# how to connect to wireless fbsd8.0



## daweefolk (Apr 29, 2010)

I have an atheros wifi card in my laptop (it shows up in ifconfig as ath0) and I need help connecting it wirelessly. In ubuntu it showed up as wlan0 and i used 
	
	



```
iwconfig wlan0 essid (my network name) key (my wep)
```
In freebsd I'm aware I need to use ifconfig for this too. 
what is the syntax for connecting to a network, say, "library" with the key "1234567890"?
I tried 
	
	



```
ifconfig ath0 ssid library wepkey 1234567890
```
 to no avail.
I read somewhere i need to use wlan0 instead of ath0, is this true?


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## DutchDaemon (Apr 29, 2010)

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=8785


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## imp (Apr 29, 2010)

*Handbook is amazing*

The handbook is your best friend.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-wireless.html

That's what you are looking for.


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## daweefolk (Apr 29, 2010)

Thanks I'll try following the handbook tonight.


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## daweefolk (Apr 30, 2010)

ok i added the lines to /boot/loader.conf and /etc/rc.d and rebooted. now wlan0 says its connected to my network and ath0 is associated. wlan0 just won't associate... what am i doing wrong? also, /boot/loader.conf didnt exist until i made it with vi. is that normal?


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## imp (May 1, 2010)

Don't know if that is normal but that is how it was for me.
What exactally does your /etc/rc.conf and /boot/loader.conf look like?


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