NetworkManager: A User's Review

[Dan]

Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Thursday 27 April 2006 14:02, Dan wrote:
> [huge snip]
>   
>>> This broadcom radio works well also, when set for fixed addresses,
>>> known keys and matching ESSID's.  But the discovery of a lan out in
>>> the field is very difficult when you've NDI what the key is. 
>>> Between that and no dhcpd action when its configured to use it, its
>>> very damned discouraging.  I did find some updated NetworkManager
>>> stuffs on updates-testing and installed tonight them but it made no
>>> diff, it still doesn't use the keys-wlan0 file thats there for it to
>>> use, nor does it ask me for a key.
>>>       
>> To clarify: are you seeing the secured networks on the drop-down menu
>> of the applet?
>>     
>
> What applet, using kde here. Kwifimanager has no trouble monitoring it, 
> or in doing a scan, but its never allowed me to connect with anything 
> but fixed addresses.
>
> If you select admin/network, that runs system-config-network and I 
> assume it would work, I was running it from a cli earlier and thats how 
> I finally got dhcp to work.  Every Kmenu item that leads to a network, 
> always leads to system-config-network when you click on edit the 
> interface.
>
> I have started, and killed NetworkManager probably 30 times, and each 
> time it has disabled a working network and done nothing to restore it.  
> Ditto for NetworkManagerDispatcher.  There's no docs worth wasting the 
> electrons to draw them on the screen because they have nothing to say.
>
> IMNSHO, until we have enough docs to be able to lead it around by the 
> hand if required, its an absolute, total waste of the disk space it 
> takes up.
>
> Admittedly, system-config-network needs to have ndiswrapper all setup 
> and ready to go, because it knows nothing about that facet of the 
> interface, and IMO unless it can find the drivers, install and 
> configure them for ndiswrapper, it should just leave that aspect alone.  
> I don't personally think that should be a system-config-network 
> function.
>
> Also, what happened to bcm43xx.berlios.de?  Did they get a takedown 
> notice from Broadcom or something?
>
>   
>> If so, when you select them it doesn't prompt you for 
>> a key, and so isn't able to connect? If you select connect to other
>> wireless network, it comes up with a prompt including the key. You're
>> saying the issue is the you don't know what the SSID of the network
>> you'd like to connect to is?
>>     
>
> Finding the ESSID of a network seems to be a piece of cake for 
> Kwifimanager, and it has a place to enter keys if they are needed for a 
> new connection.  But it doesn't bring up the key entry screen 
> automaticly if the key you are using doesn't 'fit the lock'.
>
>   
>> In this, I agree, NM has never been 
>> consistent in showing me SSIDs of secured networks, in FC4 I had to
>> "service NetworkManager restart" for my WEP router to show up in the
>> list, very annoying. -Dan
>>     
>
>   
Oh, didn't know you were using KDE. In that case, yes, you aren't going 
to get much functionality out of NM until the KDE applet is pushed out, 
it is primarily dependent on the applet's GUI interface.
-Dan