2. Wireless and WPA
This is a prime example of something you take for granted in Windows. Connecting to a wireless network is easy, right? Click on the little icon, select your network, type your password. In Ubuntu, it works fine if you are using the weaker WEP encryption, but if you are using WPA, there are a few more steps you need to perform.
I found a couple of pages describing how to use WPA in Ubuntu. luca_linux’s forum post and an Ubuntu wiki page both describe in good detail how to use wpa supplicant, but they didn’t work for me. What did work was Jeremy Chapman’s post. I followed the instructions, and it worked as promised. One caveat: it didn’t work until I updated the kernel to 2.6.17-10.
I’ll repeat Jeremy’s instructions here.
1. Backup your network interfaces configuration file:
cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces.old
2. Edit the configuration file:
sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces
add (under iface eth1 inet dhcp):
wpa-ssid yourssid
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-passphrase yourpassphrase
Save the file and exit the text editor.
Restart networking:
/etc/init.d/networking restart
Now you can get online.
To make it easier in the future and to make it easier to manage:
1. Add repositories for universe and multiverse
System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
Settings > Repsitories
Ensure universe and multiverse are checked
2. Install the Gnome Network Manager
sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome
3. Click the little icon that appears in your taskbar
2. Select your network
3. Enter your WPA key
4. Restore your old network configuration file
cp /etc/network/interfaces.old /etc/network/interfaces