Wifi/Testing
Testing
After a reboot with the new kernel or after loading the modules, the device can be checked for availability by using following methods:
- Using the /sys file system
- Using the ip command
- Using the ifconfig command
- Using the iw command
/sys file system
Get the device name by listing the /sys/class/net directory contents using ls -al or the tree command (provided by the app-text/tree package):
user $
tree /sys/class/net
/sys/class/net/ ├── enp2s14 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:02:0e.0/net/enp2s14 ├── lo -> ../../devices/virtual/net/lo ├── sit0 -> ../../devices/virtual/net/sit0 └── wlp8s0 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.0/0000:08:00.0/net/wlp8s0
ip command
To obtain the device name and verify that the wireless card is detected, execute the following ip command:
user $
ip addr
3: wlan0: ...
ifconfig command
The ifconfig command is provided through the sys-apps/net-tools package. Use ifconfig -a to list all detected network cards, even those that are not enabled/active yet:
user $
ifconfig -a
wlan0 ...
A network card can be activated as follows:
root #
ifconfig -v wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill WARNING: at least one error occurred. (-1)
In this example, enabling the wireless card failed as a radio frequency kill state is set (usually to keep power consumption at bay and not connect by accident to a wireless network).
iw command
If the wireless network card driver supports the nl80211 stack, then the iw command as offered by the net-wireless/iw package can show the detected wireless cards:
root #
iw dev
phy#0 Interface wlan0 ifindex 4 type managed