When I run the command ifconfig in the terminal, I get three results: lo, virbr0, wlo1.
- What is wlo1? Is it useful?
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is a wireless network interface (NIC). You can use the command iwlist scan
to scan the wireless NICs for available WiFi SSIDs.
iw
is the preferred tool when querying WiFi devices. You can also use NetworkManager's CLI tool, nmcli
, or if you're on an older version of Linux, use iwlist
.
$ iw dev wlan0 scan
BSS 15:cd:10:e4:26:39(on wlan0)
TSF: 0 usec (0d, 00:00:00)
freq: 2412
beacon interval: 100 TUs
capability: ESS Privacy ShortPreamble ShortSlotTime RadioMeasure (0x1431)
signal: -8.00 dBm
last seen: 0 ms ago
SSID: bill_fi_the_science_wi
Supported rates: 1.0* 2.0* 5.5* 11.0* 18.0 24.0 36.0 54.0
DS Parameter set: channel 1
TIM: DTIM Count 0 DTIM Period 1 Bitmap Control 0x0 Bitmap[0] 0x0
ERP: <no flags>
ERP D4.0: <no flags>
RSN: * Version: 1
* Group cipher: CCMP
* Pairwise ciphers: CCMP
* Authentication suites: PSK
...
iwlist (older cli)
$ iwlist scan
enp2s0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.
enxfcde56ff0106 Interface doesn't support scanning.
wlo1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: C8:D7:79:50:D4:03
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=62/70 Signal level=-48 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"hermes"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000000150d484187
Extra: Last beacon: 7724ms ago
IE: Unknown: 00066865726D6573
IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
IE: Unknown: 030101
IE: Unknown: 050400010000
IE: Unknown: 2A0104
IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
IE: Unknown: 2D1A2C101FFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: 3D1601000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C332C101FFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C3401000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD0600E04C020160
iwlist
etc. are the old tools, the newer tool is iw
. Some features will only be accessible via iw
.
iwconfig
andsudo lshw -C network
to the post, please.