SSID broadcast off, using WPA/WPA2 - supported?

[renichms]

I've gone looking through FAQs ad DOCs and WIKIs and not found more information than the general statement that NetworkManager is awesome. So I have some questions.

First, background: got YDL on PS3, liked it. Put Ubuntu on iMac, hate it. It does not support WPA/WPA2 (at all) on closed networks so cannot connect to anything here.

I have downloaded Fedora 9 and written the ISO (DVD) to disc. If I lay waste to the Ubuntu partition and install Fedora, will it support my closed network that uses WPA/WPA2 straight out of the box? The access point is an Airport, the card is a regular Airport card and the Airport is hooked into another router that handles DHCP. All 4 Macs here handle connecting without issue. Windows XP Pro handles it without issue. YDL couldn't do it (though someone was nice enough to give me a step-by-step guide to getting YDL to support WPA). Ubuntu seems to have no hope of doing it. Wii and PS3 (in game OS) connect flawlessly.

Do you think Fedora 9 will have any hope of connecting to my closed Airport network using WPA/WPA2?

I have been networking for over 10 years, have the really basic A+, Net+, Sec+ certs. But I am not a programmer and I loath manual creation of text config files. If Fedora would connect but require several more days of configuring, please let me know ahead of time.

RN

[Iron_Mike]

There shouldn't be a problem with the WPA/WPA2 worries as Fedora 9 supports both. In the beginning there were connection issues when access points didn't broadcast the SSID, BUT as hiding the SSID of access points is not really a security feature, I just leave mine to broadcasting.

The bigger issue would be does Fedora 9 support your Airport card natively or if not, is anyone using this card utilizing "ndiswrapper" and the windows drivers for it. I would run a search here and on google to check.

Mike

[renichms]

Originally Posted by Iron_Mike

There shouldn't be a problem with the WPA/WPA2 worries as Fedora 9 supports both. In the beginning there were connection issues when access points didn't broadcast the SSID, BUT as hiding the SSID of access points is not really a security feature, I just leave mine to broadcasting.

The bigger issue would be does Fedora 9 support your Airport card natively or if not, is anyone using this card utilizing "ndiswrapper" and the windows drivers for it. I would run a search here and on google to check.

Mike

From what I've seen, most distributions created in the last few years claim to support Airport cards and some support Airport Extreme cards (while some need a little work to use them). Ubuntu claimed to fully support the older Airport card and it seems it does not. I may repartition the drive to give Ubuntu less space but to also make a slot for Fedora just for testing. I guess at that point, I'll come back with the results.

RN