SuSE Linux PowerPC: Versions since 6.4
One has a supported PowerPC machine with an Apple Airport card included, or has installed an Apple Airport card; and would like to use it in Linux to connect to an Airport Base Station via the ethernet. (For Modem, see http://edge.mcs.drexel.edu/GICL/people/sevy/airport/)
A more current kernel is needed, and the airport.o driver, in order to get the airport card to work properly. To obtain and install these:
Download the latest benh kernel from the SuSE FTP Server: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/kernel/2.2.18/k_pmac-2.2.18-0.ppc.rpm
Install said kernel with the following commands:
cp /boot/vmlinux /boot/vmlinux.old cd /directory/k_benh.rpm/is/in/ rpm -Uvh k_benh.rpm # Use --force if necessary
NOTE: For additional information on upgrading the kernel, see http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/olh_ppc_64_kernel_update.html
If the machine is running SuSE 6.4, some extra changes should be made, due to some major differences between the 2.2.14 kernel and 2.2.16+. Please carefully follow the directions in http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/usb2216.html.
Upon victorious installation of the kernel, make sure that the current boot loader is set to boot the new kernel. For BootX users out there, it is necessary to copy the kernel to the MacOS side. Again, this is discussed in the http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/olh_ppc_64_kernel_update.html article.
A reboot is the next logical step, to initialize the new kernel.
Now the machine has the basic components needed. The next part is setting up the network. The simplest way to bring the airport up is to load the module, and start the interface. The module is loaded like so:
/sbin/insmod -f airport network_name=<network name> > /dev/null # The network name is not always necessary, but useful if one # have multiple airports and want to use one in particular.Then the interface needs to be brought up. The device is referred to as "airport". As an example, if one had an airport base station set up in bridging mode with the name "guinness" and needed to set up my machine with the IP address of 192.168.0.99, he or she would run the following commands:
(This is assuming that eth0 is NOT up, at the time.)
/sbin/insmod -f airport network_name=guinness > /dev/null ifconfig airport 192.168.0.99 up route add default gw 192.168.0.1
Lets say one had a similar setup, but needed his or her machine to connect via dhcp:
/sbin/insmod -f airport network_name=guinness > /dev/null dhcpcd airport
NOTE: If one has eth0 up at the time, one can bring it down with the following command:
ifconfig eth0 down
Or one could simply remove the default gateway for eth0 and add the correct one for the airport so that everything will work correctly. It would even be possible to masquerade between these two devices, if desired :-)
Of course, it is a pain to have to type in these commands every time. For those who would like this process automated, the necessary lines can be added to the file /sbin/init.d/boot.local
. Some conflicts may occur, if one is starting up eth0 as well, with default routes. Then, perhaps, it is a good idea to write a nice little script to suit one's needs.
More than likely, some of the readers out there are thinking, "Encryption! What about encryption?". Well, as of yet, this has not worked correctly, in current tests. The syntax for enabling encryption when loading the module should be thus:
/sbin/insmod -f airport network_name=<network name>[wep key]
To find the Wep Key, use the menu in the Airport Admin Utility to find the "Network Equivalent Password." Again, this hasn't worked so far, after some testing, so do not be depressed if it does not. The driver should have support for this soon. One can always enable access lists on the airport base station to add a _little_ more security.
It has been mentioned that encryption may work if it is configured with the Java-based configuration tool for the Base station. This has not yet been sucessfully tested.
Jonathan C. Sevy base station config tool
Harald Roelle Airport on Linux/PPC page
BenH Page
The WaveLAN/IEEE driver home page
Jean Thourrilhes Wireless pages