On 02/14/2011 10:47 AM, John W. Linville wrote: > On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 04:30:09PM +0000, mike cloaked wrote: >> On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 4:12 PM, John W. Linville<linville@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >>> Neither -- the driver (like all mac80211-based drivers) simply does >>> not support that setting. mac80211-based drivers are simple, and >>> they don't do roaming by themselves. Instead they rely on a userland >>> component (e.g. wpa_supplicant) to take care of roaming for them. >>> >>> Unfortunately, I don't know of any roaming "knobs" to turn for >>> wpa_supplicant (or NetworkManager) -- maybe it would be nice to >>> have one. Even if it were there, I suspect that control of that >>> "knob" would have to flow through NetworkManager if you are using it. >>> >>> John >> Yes I eventually homed in on the reality that you just described. I >> was able to get an ipw2200 based laptop to roam nicely as the driver >> did support the sens parameter - and it did switch over to another AP >> when the signal from the first went near non-existent - which was what >> I was after. However it seems that using my netbook with an ath5k >> driver based wireless internal simply won't be able to do it whatever >> I do - is there anyone working to make mac80211 drivers more >> sophisticated in the future? Maybe roaming is not high on most user's >> agenda? > Obviously wireless users like to be able to roam. I certainly do it > around the house, etc. Are you saying that your ath5k device somehow > refuses to disconnect even after you are out of range of the old AP? > That would be rather strange. > >> But the main, and separate, issue I have is with initial >> selection of a weak AP signal when a strong one (with same ssid) seems >> more logical - and I don't know if this is something that is within >> the realm of the driver, the NM code or wpa_supplicant? > Yes, I remember that thread. I'm still not sure I understand why > you care which AP you connect to, so long as the connection works. > In any case, if you are using NetworkManager then the decision for > which AP to use will lie somewhere between NM and wpa_supplicant. > I'm sorry, but I don't know the details to go beyond that. > >> I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to know what is possible here. >> >> I would certainly appreciate knowing what is possible, and what >> provides the limitations? > The driver will only make an association when directed to do so from > userland. If you are using very basic tools (like iwconfig) then there > is some minimal suppot in the kernel for scanning and finding an AP. > If you use wpa_supplicant, it will control the scanning for APs and > choosing one as it sees fit. NetworkManager uses wpa_supplicant, > but NM exerts some control over the wpa_supplicant configuration and > I'm not fluent on those details. > > If a connection is lost, the kernel will make no effort to reconnect > by itself. If you are using iwconfig, you will need to trigger the > reconnection manually. wpa_supplicant will reconnect automatically, > possibly to a new AP if the old one is no longer available. > > Hth... > > John In my wpa_supplicant.conf, I specify the MAC address of my router: bssid=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff for example. so, does that not tell wpa_supplicant exactly which router to associate with? -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
