Wireless Network Card Installation Unsecured

[Rick Stevens]

On 05/23/2010 08:56 PM, Mike Sacauskis wrote:
> Thanks, Not sure what I'm going to do.  I did get a wireless b to work, but I
> can't really us it because of the security I'm using.  I thought Linux
> would have something as basic as wireless worked out.

That's not the problem.  This particular card has been a problem in the
past on a lot of systems with older kernels.  Remember that Linksys
(and a lot of other manufacturers) do not give out details on how their
cards work.  Most of the open software support for the cards has had to
be reverse engineered.

It's been sorted out a bit more in later kernels (specifically the last
few under Fedora 12 and now Fedora 13).  RHEL is quite far behind the
current kernel releases and you will have issues in support for newer
cards.  You might see if you can find later firmware files for the card.
Upgrading to one of the more current kernels (you'll have to build it
yourself) is another option.

As to security, whether it's a B, G or N card has nothing to do with it.
True, some older B cards may not support the wireless security protocol
you're using (I'm guessing WEP/WPK2), the _type_ of network is
irrelevant--it only refers to the frequencies used and the bandwidth
available.
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