[Linux] Connecting (Oracle) Linux to wpa-psk wireless network

[Dan McFaddin]

The key software component is wpa_supplicant (Google it). This software 
provides the authentication process and the creation of the "seed keys" 
used to encrypt the data transmissions. I have found advice which 
suggests you should remove all the various different methods (stanzas in 
the .conf file) of connecting except the one you want, wpa-psk. You will 
place the  Pre Shared Key in the config file.

You should also install the wireless tools software, it contains the 
iwconfig command which replaces ifconfig for the wireless card.

An excellent resource for WLAN security is a Linux Journal article 
series (search on "FreeRADIUS"). This is a three part article from 2005 
which covers some pretty advanced WLAN security topics. I was able to 
get a RADIUS server running with WPA2 using X.509 digital certificates 
and AES encryption, very cool and very secure, especially on a $20 
wireless router.

The Prism2 chip is I believe a fairly old chip. If you upgrade your 
hardware you should consider using an Atheros chip. They and Intel have 
manufacturer supported Linux driver projects. Most other chips have 
either a "reverse engineered" driver or they use the Windows driver with 
ndiswrapper which allows it to run under Linux.

Have fun with wireless!

Dan