Re: Testers needed: WPA support in D-I

[Ben Armstrong <synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca>]

On 01/24/2011 06:42 AM, Matthew Palmer wrote:
> What I need is people with and i386 or amd64 wireless-enabled machine and a
> WPA network, who are willing to do a test install with the mini.iso I've
> built.  Images can be downloaded at http://people.debian.org/~mpalmer/wpa/

Thanks! The Eee PC community has waited a long time for this, since
network installs via USB keys is by far the most popular way to install
on this class of system. I have forwarded your call for help to our list.

My initial attempt using amd64 image failed at "Attempting to exchange
keys with the access point", probably because the access point has a
hidden essid (over which I have no direct control, since this is the
office network). It eventually gives up with a "Failure of key exchange
and association" dialog. I will talk to our office network staff to see
if they can unhide the essid for some further tests.

The wpasupplicant doc README.modes says:

Hidden ssids
============

For reference, see #358137 [1]. In order to be able to associate to hidden
ssids, please try to set the option 'ap_scan=1' in the global section, and
'scan_ssid=1' in your network block section of your wpa_supplicant.conf
file.
If you are using the managed mode, you can do so by these stanzas:

iface eth1 inet dhcp
        wpa-ap-scan 1
        wpa-scan-ssid 1
        # ... additional options for your setup

Thanks,
Ben