Better WiFi network manager?

[nil_von_9wo]

I'm a relatively new user of Tiny Core and I seem to be having some problems staying connected to the internet (e.g. in Starbucks) while using Tiny Core, which I don't have when using other operating systems (e.g. Puppy Linux).

I'm guessing what's happening is that my connection is getting dumped by the router (for reasons beyond both my knowledge and control).  With other operating systems, the network manager knows to reestablish my connection automatically, but TinyCore's "wifi" solution isn't so sophisticated and I'm looking to replace or supplement it (or maybe I just need to know how to use it better?)

I tried installing WifiRadar, but that doesn't seem to perform well on this computer (it doesn't reestablish the connection, the GUI freezes, and it seems to prevent the CLI wifi program from accessing the network device.)

I was hoping to try "Frisbee" which has no similar issues on Puppy, but as far as I can tell, that solution is exclusively for Puppy.


Any suggestions what I can/should try would be appreciated!



-Brian.

[bmarkus]

WICD?

[coreplayer2]

The Wifi manager has little to do with maintaining a good connection, that is an issue of the driver.   Sorry if you think Wifi app is not sophisticated,  I'm sure is only in appearance.    Connection quality is maintained by the driver, so you might want to compile a new updated version.

[nil_von_9wo]

WICD?

Tried installing it from the app-browser, but it doesn't seem to work.

The only impact I've observed from installing it is an item "WicdNetworkManager" on the applications menu (and an equivalent icon on wbar), but clicking either seems to do nothing at all.

I tried to modify bootlocal.sh and .filetool.lst and rebooting as suggested by the app's info, but this didn't help.

[nil_von_9wo]

The Wifi manager has little to do with maintaining a good connection, that is an issue of the driver.   Sorry if you think Wifi app is not sophisticated,  I'm sure is only in appearance.    Connection quality is maintained by the driver, so you might want to compile a new updated version.

Maybe it is more sophisticated than I realize, but it seems to me that things like specifying preferred networks and saving password information, for example is missing.

Maybe it is a driver's job to maintain the connection and maybe the driver is failing ...  if that's the case, if you could suggest how I should obtain and compile the correct driver's for my IBM ThinkPad R51, it would be appreciated...

However, I think that's only part of the equation.  Once the connection is dropped (taking blame out of the equation), I would think it is the network manager's job to establish a new connection.  Since "wifi" doesn't seem to ever remember what information I gave it before and the application instance only seems to exist only enough to create the connection, I don't expect it is capable of doing anything to create automatically (re)create connections without user intervention, even after it has been exposed to data exposing which networks the user is willing to accept as a carrier.  With other network managers, I observe that details are retained and notifications will pop-up about broken connections and attempts (successful or not) to restore those connections.

Is that something wifi can do, but not by default?  If so, how can I take advantage of this?

[floppy]

the wifi info file show

Title:          wifi.tcz
Description:    Tiny Wifi Scanning Tool
Version:        1.1
Author:         Robert Shingledecker
Original-site:  www.tinycorelinux.com
Copying-policy: GPL
Size:      4K
Extension_by:   roberts
Tags:      wifi wireless cli configuration tool
Comments:       A console based tiny wifi scan access point tool.
                Select from menu or type sudo wifi.sh
      Creates wifi.db in HOME directory.
      Can auto connect to first db entry with use of -a flag, e.g.,
      
      /usr/local/bin/wifi.sh -a 2>&1 > /tmp/wifi.log
      
      Add above to bootlocal or bootsync for quick auto connect.
      When mobile, use menu for select list of APs.
Change-log:     
                2011/06/15 v0.1 Original Awk Program
      2011/07/02 v0.2 Major rewrite to Ash/Awk
      2011/07/09 v0.3 Chng db delimiter to tab, shell protect passwd, bug fix.
      2011/07/14 v0.4 Separate loops for associate and IP request.
      2011/07/23 v0.5 Support of ssids with embedded spaces.      
      2011/07/26 v0.6 Fixed initial wifi detection.
      2011/10/09 v0.7 Added alias to ensure busybox is used.
      2011/11/10 Changed desktop item to use cliorx and Network category.
      2012/07/30 v0.8 Added sleep command for disconnect to complete.
      2012/09/17 v0.9 Added static IP support.
      2012/10/18 v1.0 Fixed db bug introduced by v0.9 patch.
      2012/10/20 v1.1 Added flags "ap?"  and Usage help
Current:   2012/11/15 v1.1 Code cleanup.

So, perhaps you put the file in the backup at each pc shutdown for keeping all networks informations?
Thats a guess.

[coreplayer2]

Auto connect doesn't mean reconnect, the connection shouldn't be dropped in the first place.    As above save the database file of preferred network and password to your backup and start the wifi with the above command listed will result in an auto connection on each boot to your preferred access point.

[nil_von_9wo]

      Creates wifi.db in HOME directory.
      Can auto connect to first db entry with use of -a flag, e.g.,

I read that, but I'm not completely sure what to do with it.

Putting aside that I may want first available instead of necessarily the very first:

1. The wifi.db file created contains only "ReaderyNet     mantell2     WPA", which I take to be the first entry.  But this isn't the network I am using nor are the correspondences entirely obvious.  How should I edit this file to reflect that (when in Starbucks) I wish to connect to the "BTOpen" network, no username, no password, no encryption, (usually) channel 11?

2. How can/should I put the file into the backup?

[nil_von_9wo]

Auto connect doesn't mean reconnect, the connection shouldn't be dropped in the first place.    As above save the database file of preferred network and password to your backup and start the wifi with the above command listed will result in an auto connection on each boot to your preferred access point.

Of course the connection shouldn't be dropped, but it does get dropped.  And in other OSs, the network manager is apparently fixing it when it happens.

As I am getting dropped, the issue is more that I need to manually reconnect every few minutes then that I'm not getting automatically connected at boot.

[ananix]

Write a script that checks for internet response and reconnects with the TCL std wifi tool
something like

if [ `ping -c3 google.com | grep received | awk ' { print $4 } '` -eq "0" ]
then
   /usr/local/bin/wifi.sh -a &> /dev/null
fi
#non cron check interval
sleep 5

run it as a bg job for less than one minutes interval checks or use a while [ -z loop ] else just use cron

[floppy]

2. How can/should I put the file into the backup?

read http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:persistence_for_dummies

[ananix]

<cut>
Putting aside that I may want first available instead of necessarily the very first:

1. The wifi.db file created contains only "ReaderyNet     mantell2     WPA", which I take to be the first entry.  But this isn't the network I am using nor are the correspondences entirely obvious.  How should I edit this file to reflect that (when in Starbucks) I wish to connect to the "BTOpen" network, no username, no password, no encryption, (usually) channel 11?

<cut>

 Maybe i misunderstand but that sounds like a security issue just hooking up to first available wifi network.
 Is it to much to ask for that if you change network the user have to acknowledge it, by actively doing so.
 Could you not just run the wifi tool when you want to connect to a new network it will then update the wifi.db to reflect that.
 Unless you know what you are doing dont edit the wifi.db your self leave it up for wifi tool.

 anyway i dont know if we are talking past each other but maybe simplified functionality description is needed for a better surgestion.

[tinypoodle]

"first available" could be achieved by setting essid to "any"

[nil_von_9wo]

Write a script that checks for internet response and reconnects with the TCL std wifi tool
something like

if [ `ping -c3 google.com | grep received | awk ' { print $4 } '` -eq "0" ]
then
   /usr/local/bin/wifi.sh -a &> /dev/null
fi
#non cron check interval
sleep 5

run it as a bg job for less than one minutes interval checks or use a while [ -z loop ] else just use cron

I like this approach, but if the word "like" above is important, I may not (yet) know enough about shell scripting to transform this into something serviceable.

But I'll try it next time I'm at Starbucks.  :-)

[nil_von_9wo]

2. How can/should I put the file into the backup?

read http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:persistence_for_dummies

I'm admittedly to lazy to read this thoroughly right now, but I think I read this before when I wanted my extensions to stop disappearing and have already been persisting the values.  I just wasn't thinking of this as "backup".

That said, while this does seem to effectively store the passwords for secured networks, it doesn't seem especially applicable against my problem with remaining connected at the Starbucks since Starbucks network isn't secure but rather open and open networks (even those which are for whatever reasons used) aren't added to the database.