# use minicom -s to configurate serial connnection to a stargate
    minicom -s

# NOTE: the default password for the root privileged user is rootme

# use minicom to connect to a stargate
    minicom

# Ctrl-A + X exit the serial connection, and get help using Ctrl-A +Z
# if your stargate is not registrated with OIT, then you should go ncr.nd.edu to register your wireless or wired ethernet 
# address first. Otherwise, you can obtain an IP address by DHCP in managed mode.

# Config the IP address of your your stargate (managed mode)
    stargate:/root# ifconfig wlan0 up
    stargate:/root# iwconfig wlan0 essid off
    targate:/root# iwconfig wlan0 mode managed
    stargate:/root# iwconfig wlan0 essid nomad
    stargate:/root# ifconfig wlan0 up
    stargate:/root# dhcpcd wlan0

# now check if you can ping www.google.com or www.nd.edu
    stargate:/root# ping -I wlan0 www.google.com

# now you can use ifconfig and iwconfig to show your wireless connnection info
    ifconfig wlan0
    iwconfig wlan0

# the output is like:
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:10:7A:58:D3:13  
          inet addr:10.48.37.66  Bcast:10.48.63.255  Mask:255.255.192.0
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3 errors:0 dropped:1 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:17 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 
          RX bytes:1070 (1.0 KiB)  TX bytes:7034 (6.8 KiB)
          Interrupt:155 

stargate:/# iwconfig wlan0
Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 14
of Wireless Extension, while this program is using version 16.
Some things may be broken...

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"nomad"  Nickname:"stargate"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462GHz  Access Point: 00:17:0F:35:F8:10  
          Bit Rate:11Mb/s   Sensitivity=1/242700000  
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:72/1  Signal level:-40 dBm  Noise level:-90 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:15  Invalid misc:1407   Missed beacon:0

    
# if you want to set up an ad-hoc network, follow these basic instructions
   iwconfig wlan0 essid off
   iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc
   iwconfig wlan0 channel N  (N is your channel number)
   iwconfig wlan0 essid your-ad-hoc-network-name
   ifconfig wlan0 your-stargate-ipaddr netmask xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx  
   ifconfig wlan0 up

# you may want to configure the routing path for your stargate in ad-hoc mode, such as:
  route -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.100.200

# transfer applications files between a stargate, and other devices, use scp (secure copy program), 
# For example, if the stargate ip address is A, and the other device (such as your desktop) is B, 

# transfer a file (such as hello or classicping) from A to B (your terminal is at A now)  
   A> scp  classicping root@B:
   A> scp  hello root@B:
   
# transfer a file from A to B (your terminal is at B now)  
   B> scp  root@A:hello ./
   B> scp  root@A:classicping ./

# similar ways for transferring files from B to A

# once you start your stargate and configure the wired or wireless connection, you can ssh to the stargate
  ssh root@yourstargateipaddr

# now you can use IP, not minicom (serial communication) to access the stargate.