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howtos:network_services:running_an_access_point_from_a_slackware_box [2016/11/18 15:04 (UTC)] – [4.7.2 Slackware Wireless Clients] louigi600howtos:network_services:running_an_access_point_from_a_slackware_box [2019/09/01 07:17 (UTC)] – [3.3 Other Software] louigi600
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 To obtain hostapd you could either download a binary version from some reliable source or compile it from sources. You might be slightly better off compiling from sources, so that you get e fairly recent version, but it's up to you. Just don't try using really old hostapd versions like 0.6.7 on 2.6+ kernels: hostapd has followed the kernel wireless stack drivers and transitioned from only supporting FullMAC devices to supporting SoftMAC on almost all devices trough nl80211. Nowadays the combination of both hardware and driver supporting FullMAC is hard to come by (Prism2/2.5/3, and Atheros ar521x) all the others need to go the SoftMAC way so I suggest ignoring the 2 that could still go the FullMAC way and just go for SoftMAC for all, allowing you to use almost any WiFi card for creating an AP. If you like you can read more about [[http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/mac80211 |  mac80211 here]]. To obtain hostapd you could either download a binary version from some reliable source or compile it from sources. You might be slightly better off compiling from sources, so that you get e fairly recent version, but it's up to you. Just don't try using really old hostapd versions like 0.6.7 on 2.6+ kernels: hostapd has followed the kernel wireless stack drivers and transitioned from only supporting FullMAC devices to supporting SoftMAC on almost all devices trough nl80211. Nowadays the combination of both hardware and driver supporting FullMAC is hard to come by (Prism2/2.5/3, and Atheros ar521x) all the others need to go the SoftMAC way so I suggest ignoring the 2 that could still go the FullMAC way and just go for SoftMAC for all, allowing you to use almost any WiFi card for creating an AP. If you like you can read more about [[http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/mac80211 |  mac80211 here]].
  
-Hostapd sources can be downloaded from [[http://w1.fi/hostapd/ | here]], you should be looking at recent stable version (2.last time this article was edited) and avoid the development/old branches.+Hostapd sources can be downloaded from [[http://w1.fi/hostapd/ | here]], you should be looking at the most recent stable version (2.last time this article was edited) and avoid the development/old branches.
 Compiling hostapd is really simple: Compiling hostapd is really simple:
   - extract the sources   - extract the sources
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   - edit the defconfig file and enable any optional features you need (default is fine for a simple setup)   - edit the defconfig file and enable any optional features you need (default is fine for a simple setup)
   - copy the defconfig file to .config   - copy the defconfig file to .config
 +  - make a softlink for netlink includes (cd /usr/include; ln -s libnl3/netlink .)
   - make   - make
   - make install (or optionally just put in /usr/local/bin just the hostapd binary)   - make install (or optionally just put in /usr/local/bin just the hostapd binary)
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 It should then be possible to restart rc.inet1 (or just rc.inet1 wlan0_down and rc.inet1 wlan0_up) and the client should associate. It should then be possible to restart rc.inet1 (or just rc.inet1 wlan0_down and rc.inet1 wlan0_up) and the client should associate.
  
-There's also the command line alternative with wpa_cli in this example we'll assume that your client is totalu unconfigured and wpa_supplicant is not running. Wr're going to do everything on the command line:+There's also the command line alternative with wpa_cli in this example we'll assume that your client is totally unconfigured and wpa_supplicant is not running. We're going to do everything on the command line:
  
   # wpa_supplicant -B -W -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf   # wpa_supplicant -B -W -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
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 in it the above snippet would have saved the new network to wpa_supplicant.conf and associated you with it. in it the above snippet would have saved the new network to wpa_supplicant.conf and associated you with it.
  
-Remember that if you're doning that for an AP with no secutity you need to use this:+Remember that if you're associating with an non secured AP you need to use this:
   > set_network 0 ssid "Insecure-WiFi"   > set_network 0 ssid "Insecure-WiFi"
   OK   OK
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   OK   OK
   >   >
 +
 +
 ==== 4.7.3 Other Linux Distributions Wireless Clients ==== ==== 4.7.3 Other Linux Distributions Wireless Clients ====
-I've tried various other flavor distributions ... most don't use wpa_gui for associating to AP but  some sort of other tool that generally pops up when you click on the icon that notifies the presence of an Access Point. After a few headaches I found that best association success is achieved by forcing setup for hidden AP even if the AP I'm configuring has not the hidden essid.+I've tried various other flavor distributions ... most don't use wpa_gui for associating to AP but  some sort of other tool that generally pops up when you click on the icon that notifies the presence of an Access Point. After a few headaches I found that best association success is achieved by forcing setup for hidden AP even if the AP I'm configuring has not the hidden essid. You can always use wpa_cli on the command line if it's shipped with whatever distro you prefer.
  
  
 howtos:network_services:running_an_access_point_from_a_slackware_box ()