/etc/network/interfaces
-bash: /etc/network/interfaces: permission denied
do you know the make and model of wireless adapter .. and is it USB ?
TP-Link TL-WN821N USB
OK, here’s the problem
a) you may or may not have the wirelesss drivers installed
b) you don’t have an interface for wlan0 (or whatever the wireless node is called) defined in /etc/network/interfaces … so even if the drivers are loaded you can’t bring up the interface.
c) we have no real way of discovering if the wireless drivers are loaded, and/or discovering what the wireless node is called without installing a few packages … whch we can’t install without you having an ethernet connection.
The good news is that it should work if connected to your router by an ethernet cable … THEN we can sort out wireless.
ok I understand
sorry I got lost earlier if it’s any help I can edit the file by using nano /etc/network/interfaces, is that any help ?
I’m trying to discover what the driver for the tplink was.
Can you remember if it was ath9k ?
[EDIT]
Do you get any output from:
lsusb
?
or
lsmod | grep ath
?
Before I answer these questions, I’ve put this in /etc/network/interfaces file via nano
auto wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wpa-ssid wpa-psk
Should I save that and if so how do i do that in nano ?
Forget that for now … we first need to find out if the wireless drivers are installed/loaded … as the wireless node may NOT be wlan0, so there’s no point in defining it as such.
For future reference … to save a file you’ve edited in nano
exit the file with Ctrl+X
you will be asked if you want to save the changes (Y or N) … hit Y
You will be asked where to save the file … but it will already contain the path to the file you’re editing, so you can just hit Enter … unless of course you want to save it elsewhere.
You could try this:
ip link
This should list all discovered network devices
Or just go for this:
ip address add 192.168.2.150/24 dev usb0
ip link set dev usb0 up
This might or might not work.
lsusbBus 002 Device 003: 0cf3:1002 Atheros Communications. Inc. TP-Link TL-WN821N
lsmod | grep ath
ath 6018 1 ar9170usb
cfg80211 87637 3 ar9170usb, mac80211. ath
multipath 4987 0
md_mod 67385 6 raid10 , raid456 , raid0 , multipath , linear
Nice … cheers SeZo … one I didn’t know 
OK, it looks like the wireless drirvers may be loaded (ar9170usb).
What’s the output from:
ip link
?
ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK , UP . LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
Link/Loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth: <NO-CARRIER , BROADCAST , MULTICAST , UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN qlen 1000
Link/ether 00:e0:4c:39:22:53 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
Hope you guys are not forgetting I can’t copy/paste
I’ve gotta go out for 20 mins … see ya then if you’re still here.
ok no problem
Can you unplug the usb wireless and then plug back in then read the log:
dmesg
This might give us a clue to what is happening
[ 3632,341671] usb 2-1: ar9170 , fw firmware file not found , trying old firmware
[ 3632 , 354199] usb 2-1 file with init values not found
flashing cursor
Hi SeZO
the output for dmesg is far too big to copy but I dont see anything wrong except a line reading “[ 3632 , 354199] usb 2-1 file with init values not found” and “[3632 , 354264] ar9170usb: probe of 2-1 : 1.0 failed with error -2”
OK, you’re going to NEED an active internet connection (ethernet cable) to add the non-free repo, then install the firmware (firmware-atheros)
see here:
http://wiki.debian.org/ar9170usb
[EDIT]
Or you could download the deb from here:
http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-atheros_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb
transfer it across and install it with
dpkg -i firmware-atheros_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb
but it would probably be easier with an ethernet connection 
–
OK, you're going to NEED an active internet connection (ethernet cable) to add the non-free repo, then install the firmware (firmware-atheros)
ok Mark no problem I’ll try to set up an ethernet connection tomorrow and report back
Thanks to you and SeZo for your help goodnight to you both
Graeme
Did you see the edit above ?
Have you got any way to transfer the file if you download it on another PC ?
If not … cya tomorrow.