KWireless Tools Pro

KWireless Tools Pro

About KWireless Tools Pro

KWireless Tools Pro is a frontend to the linux Wireless Tools utility.

The Wireless Tools utility for Debian is completely different to that for other linux based systems. Therefore, KDE Control Center cannot setup/modify your wireless connections. KWireless Tools Pro is intended to Debian based systems. (Some functions will not work on other systems.)

NOTE: The recent version of the software can only handle one wireless interface. If you have more than one wireless device, remove their kernel driver.

Prerequisites for the use of KWireless Tools Pro

KWireless Tools Pro has the following dependencies:

* python (>=2.3.5)
* python-qt3 (3.15)
* python-kde (>=3.11.3)
* python-qwt4
* libgtk2-perl
* wireless-tools
* dhcp-client or dhcp-client3
* resolvconf

These utilities are included in Debian stable. You need not download and compile anything except the kernel driver for your card.

Starting KWireless Tools Pro

KWireless Tools Pro first time can be started from the KDE menu tree. A tray icon will appear.

System tray icon	Meaning
	You have not any wireless interface, or the device driver has not been loaded.
	Your wireless interface is down.
	Your wireless interface is up. The signal is very weak. Your connection is not stable.
	Your wireless interface is up. The signal is weak. Your connection is stable, but slow.
	Your wireless interface is up. The signal strenght is fair. Your connection is stable and fast.
	Your wireless interface is up. The signal strenght is good. Your connection is stable and fast.
	Your wireless interface is up. The signal strenght is excellent. Your connection is stable and fast.
	Your wireless interface is up. The signal strenght is maximal.

Just move the mouse cursor over the tray icon! The interface/AP information will appear.

Mouseover effect

Meaning

You have not any wireless interface, or the device driver has not been loaded.

You have a wireless interface [ath0].

Your wireless interface is down.

Your wireless interface [ath0] is up and you can see the connection details:

ESSID, Link Quality, S/N Ratio in dBm, Signal Leve in dBm,

Bitrate in Mb/s, Mode, Received and Transfered Kbytes.

(In this case, the connection is very weak.)

Right-clicking on the tray icon, a menu tree will appear. If you are a non-root user, a kdesu window may appear in order to claim the root password.

Manage Connections

If your network is down, click on the 'Up' button and then on the 'Scan', button. You can see the available acces points. You can connect to them by clicking on the 'Connect' or 'Start DHCP' button. If you are intend to use a static connection, do not forget to fill out the fields in the frame 'Setup'. Before closing the window, click on the 'Save AP info' button. The all of the AP information/settings are stored in a database, but only the available AP information/settings appear. This database is used by the applicaton for setting up the default connection (see 'Setup Default Connection' menu item).

Continuous Monitor

If you are connected to the Internet, you can monitor the signal strenght continuously. It is useful if you adjust your antenna, or you check the signal stability. The graph shows the S/N ratio and Link Quality vs. time lines. You can switch off both of them by clicking on the button right. Clicking on the 'Midscale' button, you can set the scale in order to see weak signal strenghts.

NOTE: The S/N ratio is the same as Link Quality for some kernel drivers (e.g. Madwifi) but they are different for other drivers (e.g. Ndiswrapper) .

Setup Default Connection

You can choose from any of the saved AP settings saved in the section 'Manage Connections', independently of their availability. You can set additional paramaters for your default connection. You can define a MAC address diffrerent from your hardware MAC address, you can also enter 'pre-up' (run before bringing up the interface), 'up' (run after bringing up the interface), 'down' (run before stopping the interface) and post-down (run after stopping the interface) commands. the scale in order to see weak signal strenghts. Clicking on the button 'Save', the settings concerning to the choosed interface will be overwritten in the file /etc/network/interface.

NOTE: The additional paramaters are not stored by the recent version of KWireless Tools Pro. You have to retype every time you start this window. If you have other wireless devices, overwrite the name of the interfece, modify the settings and click on the button 'Save' one more time!

Start/Stop Default Connection

You can start ('ifup') and stop ('ifdown') the default connection from this window.

----- KWireless Tools Pro is released under the license of GPL -----

GILDE project (Graphical Interfaces to Learn Debian Easily).

This application uses codes from the following GPL licensed projects:

PyWireless by S.Çaglar Onur <caglar@uludag.org.tr> and

Guifi by Julian Coccia (http://julian.coccia.com)