Raspberry Pi A, User Manual, Page: 102 / 314

P A R T I
C O N N E C T I N G T H E B O A R D
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This command will return a list of all the wireless networks reachable from the Pi, together
with their details (see Figure 5-8). If you receive an error message at this point—in particu-
lar, one that claims the network or interface is down—check that you have installed the cor-
rect firmware, and that the USB wireless adapter is connected to a powered USB hub.
Figure 5-8:
Scanning for
wireless
networks with
iwlist
You can check the current status of the network using the
iwconfig
command. Like
ifconfig
, the
iwconfig
command allows you to check the status of a network interface
and issue configuration commands. Unlike
ifconfig
, however,
iwconfig
is specifically
designed for wireless networks and includes specific features for this. Type the command
name at the terminal as follows:
iwconfig
The output of
iwconfig
, as shown in Figure 5-9, is split into the following sections:
❍
Interface Name—
Each device has its own interface name, as with wired networks. If
the interface is a wireless connection, additional details will be shown. The default
name for a Pi’s wireless connection is
wlan0
.