Wireless on a Thinkpad x61s

I've just configured wireless networking on my laptop, so I'd like to share a little checklist to speed up the process for others in the same situation. As you will see, it is that hard to get it going. It's as simple as setting the kernel modules, drivers, encryption and local settings. What took me the longest was actually to remember to allow my MAC address in the router... bummer :) This guide is specific to Gentoo Linux, but it should not differ too much against other distributions. I also expect you are familiar with Gentoo and how to compile your kernel. # lspci | grep Wireless 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN Network Connection (rev 61) First, we need to get the network interface working. Enable the new network stack, in the kernel menuconfig, enable Networking -> Wireless -> Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211). I used the currently latest stable kernel, gentoo-sources-2.6.23-r3 Also don't forget to compile the required crypto algorithms under Cryptographic API: <M> Cryptographic algorithm manager <M> CBC support <M> ECB support <M> AES cipher algorithms <M> ARC4 cipher algorithm <M> Michael MIC keyed digest algorithm <M> PCBC support This will build modules called mac80211, blkcipher, aes, arc4, ecb, cryptomgr and crypto_algapi. Load them during boot in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6. Also modprobe right away, so we can continue without rebooting. Add to kernel-2.6 like above. Install the network drivers; unmask and unhardmask iwlwifi and iwl4965-ucode, add ipw4965 to your use flags, then run emerge iwlwifi This will install the iwlwifi system and the firmware needed by your hardware. Now run modprobe iwl4965. Check success/failure with ifconfig -a or dmesg, you should have a new interface available. As soon as you've got the interface up and running, check your HW address. If you've got MAC filtering, don't forget to add it to your "Allow list". Better get that out of the way so we don't forget it... I'm using wpa_supplicant to configure for my networks, emerge wpa_supplicant. /etc/conf.d/net: ---------------- #dhcp is default on all devices modules=( "wpa_supplicant" ) wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext" /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf: ---------------------------------------- ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant # Let any member of the group "wheel" configure the network ctrl_interface_group=wheel ap_scan=1 # Add network block to connect to unsecure networks. # Giving it a low priority will make all other blocks preferred. network={ key_mgmt=NONE priority=-9999999 } # Add a WPA2 network network={ ssid="my ssid" proto=WPA2 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK psk="secret password" } More information about wpa_supplicant, and examples, are available in /usr/share/doc/wpa_supplicant*/.