Where the hell can I get wpa_supplicant?

[Leylo93]

Recently installed Vicibox on a dedicated piece of hardware, everything installed nicely, however I am having trouble getting the USB wireless card to work (I am using wireless because I am only running the server while I do some dev work on the GUI, please do not just suggest I use wired as due to the way the office is set up that is not possible).

I've been in lan configuration, the device is a recognised and all the information is correct and present however when I go to accept I am greeted with a message that tells me I need "iw" and "wpa_supplicant" installed. Everywhere else on the internet tells me "OpenSUSE should come with them" (which this particular distribution does not) or "use YaST in the GUI and download the packages" (which is impossible because vicibox does not have a GUI and connecting to the internet is what I'm tying to do anyway).

I've tried downloading the RPMs in windows, putting them on a disk and trying to install from there but I can't get it to work.

Can someone please lend a hand here?

[DomeDan]

yast has a console interface,
just type yast in the terminal and then probably go to "network devices" and "network settings".

but you are right, you need to install wpa_supplicant and iw, and I'm not surprised that those packages are not included in vicibox because its a server distribution.

I've tried downloading the RPMs in windows, putting them on a disk and trying to install from there but I can't get it to work.

"can't get it to work" is not enough information,
what command did you run?
on what file?
where did you get that file?
and what was the system respond to your command?

the easiest way it to just move the hardware to the nearest network port and plug it in and use zypper to install the packages needed.
or you can get your hands on an access point that connects to the wireless and let a computer connect through the network port.
or configure a laptop to act as a access point like that

[Leylo93]

When I say I couldn't get it to work, I really meant to say I don't know what I should do to get it to work.

I tried putting the RPMs on a disk, put the disk in the comp running vicibox, then went to the yast console interface, then I think repositories or something like that and added the dvd drive as a repository, however even after refreshing everything I could and looking through every menu I could find, I couldn't see the packages anywhere.

Unless anyone can help with specific instructions of how to install packages from a dvd, looks like I'm going to have to bring in a laptop at some point and use that as a wireless access point.

[DomeDan]

dvd as a repository, never tried that, might work,
but I would rather find the correct packages, download and install them, here is a little howto:
find out what opensuse version you are running:

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# cat /etc/issue
Welcome to openSUSE 12.2 - Kernel \r (\l).

if it say 12.2 then you are running version 12.2
now you can go and look for the correct package
go to this page: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/hardware and choose the opensuse version you have
and then choose the right achitecture, x86_64 if you installed the 64bit vicibox or i586 if you installed the 32bit version
next you will look for wpa_supplicant in that catalog and download it, iw should be there too.

get the files to the server with a usb stick or something and then
mount the drive in linux and run zypper and specify the file, for example:

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zypper install /media/usb/wpa_supplicant.rpm
zypper install /media/usb/iw.rpm

[Kumba]

Either walk the laptop over to a network port, plug it in, and run 'zypper in wpa_supplicant iw', or go to http://software.opensuse.org/123/en and download the two packages and put them on USB then onto the laptop and run zypper in <filename> <filename>.

That's really the options you have.

[Leylo93]

I've tried mounting the CD they're on and installing from there using zypper, but now I'm getting a load of "Attempting to download metadata.... connection error..." messages and then NOTHING happens :/

As much as I want to like Linux over other OS's I've consistently found that if you want something to "just work" in Linux properly you can think again.

[Kumba]

I've tried mounting the CD they're on and installing from there using zypper, but now I'm getting a load of "Attempting to download metadata.... connection error..." messages and then NOTHING happens :/

As much as I want to like Linux over other OS's I've consistently found that if you want something to "just work" in Linux properly you can think again.

So, why not just temporarily pick up the laptop, walk over to a wired router, plug in, download and install the two packages, unplug laptop, walk back over to final location, and be done?

Here are some step by step instructions:

1) Pick up laptop
2) walk over to wired LAN connection
3) plug into wired lan
4) log into console, type 'zypper in wpa_supplicant iw'
5) When done, unplug laptop from wired LAN
6) Walk back to laptop's original starting position
7) Enjoy Linux

On a side note, i've never had an issue installing packages without network connectivity. I just copy them on a USB stick, mount it on the server (or laptop), and run 'zypper in <filename.whatever.blah> <filename2.some.where> <filename3.boowopdiggity.bamshopshebop>' and it installs as long as it meets the req's.