[Eug-lug] Linux WiFi troubleshooting?

[Bob Miller]

Lots of you are using WiFi with Linux.  I am too, in certain
locations.  (home and The Strand, to name two.)  But when it doesn't
work, I have zero clue how to diagnose what's wrong.

This weekend, I was at a hotel with an open access WiFi network.  All
of the Windows users I was with connected to the net more or less
automatically, but I never got my system talking.

I managed to get Kismet working.  Kismet gave me lots of info about
the network, but I wasn't able to translate that into a working
configuration.  I spent several hours on it.  Very frustrating.  (I
have Kismet's packet dumps if anybody wants to see...)  I had two WiFi
cards, too, the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 (aka Centrino) built into the
laptop and an Orinoco (Hermes) card.  No joy with either.

Anyway, my question: What's in your WiFi troubleshooting toolkit?
When it doesn't work, what do you do?

Thanks...

-- 
Bob Miller                              K<bob>
kbobsoft software consulting
http://kbobsoft.com                     kbob at jogger-egg.com