Howto: connect to an orange livebox with wifi

[Juanito]

After it took me a whole day trying, I thought this might be useful to anybody else with an orange livebox using WPA2-PSK (AES)...

1. Extensions required: openssl-0.9.8h, wpa_supplicant, wireless-2.6.29.1-tinycore, wireless_tools and the wireless driver for your hardware - in my case "wl". It is probably a good idea to check if wpa_supplicant supports your driver, see here http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/

2. Load various wireless modules:

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sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_tkip
sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_wep
sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_ccmp
sudo modprobe wl [insert your wireless hardware driver here]
3. Obtain the very long pass key, using the code printed on the back of the manual that came with the livebox. Note that case matters, i.e. "a" is not the same as "A":

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$ wpa_passphrase Livebox-XXXX 54E0DB75B1540CA5D189C36BED
network={
        ssid="Livebox-XXXX"
        #psk="54E0DB75B1540CA5D189C36BED"
        psk=1a2bf5a8566b863bb50d71d9e3fc609995755ddd3eb40b33aeb3b02cd7d584d2
}
4. Create /etc/wpa_configure.conf as follows:

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ap_scan=1
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
network={
       ssid="Livebox-XXXX"
       scan_ssid=0
       proto=WPA RSN
       key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
       pairwise=CCMP TKIP
       group=CCMP TKIP
       psk=1a2bf5a8566b863bb50d71d9e3fc609995755ddd3eb40b33aeb3b02cd7d584d2
}
5. If /var/run/wpa_supplicant does not exist, then create it:

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$ sudo mkdir -p /var/run/wpa_supplicant
6. Start wpa_supplicant as a daemon:

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$ sudo wpa_supplicant -Bdd -Dwext -i eth1 -c/etc/wpa_configure.conf note that "dd" gives a lot of debug output, which can be dropped once things work.

7. ..and finally, bring up the network interface:

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$ sudo udhcpc -b -i eth1
The following wpa_configure.conf also works, but the one above was suggested by wicd, whom I assume know more than me on the subject (see file of the form /usr/local/var/lib/wicd/configurations/0018e72e8e35):

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ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

network={
        ssid="Livebox-XXXX"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA2
pairwise=CCMP
group=CCMP
psk=1a2bf5a8566b863bb50d71d9e3fc609995755ddd3eb40b33aeb3b02cd7d584d2
}

[Pitirim]

Hi Juanito -

I too am having trouble with the Wanadoo (Orange) Livebox, actually trying to get Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 connected wirelessly, so I wonder if you think it's possible to somehow use your solution in Ubuntu?
I'm just starting out with Linux, however, and I'm not able to understand the solution you describe.
I wonder if you could put it more simply perhaps for a novice?
My attempts are chronicled here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9071604#post9071604 (posts #784 to #805) just to give you an idea of where I am.
If I'm completely missing something obvious about the difference between Tiny Core Linux and Ubuntu, that would not come as a surprise to me and apologies if that is the case.

Leslie.

[Juanito]

Ah, so:

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That guide was written for tinycore Linux, which is a minimalist Linux distribution that doesn't have all the nice GUI tools available on Ubuntu.
I think the first thing to do is to try and check if your livebox is set up in WEP or WPA mode. What do you get when you issue this command:

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wpa_passphrase Livebox-XXXX 54E0DB75B1540CA5D189C36BED..substituting -XXXX and 54E0DB75B1540CA5D189C36BED for the codes printed on the back of your livebox and/or livebox manual?