[Bug 43431] Re: atheros card using the dapper madwifi drivers does not start up automatically when the network essid is hidden

[Jean-François Fortin Tam]

Ok, I did some testing (I just found out that I actually had a spare atheros
card I could use on my hardy testing desktop), but I'm a bit puzzled.

I unchecked the "broadcast" setting of my router (running the Tomato
firmware), and, as such, it *should* not appear in the wifi landscape
anymore.

However, iwlist ath0 scan gives me this:

ath0      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:18:39:EC:F1:C0
                    ESSID:"380"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=34/70  Signal level=-61 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:18:39:EC:F1:C0
                    ESSID:""
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=50/70  Signal level=-45 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100


As you can see, it seems to appear once as "380" (the normally broadcasted
essid), and once as hidden. In any case, the atheros card works, even
without network manager, on hardy.

But then, I went to another gutsy computer with an atheros NIC running
network-manager 6.5, and it still does work with the network, even though I
set it to not broadcast. So, it all seems to work, but I'm pretty confused
as to why it works; it shouldn't! Or at least the network should not show
up?

So, with this in mind, I tested this time with a gutsy livecd, and I see
that
- the network essid is not detected (good!)
- connecting using the gnome network tool by specifying the essid does not
work (I can connect it seems, but no pinging google)
- connecting using networkmanager 6.5 by specifying the essid works (I can
surf and ping google)

So, with gutsy indeed, it works only if you use network manager. On hardy...
it all works, network-manager or not, hidden or not.

In summary:
- there indeed was a difference between using a "traditionally configured"
interface vs using network-manager, while the essid was not broadcast, on
ubuntu 7.10 and previous
- it seems that this has been fixed somehow between ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04
(though I'm curious why)


** Attachment added: "unnamed"
   http://launchpadlibrarian.net/13134958/unnamed

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atheros card using the dapper madwifi drivers does not start up automatically when the network essid is hidden
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/43431
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