Wireless Connection

There are a few extra steps which must be performed in order to set up a wireless network connection. While there are a number of gui tools designed to manage the connection with a point and click interface, the wpa_supplicant tool is often what is invoked as the backend for such tools. It is both simple to set up manually and more reliable than most other tools. Most importantly, it comes as part of the HitchHiker Linux base install.

Note: It is perfectly possible to set up a wireless association using the iwconfig program rather than wpa_supplicant, and this will have the advantage of not requiring another daemon to run. Since wireless connections are often used in the context of a roaming setup, ie a laptop which will be carried from place to place and connected to various networks, wpa_supplicant is usually preferred. However if you have a device which will never roam yet cannot connect via a wired interface, the manual page for iwconfig gives instructions for associating a wireless network this way.

The first step in connecting is exactly as for a wired connection, setting the interface state to UP. For instructions refer back to the wired subchapter.