I have a Lenovo T61, with a iwl4965 wireless interface that requires a
firmware blob. It is well supported in Buster. I am testing it with the
latest Bullseye netinst installer,
https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/weekly-builds/amd64/iso-cd/firmware-testing-amd64-netinst.iso
I have a preseed file which the installer finds and loads. It has
several stanzas related to the wireless interface, reproduced below.
When I have them commented in, the installer finds the firmware blob
and installs it, apparently correctly. The installer asks me for the
network to use (already provided in the preseed file). However, I am
unable to configure the network.
The password for the network as a non-alphanumeric character in it. It
occurred to me that the parser might not like that character.
Commenting out only that line produced no change: I was never prompted
for the password, and did not get a connection.
If I comment out the wireless interface stanzas entirely except for
"d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string", I can get a manual configuration, and
the interface comes up correctly. If that string is commented out,
manual wireless configuration fails.
I have the syslog files from both a sucessful manual configuration and
from a failure, but have not attached them here.
So, is there an error in my preseed file, or have I hit a bug in d-i?
And if the latter, under what package should I file it?
Preseed wireless interface stanzas:
--------------------------------------------------
### Description: Wireless ESSID for ${iface}:
# ${iface} is a wireless network interface. Please enter the name (the ESSID)
# of the wireless network you would like ${iface} to use. If you would like
# to use any available network, leave this field blank.
d-i netcfg/wireless_essid string Curleynet2
### Description: Wireless ESSID for ${iface}:
# Attempting to find an available wireless network failed.
# .
# ${iface} is a wireless network interface. Please enter the name (the ESSID)
# of the wireless network you would like ${iface} to use. To connect to any
# available network, leave this field blank.
d-i netcfg/wireless_essid_again string Curleynet2
### Description: Wireless network type for ${iface}:
# Choose WEP/Open if the network is open or secured with WEP.
# Choose WPA/WPA2 if the network is protected with WPA/WPA2 PSK
# (Pre-Shared Key).
# d-i netcfg/wireless_security_type select wpa
d-i netcfg/wireless_security_type select WPA/WPA2 PSK
# Possible choices: WEP/Open Network, WPA/WPA2 PSK
### Description: WEP key for wireless device ${iface}:
# If applicable, please enter the WEP security key for the wireless
# device ${iface}. There are two ways to do this:
# .
# If your WEP key is in the format 'nnnn-nnnn-nn', 'nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn',
# or 'nnnnnnnn', where n is a number, just enter it as it is into this field.
# .
# If your WEP key is in the format of a passphrase, prefix it with 's:'
# (without quotes).
# .
# Of course, if there is no WEP key for your wireless network, leave this
# field blank.
# d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string <string>
### Description: WPA/WPA2 passphrase for wireless device ${iface}:
# Enter the passphrase for WPA/WPA2 PSK authentication. This should be the
# passphrase defined for the wireless network you are trying to use.
d-i netcfg/wireless_wpa string >redacted<
--------------------------------------------------
--
Does anybody read signatures any more?
https://charlescurley.com
https://charlescurley.com/blog/
