ThinkPad Z60t WiFi & F7

This is notes how I got my ThinkPad Z60t to connect to my 802.11 Wi-Fi router under Fedora 7 OS.
1. Attach Livna repository, then install system drivers, etc.:

  yum -y install madwifi kmod-madwifi wpa_supplicant wpa_supplicant-gui

2. Run the following to generate the wpa_supplicant.conf

  /usr/sbin/wpa_passphrase put_network_ssid_here >>
  /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Check /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf and remove any dummy network definitions. Finally it should look like this:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=wheel

network={
       ssid="put_network_ssid_here"
       scan_ssid=1
       key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
       psk=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
}

3. Ensure "ONBOOT=yes " in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0, mine is below:

 DEVICE=ath0
 ONBOOT=yes
 BOOTPROTO=dhcp
 TYPE=Wireless
 USERCTL=yes
 IPV6INIT=no
 PEERDNS=yes
 ESSID=here_my_essid
 MODE=Managed
 RATE=Auto
 CHANNEL=1

4. Edit /etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant and make sure these are the values set in it

 INTERFACES="-iath0"
 DRIVERS="-Dmadwifi"

5. Edit source file /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant and replace digit 12 to 09 in the header (5-th line) and perform next system command, it'll rebuild symlinks:

  /sbin/chkconfig --level 35 wpa_supplicant on

6. As root run the following:

  /sbin/chkconfig --level 35 wpa_supplicant on
  /sbin/chkconfig NetworkManager off
  /sbin/chkconfig NetworkManagerDispatcher off

7. We have to setup default route to the our router. I don't know why it is not set by ifup-wireless in the way like it's done by ifup-eth? Anyhow I had to create file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/route-ath0 and put route there -

default via 192.168.1.1

8. Reboot...

Summary

Configuration is almost straightforward, only the bug with wpa_supplicant is a bit disappointing. There is some obscure reasons why the wpa_supplicant should wait for networking to startup. It have to be ready before we try to enable any wireless interface. I've looked up Bugzilla and found that this bug is very longstanding, since F5, in despite of the obvious necessity of the fix it is ported happily to F8... See #244029

References

1. Fedora 7 & Intel 3945 WIFI
2. Atheros Chipset Based Cards + MadWifi Installation & Usage
3. Bug #244029