Free wireless software for linux

PyWireless is a basic wireless connection monitor with DCOP support.
This is written because:
- KWifiManager seems like disaster (sorry guys!),
- Karamba eats my CPU,
- And there is no (or i cant find) KDE integrated wifi monitor tool
Enhancements:
- Program crashes at Shutdown problem solved.

The Linux Wireless Extension and the Wireless Tools are an Open Source project sponsored by Hewlett Packard (through my contribution) since 1996, and build with the contribution of many Linux users all over the world.

The Wireless Extension (WE) is a generic API allowing a driver to expose to the user space configuration and statistics specific to common Wireless LANs. The beauty of it is that a single set of tool can support all the variations of Wireless LANs, regardless of their type (as long as the driver support Wireless Extension).

Another advantage is these parameters may be changed on the fly without restarting the driver (or Linux).

The Wireless Tools (WT) is a set of tools allowing to manipulate the Wireless Extensions. They use a textual interface and are rather crude, but aim to support the full Wireless Extension. There are many other tools you can use with Wireless Extensions, however Wireless Tools is the reference implementation.

iwconfig manipulate the basic wireless parameters
iwlist allow to initiate scanning and list frequencies, bit-rates, encryption keys...
iwspy allow to get per node link quality
iwpriv allow to manipulate the Wireless Extensions specific to a driver (private)
ifrename allow to name interfaces based on various static criteria

Most Linux distributions also have integrated Wireless Extensions support in their networking initialisation scripts, for easier boot-time configuration of wireless interfaces. They also include Wireless Tools as part of their standard packages.
Wireless configuration can also be done using the Hotplug scripts and distribution specific support, this enable the proper support of any removable wireless interface (Pcmcia, CardBus, USB...).

Any versions of the Pcmcia package offer the possibility to do wireless configuration of Pcmcia and Cardbus card through thefile wireless.opts. This allow to fully integrate wireless settings in the Pcmcia scheme mechansism. However, this method is now deprecated in favor of distribution specific methods.

Please note that the Wireless Tools (starting with version 19) supports fully IEEE 802.11 parameters and devices, support older style of devices and most proprietary protocols, and are prepared to handle HiperLan as well. More recent versions of course adds more 802.11 support.

But, unfortunately not all drivers support all these features...

wireless-applet is an GNOME Panel applet displaying available wireless networks with the ability to add a listed network to the system configuration easily.

Brings the comfort of NetworkManager to wpa_supplicant users. Supports WEP, WPA-PSK, and open wireless networks.

KWirelessMonitor is a small KDE application that docks into the system tray and monitors the wireless network interface. It supports both Linux (tested on several major distributions) and FreeBSD (tested on 5.2.1).
I wrote this because I like the compactness of the Wavelan/Orinoco monitor in Windows. The KWirelessMonitor systray icon shows the signal quality and the bit rate using a "bar graph" and a "pie chart", respectively.
The tool tip also displays the network name (ESSID) and the power management mode. In the configuration dialog, you can change the bit rate and power management settings of the wireless interface.
It is also able to automatically enable power management when using battery power and/or automatically disable power management during data transfer. By default, it tries to automatically detect the wireless interface.
You can also manually set the interface name if necessary. Experimental: Starting with version 0.5.91, KWirelessMonitor can connect to a network specified by the user (currently only supports unencrypted networks).
Installation:
If you want to install from source, you can do the following in the top level directory (kwirelessmonitor-x.y.z):
./configure --prefix=
make
make install
A few notes:
1. < your_KDE_base > is the base directory in which KDE is installed (/usr for Red Hat/Fedora, /opt/kde3 for SUSE, or try the output of "kde-config --prefix"). This must be set correctly (otherwise the application will not be able to find the icons).
2. If the application builds successfully but it always says "No signal", it is quite possible that your glibc kernel headers and your running kernel are of different versions. You can check this by comparing /usr/include/linux/wireless.h and < your_kernel_source_dir >/include/linux/wireless.h.
3. On FreeBSD 5.2.1, it seems that the following is necessary:
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-extra-includes=/usr/local/include
--with-extra-libs=/usr/local/lib
Usage:
To start KWirelessMonitor, simply run the application, and it will dock into the system tray. By default, the application tries to automatically detect the wireless interface. If there are multiple wireless interfaces, the first one is selected. If necessary, you can manually set the wireless interface name by right click on the icon and select "Configure..." (see the screenshot above).
In the configuration dialog, the first time you switch to the "Settings" page, kdesu will ask for the root password, which is necessary for changing the bit rate and power management settings of the wireless interface. If you click "Ignore" or "Cancel", you will not be able to change the settings.
After the settings are enabled, the previously saved settings are immediately applied. Enabling settings and applying the previously saved settings can also be achieved by selecting "Enable Settings..." in the right-click menu. Mouse over the icon to see the tool tip, and left click on the icon to bring up the small status window (left click again to hide it).
Enhancements:
- Experimental: added support for connecting to a network specified by the user. User can enter the appropriate network name (ESSID) and click Ok/Apply to connect to the network. (Currently only supports unencrypted networks.)
Note: Tested on Fedora Core 2, Mandrake 10, and FreeBSD 5.2.1, which are supported by distribution-specific code. For other distributions, it falls back to generic code, which theoretically should work. However, given the quirks I have encountered in the above three distributions, there are likely problems with other distributions as well. Please test this feature and report problems if it does not work.

The goal of the Linux WLAN project is to develop a complete, standards based, wireless LAN system using the GNU/Linux operating system.

The linux-wlan package is a linux device driver and subsystem package that is intended to provide the full range of IEEE 802.11 MAC management capabilities for use in user-mode utilities and scripts. The package currently supports the Intersil 802.11b Prism2, Prism2.5, and Prism3 reference designs for PCMCIA, PCI, and USB.

The package includes support for PLX9052 based PCI to PCMCIA adapter
with a few different PCMCIA cards.

Ad-hoc Wireless Distribution Service (AWDS) is a Layer 2 routing protocol for wireless mesh networks. The project provides transparent Ethernet-like access to all participating nodes, thus easily allowing the employment of different higher level protocols like IP (with DHCP), IPv6, AppleTalk, ...

A Linux implementation of AWDS can be downloaded from our download section. Ports to other platforms are highly appreciated!

GAI Leds displays the keyboard status leds.

This is a simple applet that displays the status of the keyboard leds. Useful for us that have a wireless keyboard without the leds.

Installation:

Simply do:

./configure
make
make install

It requires the GAI library (General Applet Interface) and you can find it at http://gai.sf.net together with other applets.

If you use gnome, this applet will be in the applet menu under "Accessories".

It seems like XFree86 4.3.0 doesnt register Scrollock like earlier versions. Or maybe it is just my settings that are broken. Any ideas?

Mail suestions, bug reports and questions to Jonas Aaberg.

wificontrol project is a Kommander script that simply allows you to activate or deactivate the wireless module on your laptop.

Only works if using the acerhk module. Must be run as root (perhaps with kdesu)