Connect to Internet

When you boot from the liveCD, and you already have a network cable plugged, you should be connected automatically (if there is a DHCP server present on the local network). If you plug your network cable after you have booted, the system should attempt to get you connected as well.

You can also check if your connection is working by checking the status of the network manager icon on the bottom right of the desktop in the system tray. From you can also configure extra parameters (ie, fixed IP, gateway, etc).

Similarly if you have wireless network card installed that is recognised by Puredyne then the network manager will automatically scan for access-points and you can select one from the systray icon. Your settings and keys will be kept until you reboot, unless you have a persistence mode on.

Configuration from the GUI

Using Puredyne, you can connect to Internet in several ways. The easiest way is to use the Network Manager applet in the system tray in the bottom right corner of the screen. It allows you to quickly configure your settings and provides a simple user interface. You can save the network settings of different locations, allowing you to quickly change them when you move from place to place.

Another way to connect is by using the terminal, using ifconfig for wired and iwconfig for wireless connections.

Wired Connection using Network Manager applet

The Network Manager applet is located in the lower right corner of the screen and, when you are not connected to any network, looks like 2 computers with a white cross on red background:

If there is a DHCP server present on your network, all you have to do is plug the ethernet cable into your computer and wait a few seconds. You will see an icon which indicates that network manager is trying to get an IP address. You should automatically receive an IP, and once its done you are connected.

If there is no DHCP server present, you need to set an IP manually. Right-click the network manager icon in the system tray and choose Edit Connections.

You'll be presented with an editor for all types of network connection. We'll choose the wired tab to edit our ethernet connection settings.

Click on the Edit button to edit the default connection (note: you can of course also use Add to create a new connection).

Choose the IPv4 Settings tab and select Manual from the drop-down menu. Fill in a valid IP, Subnet mask and Gateway address. If you are not sure what to fill in, ask your network administrator. Click Apply to activate your settings. You might be asked to provide the administrator password to change system-wide network settings. Once you're done, you can click on the network manager icon in the system tray again and choose the entry you have just edited.

Wireless Connection using Network Manager

To connect to a wireless network all you have to do is use the network manager applet in the lower right corner again. Left-click on the icon and you will be presented with a context menu of available wireless networks.

Choose one you want to connect to and, in case that the network is secured with a key, enter the key into the dialog that pops up and wait until the icon turns into a couple of vertical blue bars. Voila. If you didn't get connected, check and re-enter the password or select another network. Note: if this is the first time you choose a network you might be asked to enter a password for the default keyring in which the password will be stored so you don't have to re-enter it the next time you connect to the network.

Configuration from the command line

Wired Connection

First, you need to find out what the name of your network interface is (if you already know, skip to the next step).

   dmesg

dmesg (diagnostic message) prints out a whole list of messages from the system. If you just plugged your network cable, one of the last messages should be something like:

   e100: eth0: e100_watchdog: link up, 100 Mbs, full duplex

The standard name is eth0 but it could be eth1, eth2, etc.

Now you can activate the network interface and ask for an IP (only works if a DHCP server is present). sudo means that you execute the following command as root.

   
         sudo ifconfig eth0 up
         sudo dhclient eth0

After dhclient has given you an IP, you are ready to go online!

If there is no DHCP server present, you need to set your IP manually. Find out which IP is available (ask a system administrator if you don't know) and do (replace the IP with your own):

   
         sudo ifconfig eth0 up
         sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.100

To test if you are indeed connected, you can ping a website or IP.

   ping puredyne.goto10.org

Wireless Connection

Unfortunately, in pure:dyne, not every wireless network card is supported. To find out if your network card is supported, type dmesg and see if your wireless network interface appears in the list. If your wireless card needs to be turned on, do this first!).

   dmesg

If it appears, you should be able to connect. First you need to activate the network interface (dmesg should have given you its name):

   sudo ifconfig eth2 up

After that you need to connect to a specific wireless network. This is done with iwconfig. If you want to see a list of all the networks around you, use iwlist scan:

   sudo iwlist scan

Networks with Encryption key: off are open and without password. essid is the identifying name of a wireless network. Replace my-network with the name of your network, and eth2 with the name of your wireless network interface. dhclient only works if a DHCP server is present.

   
         sudo iwconfig eth2 essid my-network
         sudo dhclient eth2

After dhclient has given you an IP, you are ready to go online!

If there is no DHCP server present, you need to set your IP manually. Find out which IP is available (ask a system administrator if you don't know) and do (replace the IP with your own):

   
         sudo ifconfig eth2 up
         sudo ifconfig eth2 192.168.0.100 
         sudo iwconfig eth2 essid my-network

To test if you are indeed connected, you can ping a website or IP.

   ping www.puredyne.goto10.org

Encrypted/closed networks

Networks with Encryption key:on can either be WEP or WPA encrypted. Here we'll only discuss how to join WEP encrypted networks. You can connect using the same command as before, except you need to provide the password of the network.

There are two ways to enter a password, in ascii and hexadecimal. Ascii is a character encoding based on the English alphabet, an ascii password could be for example "topsecret". Hexadecimal is a numeral system with a base 16. The hexadecimal version of "topsecret" would be "74:6f:70:73:65:63:72:65:74". If you enter an ascii password, use s:my-password, if you use a hexadecimal one, you can leave out the s:. Replace my-password with yours.

   
         sudo iwconfig eth2 essid my-network key s:my-password
         sudo dhclient eth2