187 lines
6.6 KiB
Text
187 lines
6.6 KiB
Text
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Copyright (c) 2006 Jess Mahan <jess@digitalssg.net>
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-----------------
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WmWiFi 0.6
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-----------------
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It's been a long time since the last release. I know, I know, you've been
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jonesin' for the next iteration, but over the last year or so, we've had very
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little complaints and even fewer bug reports, so "if it aint broke don't
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fix it!".
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If your reading this, then you are probably running Window Maker, and have a
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Wifi (wireless) card installed on your Linux box.
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!!!! BE AWARE !!!!
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This is my first attempt at writing a Window Maker dockapp, so if this thing
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destroys your computer, kills your dog, or burns down your house, don't
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blame me for it. This is very experimental at the moment.
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This dockapp displays the signal strength, link level, noise level, and
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bitrate to your current access point. It also displays the current access
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point's name.
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I sincerely apologize for any inconveniences or problems with the this
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version, or previous versions of WmWiFi.
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Many thanks to the people that actually e-mailed me with bug reports, those
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bug reports have made this version possible. WmWiFi now works
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properly (i hope).
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-----------------
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Getting Help
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If you need help, there is a mailing list at wmwifi@lists.digitalssg.net.
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Simply subscribe to it by sending a blank e-mail to
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wmwifi-subscribe@lists.digitalssg.net.
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When asking a question, please be sure to include the nature of your problem,
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and the output from the following commands:
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"cat /proc/net/wireless"
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"iwconfig"
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"head -10 /usr/include/linux/wireless.h | grep Version"
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Requirements
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-----------------
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libXpm http://freshmeat.net/projects/libxpm
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libdockapp ftp://truffula.com/pub/libdockapp-0.4.tgz
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To compile this, you'll need libdockapp, libxpm, and all the X development
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libs. Chances are, if you have installed other dockapps, then you will have
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no problems compiling this.
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Linux Wireless Extensions.
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This program relys on the Wireless Extensions being enabled (and working) in
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the 2.4.X and 2.6.X kernel series. If you can "cat /proc/net/wireless", then
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this thing will probably work for you. If "cat /proc/net/wireless" returns
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nothing, then this dockapp wont work.
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-----------------
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Building
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-----------------
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Yup, you guessed it...
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If you have met all the *requirements* then just do:
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./configure; make; make install
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-----------------
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What's New
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-----------------
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0.6 -
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Many thanks to Jeroen Nijhof <jnijhof@nijhofnet.nl> for his contribution
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of a patch for WmWifi.
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I decided to only use a couple of lines of code from Jeroen's patch, and
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implement the rest myself, so that it could better integrate with the
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"classic" wmwifi. I also wanted to make WmWifi a bit more flexible, whereas
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Jeroen's version was locked in to a specific look, and foreced the scrolling.
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WmWifi now features preset "themes", fully customizable colors (for making
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your own theme). We also now scroll the interface name and essid by default,
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but this can be turned off with the -s command line switch or by clicking the
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left mouse button (to retain our classic look and feel).
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The Backlight turns on when Signal Strength goes below 1%
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The "Look"
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-----------------
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0.6 -
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We've got a new look, actually a few of them.
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You will most likely notice the differences from the old version and the
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new becuase the font's have changed and now the interface name and essid
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scroll across the top (which can be disabled).
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Many thanks to Jeroen Nijhof <jnijhof@nijhofnet.nl> for his contribution of
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a new theme and the scrolling interface and essid. I decided not to use
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all of his changes, but did use his fonts.xpm (becuase they are waaay nicer),
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and a couple lines of code.
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# wmwifi -tc # classic theme (Default)
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# wmwifi -tn # Jeroen Nijhof's theme
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# wmwifi -ts # snow theme
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# wmwifi -lc <string> # back-light color
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# wmwifi -fg <string> # foreground color
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# wmwifi -bg <string> # background color
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# wmwifi -hi <string> # highlight color
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# wmwifi -mt <string> # midtone color
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# wmwifi -s # turn scrolling text off
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<string> is an RGB color. for instance:
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# wmwifi -bg rgb:00/00/00 -fg rgb:ff/ff/ff -hi rgb:c1/c1/c1 -mt rgb:ff/00/00
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will give you a black background, white foreground/text, grey highlights,
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and red midtones.
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If you don't know what an RGB color is, it's basically the same thing as an
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HTML color, just ditch the '#', and add a '/' every two characters.
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This version allows you to customize the colors to create your own themes,
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checkout wmwifi --help for more information.
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0.5 -
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This version (0.5) of wmwifi still uses the look introduced by version 0.2.
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For now, you cannot change the look, and to be honest, there has been
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no complaints, so if you want a new look or have a kewl design, e-mail me.
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There were bug reports of the percentages not being displayed correctly,
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this is my fault, since I assumed that the maximum link quality would
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always be 92. I had reports of varying link qualities, so in this version
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it should be fixed (if it's not, you know where to e-mail me). We not
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get the maximum link quality directly from the wireless extensions in the
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kernel, rather than assume it's 92.
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The Link quality of your card is now displayed as a percentage (0% - 100%).
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-----------------
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Stuff it does do
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-----------------
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WmWiFi now monitors all of you wireless interfaces. So if you have more
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than one, WmWiFi can now handle it!
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- Monitors all wireless interfaces attached to your machine
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(If you have the module(s) loaded)
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- Displays Link, Level, Noise, Bitrate, and Current Access Point
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for each interface.
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- Customizable Colors.
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- Preset Themes.
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- Scrolling Interface Name and ESSID
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- Turn's backlight on when link quality goes below 1%
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To disable interface and essid scrolling, simply left click (mouse 1).
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To switch to the next wireless interface, simply middle click (mouse 2).
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To switch to the next screen, simply right click (mouse 3).
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-----------------
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Stuff if doesn't do or can't do
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-----------------
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WmWifi cannot properly report the stats from drivers like the prism54 or
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ndiswrapper drivers. Believe me, I have tried to get these to work, but
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the stats don't even report correctly from iwconfig, so I am assuming it's
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not my fault.
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If you post to the mailing list complaining about wrong stats, and you are
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using one of those drivers, I'm going to slap you silly, because you didn't
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read this!
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I did try and put some code in this version to "auto-learn" your link quality
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if the maximum cannot be read from the driver, but it's not guaranteed.
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Rants / Raves
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forward beer, pizza, scotch, smokes, or hate mail to jess@digitalssg.net
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