Intel Pro Wireless 3945

[Todd Simi]

Hi Oliver,

I have this card running on my Lenovo T60.  It took awhile and is not
completely integrated into Linux, but it works.

Their is a .rpm for it and its utilities int the ATrpms repository, so
if you add this to your yum repo directory you can install it, or you
can go directly to their website.  You don't need to muck around with
ieee802 stuff, the one in Fedora 6 works fine.

The things I find not to work are:

I've needed a script to load it. Using network manager hasn't been able
to do anything with it until I've loaded it manually. But, I've still
needed network manager to activate it.

Theirs no graphic interface that I've been able to find to configure
which Access Point to attach to when theirs more than one.  You have to
do an "iwlist scan" to find the local access points, and then do a
"iwconfig eth0 essid NameOfAP".  I've written a separate script for each
place I go regularly.  I'm not much a a script programer, I'm sure some
one could write an interactive one to ask for the couple of items that
need to be set manually.

The driver also does not seem to be able to automatically select the
channel of the access point you choose.  I've had to do the iwlist scan
to find out the channel and then for example to the channel is 1, do a
"iwconfig eth0 channel 1".

Also, the script doesn't always work at one of the locations I use the
first time.  But, I think their network is just really slow at giving me
and IP, DNS and gateway.

I'll place one of my scripts below,

Good luck
Todd

#!/bin/bash
cd /sbin                      <- this where I put the script
load debug=0x43fff            <- loads the driver better than the
				   includes scripts
sleep 3                       <- seems to need this sometimes
modprobe iwp3945 associate=1  <- wont attach to an AP on it's own
sleep 2
iwconfig eth0 essid <you access point name>
sleep 2
iwconfig eth0 key <your encription key in het iy you use one>
sleep 2
iwconfig eth0 channel <channel your access point uses>


The you need to go into network manager and activate it.

> >      Dear friends,
> > 
> >   I am writing this in great distress. I have now been trying for
> > weeks to get my Intel Pro Wireless 3945 working on my Dell Latitude
> > 820 under Fedora. I tried Fedora Cora 6 and Fedora 7 Test 4.
> > 
> >   I really need my wireless and this is becoming a personal disaster
> > for me. I have spent many hours. I have written various messages to
> > this forum. Some replies I got said it is simple and gave
> > instructions, but the instructions did not make it work. Others said,
> > they too did fail.
> > 
> >   Yesterday, there was an update available regarding ieee-whatever.
> > Since then, NetworkManager actually asks me for a network key, which
> > is progress, but it still can not connect.
> > 
> >   And while trying, I can not help but think: If NetworkManager was a
> > well-written piece of software, it would give me the option of
> > actually saving the network key, and reviewing it. It would give me a
> > progress report and an understandable error message. And it would not
> > be that the only way to access Network Manager is to click on some
> > icon (when I type /usr/sbin/NetworkManager in a terminal, nothing
> > visibly happens).
> > 
> >   This has already caused me great damage, and I am not sure what to
> > do next: Keep trying? Abandon Fedora? Abandon Linux altogether?
> > 
> >   Two or three weeks ago, I was convinced that I would use Fedora for
> > the next months or years, then maybe Fedora or some other popular
> > Linux distro, and that free software is the future. Now I am not so
> > sure any more.
> > 
> >   Because what will continue to happen is that new things will keep
> > coming up - hardware, protocols, java classes - and then there will be
> > commercial software supporting it available immediately, while the
> > free software community will struggle for months to come to terms with
> > it.
> > 
> >      Take care
> >      Oliver
> > 
>