Re: [tlug] A place to connect my laptop

[Dave M G <dave@example.com>]

TLUG,

Tip:

For those of you who are looking for a place to connect your laptop, 
I've found that "Cafe J Net / New New" in Shibuya is a good place to go:

http://www.cafejnet.ne.jp/cafejnet/fc/shibuya/index.html

They have booths where there is an additional ethernet cable 
specifically for people to plug in their laptops.

This is good because I've found that the rest of the internet cafes I've 
asked at have forbidden use of laptops, even some of the ones where I 
remember doing that a couple years back.

On the Wireless front:

My wireless card isn't quite going at the moment. Can't figure out why. 
I got the right driver installed following these (Japanese) instructions:

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/mindrefugee307/13392317.html

The results of this command are encouraging:
laptop:~$ ndiswrapper -l
mrv8000c : driver installed
device (11AB:1FAA) present

And I can go into my Network settings (in Ubuntu/Gnome under 
System->Administration->Network) and see a "Wireless Connection" option 
where I can enter in WEP and ESSID settings.

Further, the ESSID settings has a drop down menu, showing the available 
wireless networks and their signal strength. So the card is picking up 
the signals.

However, last time I was in a wireless network zone that I had a 
username and password for (M-Zone at my local Tully's), when I opened up 
FireFox I wasn't presented with any login screen as expected. And it was 
not possible to surf to any other web pages. I only ever got the "Can't 
connect to server" message. Naturally I double checked my WEP key for 
the "docomo" zone, and I think it's correct.

I also notice that when I boot up the "power" light on the wireless card 
comes on, and then the "act" light flickers for a moment, but then after 
than the "act" light never indicates any activity.

I seem to be just on the verge of connectivity.

Does this output provide any insight?

laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:off/any 
         Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated  
         Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   Sensitivity=-200 dBm 
         RTS thr=2346 B   Fragment thr=2346 B  
         Power Management:off
         Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Anything else I can try?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

--
Dave M G
http://www.tlug.jp/wiki/User:Dave_M_G