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5. Configuring The Device

Throughout this section I will refer to eth1 which is how Linux identifies my device. Your device may get a different alias assigned, such as eth0, so whenever I specify eth1, substitute this with whatever is appropriate for your environment.

5.1 Loading the Driver

At this point you should be able to just plug in your wireless device and Linux should load the driver for it. However, to check that the module is installed and does load, run:

Then, if you don't get any errors, to check that it is loaded, run either of: You should see usbvnet or usbvnetr as well as uhci (you did read the Important Issues and Requirements section didn't you).

5.2 Plugging in the MA101

Plug in the MA101, and run:

You should see something like: 
hub.c: USB new device connect on bus1/2, assigned device number 6
usb.c: USB device 6 (vend/prod 0x864/0x4100) is not claimed by any active driver.
usb.c: registered new driver usbvnet
usb_vnet_probe: usb vendor/product=864/4100
vnet_kernel.c: Reseting Usb Device

vnet_kernel.c: Reset completed.
Reg Domain
usbvnet: driver version 1.0.1.101, compiled Dec 22 2002 09:55:44 (dbg_mask x0)
MAC addr 00:30:AB:0F:xx:xx firmware 0.90.0.44
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth1
Multicast is enabled
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth1
divert: freeing divert_blk for eth1
vnetusba.c: usb eth1 initialized and registered

It will list the interface alias for your device, e.g vnetusba.c: usb eth1 initialized and registered. This shows the alias is eth1. I have an ethernet card as eth0.

5.3 Confirming Driver/Device Interaction

Read Device Stats

To query and configure the wireless device we use iwconfig which is part of the Wireless Tools for Linux. RedHat 8.0 has these tools on the install CDs, but prior versions of RedHat (and some other distributions) don't. RPM's of the tools can be found here.

Run:

and you should get some information about your devices, e.g. 
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      ATMEL USB503A  ESSID:""
          Mode:Managed  Channel:10  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
          Bit Rate:11Mb/s
          RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Link Quality:100  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
This confirms that your MA101 has been identified as a wireless device, although its not configured for anything yet.

Connect to an Access Point

My wireless network consists of clients connecting to an access point (a Netgear MR314) called 'highbury'. To connect, I run:

You need to use the interface alias you got from the logs after plugging in your device. For me this is eth1. Note: it is recommended you avoid having spaces in your essid. Also, you may need to specify the channel the access point is on, e.g.:

Running iwconfig again shows that the device has found the access point. 

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      ATMEL USB503A  ESSID:"highbury"  Nickname:"highbury"
          Mode:Managed  Channel:10  Access Point: 00:30:AB:xx:xx:xx
          Bit Rate:11Mb/s
          RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality:77  Signal level:70  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

DHCP TCP/IP Configuration

At this point you have only established a wireless link bewtween your usb device and the access point. Now you need to assign an IP address. I recommend dhcp, as this makes life easier. For this you will need a dhcp client installed, and your access point (or something else) running a dhcp server. You will also need a configuration file for your device interface. Create or edit:

Then, run:

If that succeeded, to check that an IP address was assigned, run:

You should now be able to ping the access point, and other devices on the same network and any others (e.g. the internet) that the access point routes to.

Manual TCP/IP Configuration

If you prefer (or must use) manual configuration, its pretty easy. Run:

To check that an IP address was assigned, run:

You should now be able to ping the access point, and other devices on the same network and any others (e.g. the internet) that the access point routes to.

DNS Resolution

If you haven't already done so, you will need to add DNS server addresses to /etc/resolv.conf in order to ping host names rather than host addresses, e.g. add:

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

5.4 Making Configuration Happen Every Reboot

The Driver's Method

To avoid having to configure the driver every time you reboot, the driver provides the /tmp/.vnetrc file. In this file you can specify all the parameters that were mentioned in the previous section, plus others such as WEP settings.

When you installed the driver, the following entry should have been made to /etc/modules.conf: 

#post-install usbvnet /bin/fastvnet.sh
If you uncomment this line (i.e. remove the #) then the /tmp/.vnetrc file should be read and the driver configured accordingly.

The RedHat Method

RedHat already gives you the functionality of the /tmp/.vnetrc file, and doesn't keep its config files in a temporary directory either. The /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 file can contain wireless settings too. Here is mine: 

DEVICE=eth1
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
ESSID=highbury
CHANNEL=10
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto
TYPE=Wireless
You can edit this file by hand, or use the 'system settings->network' app from the RedHat desktop. You should see your wireless device listed there, and if you click on it and hit Edit, there is a 'Wireless Settings' tab which allows you to configure: If you use this approach to configuring your device, ensure that the post-install usbvnet /bin/fastvnet.sh line in /etc/modules.conf is commented out.

Other Linux Distributions

Some pointers for doing the same thing as above, but for other distros can be found here.

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