Somebody in the thread at some point said: > Aaron Konstam <akonstam <at> sbcglobal.net> writes: > >> In addition to all these questions , why don't you use NetworkMamager. >> If you did you would not have to worry about configuring wpa_supplicant >> and if the cards are supported then WEP and various WPA's are supported, >> With and without LEAP or PEAP for example. > > Correct me if I am wrong but NetworkManager will only be able to use the > underlying tools if the driver and basic networking is established as > operational. In this case I believe there are problems with the > underlying tools so NetworkManager is unlikely to be able to do any better? > > Also in one case the computer is my wife's and she not unreasonably expects > it to switch on and "just work" - hence she would not want to be bothered > with networkmanager - hence I would like to get networking going > automatically from boot. These objections sound familiar and reasonable... but NetworkManager has started to cross the threshold from causing more problems than it solves to solving more problems than it causes. It is a bit of a journey across that threshold, and some days/drivers are better than others, but it's clear in some months it will deservedly be the standard way. In terms of the most important customer, the wife, and NetworkManager, if you get the wpa passphrase in a keyring (I didn't try that out yet) it should cherrypick that connection and make it automatically on boot AIUI. Also if it is on a laptop, it makes a world of difference in a foreign radio landscape to be able to pick APs from the GUI helper: that is highly wife friendly. So not disagreeing with the plan to use wpa_supplicant directly, just saying that NetworkManager deserves to be reevaluated soon and maybe marked up from its previously deserved "get it off my box NOW" status. -Andy
