X61s and Wireless (wlan0) configuration for WPA2

[acayci]

Hello,

I am using my old X61s which I installed Oracle Linux. The kernel version is 2.6.18-274.3.1.0.1.el5. I am trying to connect to my Verizon MIFI. It is using WPA2 with encryption type AES. I just don't know if this laptop supports it. Because when I try to issue wpa_supplicant command, I am getting

SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH] Operation not supported.

Thank you,
Mustafa

[twistero]

Is there a specific reason why you're not using any network managing software like Network Manager or Wicd?

Also, it would be helpful if we know what exactly your wireless card is. Pull up a terminal, run 'lspci |grep Network', and post the output here.

[acayci]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

There is no reason. I started reading some blogs and started to use wpa_supplicant.

I issued "lspci | grep Network" and got

00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN (Kedron) Network Connection (rev 61).

Thank you,
Mustafa

[twistero]

Well, if you don't eat, drink and breath command line, either Network Manager or Wicd will make your life much easier. Apart from taking care of encryption, they also handle interface up/down, AP association, dhcp, wireless roaming, etc etc. They both have console frontends, even.

So instead of doing:

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid NetworkName
wpa_supplicant -B -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 (of course, you must have had written wpa_supplicant.conf by hand in advance...)
dhcpcd wlan0

All as root, each time you want to connect, you can simply type

wicd-curses

and be guided through connecton once, and be connected automatically (or manually if you choose to) from now on!

I really see no point in not using a network manager, unless you computer is too weak to run it in background (which certainly does not describe an X61!), or you have a very specific reason not to.


Also, the Intel 4965AGN card should have adequate Linux support. Well, maybe not. Your kernel is really old. Linux Kernel 2.6.18 is dated 20-Sep-2006, almost 6 years ago. In light of that, you should probably prioritize in updating the system, or maybe ditching that distribution altogether and switching to a newer Linux distribution.

[jdk]

^ Agreed. Upgrade your Enterprise Linux to version 6 and you will have NetworkManager out of the box.