Wireless 3945ABG on Dell D630 not working

[david_lee]

Hi. New install on a old Dell D630 laptop, and the WiFi is not working, no drivers listed in the Driver Manager. Searching produces very little recent information, but a possible need to install iwlwifi-3945-ucode-15.32.2.9, which I have downloaded, but do no know how to install.
System data is

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dave@dave-Latitude-D630:~$ iwconfig
wlp12s0   IEEE 802.11  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=15 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          
lo        no wireless extensions.

enp9s0    no wireless extensions.

dave@dave-Latitude-D630:~$ rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
dave@dave-Latitude-D630:~$ ifconfig
enp9s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.74.32  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.74.255
        inet6 fdb9:8b25:949b:1:5a65:2280:88e4:98a9  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x0<global>
        inet6 fdb9:8b25:949b:1:b075:6eef:ad80:518a  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x0<global>
        inet6 fe80::bb5:ca6e:dfd4:c87b  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:1c:23:3b:21:22  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 48446  bytes 54881529 (54.8 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 28083  bytes 2893041 (2.8 MB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 17  

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 1939  bytes 177771 (177.7 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 1939  bytes 177771 (177.7 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlp12s0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether 00:1f:3c:2d:22:1f  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0


dave@dave-Latitude-D630:~$ inxi -N
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom Limited NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCIE
           driver: tg3
           Card-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection
           driver: iwl3945
dave@dave-Latitude-D630:/etc$ inxi -Fz
System:    Host: dave-Latitude-D630 Kernel: 4.15.0-34-generic x86_64 bits: 64
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: portable System: Dell product: Latitude D630 serial: N/A

Linux Mint 19, Xfce.
Please point me in the right direction.
Thanks.

[JeremyB]

The wifi appears to be working, it is supported in the kernel and the firmware should be installed when Mint was installed. Try in terminal

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iwlist scan

[david_lee]

Thanks. Running sudo iwlist scan did show the expected wifi signals. I therefore opened "Network Configuration" under settings (which only showed the wired connection) and added a new wireless connection - which worked - I have unplugged the wired connection, and so this is send over that wifi link.
However, this is a lower level of functionality than I expected - I am used to phones giving a list of available WiFi signals, and allowing a direct selection. I take this laptop to multiple sites - how do I easily connect to the available wifi at that site? Have I missed some documentation in this area?

For reference, here is the relevant section of the iwlist scan:

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Cell 03 - Address: 00:1D:AA:D6:85:98
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-27 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"DrayTek"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=000007b2ef284ddb
                    Extra: Last beacon: 40ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 00074472617954656B
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B961224486C
                    IE: Unknown: 030106
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 32040C183060
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1A6E1017FFFF000001000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D1606070700000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: 0B05070016127A
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                    IE: Unknown: DD07000C4300000000
                    IE: Unknown: DDAA0050F204104A0001101044000101103B00010310470010BC329E001DD811B28601001DAAD68598102100194472617954656B20546563686E6F6C6F67792C20436F72702E1023001D4472617954656B20576972656C6573732041636365737320506F696E74102400105669676F7232383630205365726965731042000831323334353637381054000800060050F20400011011000A4472617954656B41507310080002008C103C000101

[JeremyB]

I use Mint 19 Cinnamon and when I am not connected I can click on the Network icon in the notification area and view available networks. You may be at a disadvantage using that card if places are using 5GHz or wireless N mode only