Run PirateBox on your Laptop from USB [Linux PirateBoxLive]

Hello anepitonic,

if you are getting the same error it is likely that you have to adjust some settings as well.
Same as above, can you also check and post the output of

iwconfig

Ubuntuhak, playing and tinkering with Ubuntu!

To anepitonic :

Your device card does not support master mode (wlan0) , unfortunately you can't fix this. try using another wifi card but before buy it check if it supports master mode.

To everyone else, is there a way to install piratebox (or a mod) in ubuntu server 12.04?

Hi,

Tried the TP-Link and couldn't get that to work so I thought I would try this on an old laptop. Got all the way through the steps and did first setup. I don't see anything new when I search for wireless AP's from another computer. Is there another step I should be doing?

Thank you,

Hello Patric,

can you please post the output of:

iwconfig

while you are running the piratebox script.
If you don't see an SSID then there might be an issue with your wireless card. Unfortunately some older cards do not support the nl8011 driver which is used by hostapd to make the PirateBox work.

If you are having problems with the TP-link router, you can search the forums (there is plenty of information) or just ask your question in an appropriate topic.

Hi Nargren,

Thank you!

First off I saw that installing PirateBox instead of using it Live seemed to fix another users problem so I tried it. But it just seems to install Ubuntu as it no longer seems to log into the PirateBox part (the white screen with the skull). Going into terminal and trying to start PirateBoxManager just gives an error that it is not found.

So - back to the Live startup.

My ethernet controller is a Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752, rev02
My wireliss controller is an Intel Corporation Pro/Wireless 3945ABG, rev02

Contents of Iwconfig (after starting PirateBoxManager).

lo - no wireless extensions

eth0 - no wireless extensions

wlan0 - IEEE 802.11abg ESSID..off/any
mode..managed Access Point.. Not-Associated Tx - Power = 15 dBM
Retry long limit..7 RTS thr..off Fragment thr..off
Power Mangement.. off

pan0 no wireless extensions

Thank you for your help!

Hi,

so about this package first. It is an Ubuntu installer with some pre-loaded features which are just the part of the live CD and not necessarily the default part of the newly installed system. You CAN however install Ubuntu on your machine and make an installation of the piratebox.
Installation Guide and scripts but make sure you are using the link in the "scripts" link, that is the newer, ligghtpd version.

Back to the live CD:
I think I have the same (very similar) wifi card in a laptop of mine, but I don't really remember if I have managed to get it to work. As far as I recall I ran into a problem with the card not supporting nl8011 (driver/header) which is used by hostapd...I think this is the reason why your iwconfig returns no AP function / ESSID. I have no idea what could be done here.
TerrorByte made the LiveCD, he should be able to help with the exact details though.

So back to installing Ubuntu again, it seems it wouldn't not make too much of a difference as the wifi card will be the same, using the same driver. Unfortunately not all wifi cards support AP mode.... (I have experienced this with multiple older laptops)

Maybe a solution could be to buy an external wifi card that supports AP mode? But then again it would be easier to get the TP-Link (MR3020?) working

Norgren,

Thank you! I have a newer Dell and will try the live USB on that just for kicks. Let you know if that works. - that would be no. It did not like my new one.

I will keep trying with my TP-Link - but can't now. I am preparing to teach a two-day short course next week and ran across Pirate Box and thought it would be a great work around for a USB SneakerNet of having to shuffle them around to 40 participants to copy files to their laptops. Unfortunately - I am a geologist and not a computer guy so ran into some limitations in my abilities.

What's the consulting fee for setting it up for me



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2012 11:20PM by Patric.

Well after you know how or what is wrong, it doesn't take too long to set up e.g. a TP-link MR3020
PirateBox_DIY_OpenWrt
If you don't have time, I am sorry help came a little late. Even if you can only build it after your presentation, it will be ready for the next time

Sorry for coming late to this party, do you still need any help?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2012 03:31PM by TerrorByte.

I am having similar problems to Patric, where I can get everything going, but can't find anything to access from other machines. I even have an ESSID.

iwconfig get me this:

Language: HTML
lo        no wireless extensions.
 
eth0      no wireless extensions.
 
wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"g\xC6isQ\xFFJ\xEC)\xCD\xBA\xAB\xF2\xFB\xE3F|\xC2T\xF8\x1B\xE8\xE7\x8DvZ.c3\x9F\xC9\x9A"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=15 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

and ifconfig gets me:

Language: HTML
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:170 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:170 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:19055 (19.0 KB)  TX bytes:19055 (19.0 KB)

Since this is all fairly new to me, most of the above is gibberish, so any help would be much appreciated. Also, I'm stuck with Live USB, as I'm running on a work computer. Thanks much for your help.

Which wireless card are you using Drew?

sounds like some may need the b43 wireless drivers, and firmware, which at least in 12.04 weren't included, but oddly, my old dell which needs them runs fine with mint 14 without going and getting the b43 package.

So if this live distro is based on 12.04, or even 12.10, it will have the same limitations in systems that need that broadcom firmware, so a cd ins't so good, but a usb would be ok as you could add the firmware to the usb to boot your wifi. Or, you could make a distro that had b43 support (e.g. mint...)

I'm having an issue with the menu where it keeps cycling 10 seconds and returns to default..

I have installed the ISO to the 16Gb USB stick using the unetbootin but that seemed to install a few config files very quickly but on rebooting the same default and 10sec cycling happens..

I then tried and did dd if=/home/xxxxxx/pirateboxlive.iso of=/dev/sdb which put the contents onto the stick and I chose, debian Testing_Hd option but still the same issue..

What am I doing wrong ?

tia

Hi I have a super easy/weird problem. I have formatted the usb drive with the piratebox ISO, but I can not seem to boot up with it. The issue is my computers screen is broken so I am using an external monitor, when I got to reboot, I am blind and do not know what key to press to enter the bios. I am running 12.04 on a macbook. Does anybody have a solution for me?

With a macbook I believe you should have to hold command at boot up... Although I am honestly not sure.

Hello, two questions regarding the linux live usb version.

I've got it installed (and, apparently, running successfully) on an 8 gig USB stick. There are 4 gigs open, but when I boot into PirateBox, it only sees 1.3 gigs free. I'm rearranging things so that the stick is empty of anything but PirateBox, but opening up space is not translating to more space when I boot into it. Is it using something else for "the hard drive"? Swap space, maybe?

The second question is, how can I check to see if anyone is connected? I've run it a few times in a public space (library), but nobody has used the chat, nor uploaded anything. I have no idea if anyone downloaded anything either, of course, since there are no logs of any kind. But is there some way to check to see if there's connection activity? Not to track anyone, just so that I know it's working (I don't have a second computer to check to see if it sees the PB network). Some sort of command line thing? I'm not a programmer and almost never us CLI, except when updating software, so feel free to point out something really obvious to me.

Thanks in advance!

hello I own a lenovo s10 and consistent monitoring alfa wifi antenna but I c not why she does not go into monitoring mode on my s10 though on my pc the office it works but when I do not even have the networks that appears
thank you

here goes nothing.

old dell inspiron 700m with the ipw2200, curious see if it works out of the gate. will report back.




OO

i have it running on a laptop but i cant find it on a differt pc brodcasting a ssid

which wifi card do you have?

Hi,
Good interesting, thank you.

Hi,
is there an update of the live CD planned ?
Thanks for any information,
Tom

The 2nd guy who started to work on the liveCD dropped his work too

Because I don't have time for that - currently no.

Hm, it shouldn't be that hard to take a live USB, provide persistent memory, and roll your own box o.0

All you need on your PC is to provide a webserver (for your pirate site), dhcp (for tehir IP), some chat thingy (for the lulz) and a shared directory (for the data). You then put all the things on a website in the open wifi you provide.

It's definetly doable with manpages and some searching. With encryption there is no need to worry.

I have the same problem and iwconfig results as Patrick but my ethernet controller is an "Intel Corporation PRO/100 VE Network Connection (rev 01)"

When I run "/opt/piratebox/innit.d/piratebox start" it goes:
"Starting hostap... ok
Starting dnsmasq... fail
rm: cannot remove `/opt/piratebox/share/tmp*': No such file or directory"
And both SimpleHTTP and Shoutbox-service fail because "process already running."

I did the full install from a live USB. Is it impossible to run piratebox on my laptop with its current ethernet card?

> Contents of Iwconfig (after starting
> PirateBoxManager).
>
> lo - no wireless extensions
>
> eth0 - no wireless extensions
>
> wlan0 - IEEE 802.11abg ESSID..off/any
> mode..managed Access Point.. Not-Associated Tx -
> Power = 15 dBM
> Retry long limit..7 RTS thr..off Fragment
> thr..off
> Power Mangement.. off

(Sorry if that's off topic, I just thought that being run from a full install or a USB shouldn't make a difference when the problem is the network card.)

I used the live USB and did a full install on a Lenovo S10 netbook. Install went just fine.

Do you have any sugestions for a USB wifi adapter with an external antenna option, that will work with PirateBox?

Thank you,
noob

Hello there,

I am trying to download the ISO file but the links don't work anymore .
Anyone can shoot me a link to iso file ?

You are appreciated,
Peace

Can get the file? Simeone can share a Torrent with me?