Comments on: Connecting an OLPC XO to Airport Extreme WEP

By: JD Lasica

JD Lasica — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:25:31 +0000

Well, it’s almost May 2008 and our WEP 128-bit password did not work with the XO.

So to get it working on our home network, after 2 days of trying, we had to completely remove the encryption from our LAN.

Sorry to say, but the XO is definitely not ready for the US marketplace.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:29:37 +0000

I agree with Eugene. I don’t have the option of “shared key” or anything. I’m able to type in the Hex code but after clicking ok, nothing happens (no connection). Very frustrating and after having this for 2 weeks I’m almost ready to return it.

I’m concerned that it’s so hard to connect to the internet with this laptop. If we’re having such issues, imagine elsewhere in the world.

OLPC needs to make getting connected a priority for all!!

By: Eugene Worley

Eugene Worley — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:32:33 +0000

Thanks for your info. Good information. But I don’t have the ‘hex’ drop down or the option of a ‘shared key’. I used to have WPA but I converted to WEP. I just confirmed that with my Airport Utility. To you have any help or suggestions for me. I would surely appreciate any help that you can give.
Thanks for your time

By: John V

John V — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:22:35 +0000

Thanks for the article, just to note, according to the OLPC site, they won’t be supporting WPA connections until early 2008, which hopefully will be in a month or two. Until then, mooch off a neighbor’s open Wi-Fi connection… Thanks for the page!

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:22:45 +0000

The options appear once you click in the password box. You should go to Neighborhood, find the circle corresponding to your network, then click on that circle.

If you have WEP security, you will get a box titled “Wireless Key Required.” From top to bottom, there will be a option called “Key Type”, a space to type things in, then an option called “Authentication Type”. You want “Hex” for Key Type, and “Shared Key”, not “Open System”, for Authentication Type.

If you have different options that what I described, you most likely have WPA security, not WEP. These instructions don’t work for that.

By: Vicki Brown

Vicki Brown — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:05:18 +0000

Thanks for the help but… I’m still confused. My xo laptop doesn’t have a “hex” dropdown nor does it have a place to choose “shared key”.

wondering where you see those choices…

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:52:24 +0000

Thanks for the information. I thought I had just cut and pasted that link. I guess not. It’s fixed now.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:02:50 +0000

The link to the “Gettting Started” page for laptop.org is broken. The actual address is:
http://www.laptop.org/en/laptop/start/connecting.shtml