</span> about this Hardware.
40 All comments, suggestions etc. are welcome. Please contact me at <A HREF="mailto:wf-hp@gmx.net">wf-hp@gmx.net</A>.
43 <hr width="40%" align="center">
46 A few days ago I decided to get me a new toy. I bought a wireless LAN-Card together with an access-point (short AP) to avoid 20 metres of Twisted-Pair Cable lying through the corridors of my home.</P>
48 <P>I chose the Ovislink hardware, because on the box of the PCMCIA-card Linux was listed as an OS which supported the card. The manual of the AP which they allowed me to read in the shop said it had to be configured over SNMP. After doing a little research on google I found out, that chances were good this could be done with one of the programs from ap-utils. I hoped it would work, but I have to confess I would have also used Windows for the configuration, since the price was rather low and I badly wanted to have that thing.
52 I own a HP Omnibook XE3-GC (the old variant with the Savage-Chip) running Debian/sarge at the moment (in stable/woody the package ap-utils was not included) and a router running Debian/woody, which now got a second NIC (network interface card) to attach the AP.
55 <hr width="80%" align="center">
60 Setting up the PCMCIA-Card
64 The WLAN-Card has a Prism2-Chip which is supported by linux-wlan-ng.
66 In this file I will only cover the relevant details for WLAN-Configuration. For the basics please refer to the <A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/PCMCIA-HOWTO.html"><U>PCMCIA-HOWTO</U></A>.
70 I heard reports that this card also worked with orinoco_cs. I will continue to use prism2_cs since it is the 'official' driver-module offered by Ovislink, but I am interested in reports about using orinoco_cs, especially the differences to prism2_cs.
74 Things you need for compiling linux-wlan-ng:<BR>
75 - sources of linux-wlan-ng from <A HREF="http://www.linux-wlan.com"><U>http://www.linux-wlan.com</U></A><BR>
76 - sources of pcmcia-cs from <A HREF="http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net"><U>http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net</U></A><BR>
77 - sources of your linux kernel from <A HREF="http://www.kernel.org"><U>http://www.kernel.org</U></A>
81 For Debian-users: <code>apt-get source linux-wlan-ng pcmcia-cs kernel-source-`uname -r`</code>
85 Run <code>./Configure</code> in the source-directory of pcmcia-cs.
88 Run <code>./Configure</code> in the source-directory of linux-wlan-ng and answer the following question with yes:<BR>
90 Build Prism2.x PCMCIA Card Services (_cs) driver? (y/n) [y]: y
94 The other modules (PCI- and USB-drivers) are not needed.
98 Compile and install (as root) pcmcia-cs (if it is not installed yet) and linux-wlan-ng by running in both of the source-directories:<BR>
99 <code>make && make install</code>.
103 Add the following lines to the file <code>/etc/pcmcia/config.opts</code>. In case you are using Debian you can add it to <code>/etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf</code>, since all *.conf-files in <code>/etc/pcmcia/</code> are sourced from <code>/etc/pcmcia/config.opts</code>:
108 card "Intersil PRISM2 11 Mbps Wireless Adapter"<BR>
109 manfid 0x0156, 0x0002<BR>
110 bind "prism2_cs"
115 With this card-definition the card will be recognized correctly by cardmgr when it is inserted into the PCMCIA-slot and the module <code>/lib/modules/`uname -r`/pcmcia/prism2_cs.o</code> will be loaded.
119 Next you have to configure the files <code>/etc/pcmcia/network.opts</code> for the network-parameters of the WLAN-interface <code>/dev/wlan0</code> and <code>/etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts</code> for the WLAN-configuration itself. Both files are commented thoroughly and the names of the variables are rather self-explaining.
125 This is my <code>/etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts</code> without the Comment-lines:<BR>
126 (YES, I changed my WEP-keys :-) )
131 ============ Begin of File /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts ============<BR>
133 WLAN_PATCHLEVEL=1<BR>
135 WLAN_EXTRAVERSION=<BR>
137 case "$ADDRESS" in<BR>
138 wlannoenable,*,*,*)<BR>
139 WLAN_ENABLE=n<BR>
142 #=======WEP===========================================<BR>
143 lnxreq_hostWEPEncrypt=true<BR>
144 lnxreq_hostWEPDecrypt=true<BR>
145 dot11PrivacyInvoked=true<BR>
146 dot11WEPDefaultKeyID=0<BR>
147 dot11ExcludeUnencrypted=true<BR>
148 dot11WEPDefaultKey0=01:23:45:67:89:AB:CD:EF:00:00:00:00:00<BR>
149 dot11WEPDefaultKey1=CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC:CC<BR>
150 dot11WEPDefaultKey2=FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:F0<BR>
151 dot11WEPDefaultKey3=00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:0F<BR>
153 #=======SELECT STATION MODE===================<BR>
154 IS_ADHOC=n # y|n, y - adhoc, n - infrastructure<BR>
156 #=======INFRASTRUCTURE STATION START===================<BR>
157 AuthType="sharedkey"<BR>
158 DesiredSSID="wlan"<BR>
160 #=======ADHOC STATION START============================<BR>
161 SSID="adhoc-wlan"<BR>
162 BCNINT=100<BR>
163 CHANNEL=6<BR>
164 BASICRATES="2 4"<BR>
165 OPRATES="2 4 11 22"<BR>
166 ;;<BR>
168 ============ End of File /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts ============
173 The settings for ad-hoc-mode are untested, since I have not yet found anybody for testing.
177 The nickname of the card can be set with the following command:<BR>
179 wlancfg set wlan0<BR>
180 p2CnfOwnName=mynewnickname
187 This is my <code>/etc/pcmcia/networks.opts</code> without the Comment-lines:
192 ============ Begin of File /etc/pcmcia/networks.opts ============<BR>
193 case "$ADDRESS" in<BR>
195 BOOTP="n"<BR>
196 DHCP="n"<BR>
197 PPPOE="n"<BR>
198 WHEREAMI="n"<BR>
199 IPADDR="192.168.1.1"<BR>
200 NETMASK="255.255.255.0"<BR>
201 IPMASQ="n"<BR>
202 start_fn () { return; }<BR>
203 stop_fn () { return; }<BR>
204 NO_CHECK=n<BR>
205 NO_FUSER=n<BR>
206 ;;<BR>
208 ============ End of File /etc/pcmcia/networks.opts ============
213 In my case I did not have to set a gateway because I am running a 1024bit-encrypted VPN (from <A HREF="http://www.tinc.org"><U>www.tinc.org</U></A>) over the radio-connection which is my default route.
216 <hr width="80%" align="center">
222 <A name="accesspoint">
223 Setting up the Access-Point
228 <span style="font-weight:bold">Important Note:</span> You can configure everything under Linux. No need to boot Windows.
232 Some interesting facts (which took me quite some time to find in the manual):<BR>
233 Default-IP-address: 192.168.0.1<BR>
234 Default-password: public<BR>
235 Needed Cable: straight TwistedPair-Cable when connected to a switch or hub, a crossover cable when connecting directly to a NIC (network interface card)
239 Download ap-utils from <A HREF="http://ap-utils.polesye.net/"><U>http://ap-utils.polesye.net/</U></A>.
243 Compile the programs:<BR>
251 Start the program <code>ap-config</code>.
255 Enter the default-IP-address of the AP (192.168.0.1), the default-password ('public') and choose 'AP type: ATMEL'<BR>
256 This should connect you to the AP.<BR>
257 If this does not work check your network and routing settings, especially the netmask
261 The configuration is explained in the manual that came with the AP.
267 Some oddities you may encounter:
271 The WEP saved in the AP will never displayed, even though they were entered and saved correctly. The only thing you can to ensure encryption works is testing it with a WLAN-card and checking it with <code>wlancfg show wlan0</code>
277 One really interesting feature of ap-config is the possibility of changing the radio power output of the AP:
281 This scale is everything I guessed so far. If you have any more details please let me know:
284 <table border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0">
288 decimal number in ap-config
305 100% (whatever this means in W)
346 © 2002 by <A HREF="mailto:wf-hp@gmx.net">Wolfgang Fuschlberger</A><BR>
347 last update: 2002-11-24
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