December 13, 2005

Curious George: WiFi software. I have a Linksys WiFi card on my Win 2K laptop. Since I installed drivers only, I seem to have no way of seeing what networks are out there. What "front end" software should I try? I heard Boingo was popular a couple of years ago, but it now looks like an interface for the "Boingo network".
posted by rolypolyman 18 years ago
  • Netstumbler
  • Thanks for the Netstumbler suggestion -- it's useful, though I notice it doesn't seem to help with connections to any of the choices.
  • I dunno how you mean bizackly. No way of seeing what networks are out there - how? You mean you don't have the wireless icon in the systray to search for local networks? Or you're looking for a map of wireless hotspots somewhere?
  • In a related question... I have a wireless laptop, and sometimes I can 'connect' to a internet, and my laptop will say I'm connected to such and such, but I cannot actually 'get online' and 'surf the web'. Any ideas? Sorry for the offtopic. =P
  • You can always use the windows interface to locate networks. It does a pretty good job and is sometimes better than the client software the manufacturer provides.
  • rolypolymon, I think in Win2K you're stuck with the manu's connection utility. WinXP has built in facilities but Win2K doesn't. So NetStumbler (or CommView is even better for supported cards) can help you search for and monitor networks but you'll need the Linksys tool to actually connect.
  • run FDISK... no, seriously, I second that you are stuck with the proprietary connection software. Also there is allot support out there for Lynksys wifi devices under Linux...
  • rolypoly - ditto what timefactor said about Win2k not having a built-in connection utility. Here's the thing - pretty much every front end is going to suck ass, and most of them are tied to a specific vendor's hardware. All things equally sucking ass, you may as well go to Linksys' web site, download the full driver + front end for Windows 2000, install and use it. The reason I mentioned Netstumbler is because it's a better front end for detecting WiFi networks that may come in and out of range. From there, you can use the Linksys suckass utility to actually connect to the network. Just be thankful you're not trying to use WiFi on a Windows 98 machine. Anyone who attempts that should punch themselves repeatedly in the testicles, as it would be a far more pleasant experience.
  • Livewire - are you serious about Linux / Linksys??? I have yet to find any Linksys WiFi card support, at least for the PCMCIA cards, as they're based on broadcom's chipsets. You got any links to places where the PC card support can be found??
  • d'oh, sorry I didn't see 2K. I saw XP. Cause I'm dumb. I dunno, my linksys external USB wireless adapter comes with software for that.
  • Thanks for confirming Win2K's sucky connectivity... I thought maybe I was missing a panel somewhere. Maybe I'll have to suck it up and install the Linksys warez.
  • ooh ohh and I found this easier to do with gentoo because emerge rocks and apt-get sucks. fact.
  • Buck09, as LWC has indicated, you can get very good results using linux, despite the use of broadcomm cards. I am using ubuntu on a dell laptop w/ broadcomm based card. only, you may actually have to do some browsing and planning. once you are there, though, everything is magic!
  • I have a linksys card on Win2K also, and have been using a client called Odyssey for the last year and a half. Since the linksys one was totally useless to me as far as I could tell. Though it's not free software, they have a demo version which you might be interested in trying out. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation or whatever to them, I can't afford to pay for software anyway. But it's a good program.