intel 2011 vs. orinoco on Linux

[Robert Lipe]

Robert Lipe wrote:
> Jean Tourrilhes wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 12:25:45PM -0600, Robert Lipe wrote:
> > > [ Please maintain cc to robertlipe at usa.net on replies since I'm not on
> > > the list.   Thanx. ] 
> > > 
> > > I had tinkered quite a bit with the ESSID.   I optimized that out of my 
> > > query and that was unwise.   Sorry.
> > > 
> > > After running the commands above, I see no substantial difference.
> > > 
> > > EEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"linksys"  Nickname:"rjlaptop"
> > >           Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412GHz  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
> > >           Bit Rate:11Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:0/3
> > >           Retry limit:16   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=0 B
> > >           Encryption key:off
> > >           Power Management:off
> > >           Link Quality:0/92  Signal level:134/153  Noise level:134/153
> > >           Rx invalid nwid:0  invalid crypt:0  invalid misc:0
> > 
> > 	The driver did its job and set the ESSID in the card. Things
> > seems to be sane, except that for some reason the card refuse to hook
> > up to the Access Point (i.e. Access Point address remains 0). Hooking
> > to the AP is quite low level (i.e. not involving the driver), so I
> > suspect firmware issues.
> > 	Did it ever work under Windows ?
> 
> It works under Windows.  It worked under RedHat 7.0 with the
> Spectrum24_cs driver.

Just so there's a sense of closure on this, here's what I found.

The key is that it *used to* work under windows.  Since I only boot
into Windows rarely, I didn't notice that it stopped working.  In an
amazing stroke of bad luck, it appears that the WAP component of my
Linksys happened to break about the same time I upgraded my system from
a 2.2 based kernel to a 2.4 based kernel.  So when it didn't work, I got
sucked into the rathole of Spectrum24t vs. Orinocco. The doc and web
references hinted the Intel 2011 should work but never really called it
out and the uncertainty of the whole naming thing just lead me to fixate
on this "obviously" being a driver/configuration problem.

Once I *re*tested it under windows, I exonerated the whole Spectrum24t
vs. Orinocco debate and dragged the whole shooting match to a store that
had a wireless network I could use for testing.  It was then that I
could determine that the WAP part of the router had croaked.

That sure defeated my problem-solving skills. :-)   Things now work
satisfactorily.   Many thanx go to those that helped.


As an aside, are numbers shown on this line really a fraction?   In the
broken case, I was seeing numbers like this:

          Link Quality:0/92  Signal level:134/153  Noise level:134/153

This told me I was getting a signel that was 134/153'ths as good as it
could be but a noise level that was 134/135'ths as bad as it could be.
Now with a new router, I'm seeing link quality numbers that are pretty
low even with the unit setting right next to it.  All added up, this is
making me think I don't understand what these numbers really are and the
man pages for iwconfig didn't particularly enlighten me.


RJL