How to setup wifi connection on a laptop

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

How do I connect to a wifi router from a laptop? It's using an Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 AGN.

I don't currently have Internet access on this device, so I guess I would need to add the required driver to enable it. How would I do that?

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2

if the laptop isn't running openwrt, you're posting in the wrong forum

3

It IS running OpenWrt.... Although I do have a number of other partitions on the disk.

4

then you need to figure out which kmod the card requires.

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5

So, how do you want to use the notebook? Should it act as a router or an AP, and what do you want to connect to?
Keep in mind that intel wifi cards aren't good if you want them to use in AP mode.
At least you should make sure to install the necessary firmware for the intel wifi card. That would be iwl4965-firmware.

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6

I want to setup a ThinkPad X61 laptop as a router between my Broadband router and another computer which only has a LAN connection.

I assume I need to install this pkg:-

but since I don't have Internet access can I just copy it into the root file system?

7

I assume I would need to the above pkg using instructions here:-

8

Use the firmware-selector.openwrt.org website. Type Generic X86/64 as the model number then click the arrow next to "Customize installed packages."

Add the following to the end of the list:

  • kmod for your card
  • wpad-openssl
  • wireless-regdb
  • iw
  • iwinfo

There are a lot of other packages required for wireless operation (e.g. card firmware) but they should all be brought in as dependencies of one on the list above.

Download the custom firmware and install it as a sysupgrade.

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9

Well, you could use the method you mentioned or the version @mk24 suggests.
Another way would be, to connect the notebook to the isp router, configure the LAN interface as WAN and download the package direct to the notebook.
What will you be using for the second connection (either isp router - notebook or notebook - pc) in the future? Do you have an USB-LAN converter or do you want to connect the notebook via wifi with the isp router?

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10

Thanks for the suggestion of using a wired connection to the ISP router. That will probably make thing much easier to get up and running,

Eventually, I want my laptop to act as a wifi Internet gateway for my other system.

Still not sure if it is doable.

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11

Just to make sure i understood you correctly, you plan to connect your devices as following:
ISP router <- wifi -> notebook <-lan-> pc.

That's what (sometimes) is called a 'wireless bridge'.
That should be doable, once you got the wifi on the notebook running.

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12

It probably is, but feature wise AP mode on Intel wireless is not supported or encouraged by Intel. So this might sound like an enticing DYI project, or a good way to save a few bucks, but you're better off buying a cheap router or access point, if reliability is what you're after.

13

One thing I need to figure out is how to set up the system for being able to access the Internet via a cable connection to my broadband router...

Do I just need to change /etc/config/network so that I use proto 'dhcp' instead of 'static' ?

I've never really understood the significance of the configs device and interface...

14

You can forget about using iwl4965 as AP, to use this notebook as a router you will either need a (USB3 based, USB2 only at limited throughput) second ethernet card or a managed switch for a one-armed-router setup. Both options are possible, but neither really make sense (especially as you still need some kind of external AP and are fighting against the notebook traits of this setup (overheating/ bulging battery, cooked monitor, unpleasant form-factor as a router, dangling USB ethernet card, etc.).

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15

I think I have installed what I need, but am unsure about how to get wlan enabled.

ifconfig does not show a wlan interface.

Do I need to add such an interface to /etc/config/network ?

16

Do I need to create an /etc/config/wireless manually or should I expect the system to create a default file?

17

if the card is detected, the wireless sub menu should pop up automagically after a reboot.

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18

I was advised to install kmod for my card... but not sure how to identify what I need.

Is there any way to list the hardware in my system?

On FreeBSD I can run pciconf -lv. Does OpenWrt have anything similar?

19

there's lspci in pciutils.

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20

And there's is lsusb in usbutils.

But that does show you only if the devices are recognized, you still don't know what kind of drivers are needed or if they are already loaded.
lsmod shows you the loaded and used kernel modules.

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