Network Manager is still buggy as always

[jhoderd]

For the past few releases Kubuntu has installed Network Manager by default. Now, I've never been able to do even the most basic of things with this tool without horrible bugs surfacing. So, at every new release I've been following the same ritual of playing with Network Manager for a few minutes and wondering "could it actually work this time?", only to be quickly disappointed and having to execute "apt-get remove --all-traces-of-this-piece-of-crap network-manager" to get a usable system.

I've just installed the beta of Karmic. Yes, I know it is beta, yada, yada, yada, but I find it odd that so late in the game, the Network Manager plasmoid isn't able to do something as simple as actually applying changes after the user has changed some aspect of the network configuration and chosen "Apply". Has anyone noticed this problem? It is really simple to replicate: make some changes to your network (say, change one of the nameservers), and press "Apply". The changes will not be applied.

Now, will this be the time when I'll finally be able to tell my newbie friends that it's not necessary to edit "/etc/network/interfaces" anymore because a new shiny GUI app will do it? Or should I just dash all hopes, and continue to tell them that the easiest way to it it's still to manually edit that text file?

Best regards,
Jean

[GreyGeek]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

Yup. I've been running Karmic since Alpha5 and I've replaced KNetworkManager with wicd.

I think part, if not all, of my problem was that I had a couple applets which required an internet connection to update, along with NTP, the time setting app. Usually NPT is set sometime during boot up but with KDE4 the Internet connection isn't completed until after the desktop setups. By then, besides the NTP you could have a weather app or some other applet asking for an internet connection. I believe that prior request lock KNetworkManger out and prevent it from making a connection, or restoring one that was made but broke.

So, I "sudo apt-get install wicd" and that cured things. When KDE starts up an Internet connection is already made and nothing prevents applets from quering the weather, etc...

That's just my guess. I may be wrong.

[finifly]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

How is it though that the Network Manager plasmoid hasn't been voted off the island?

Now, will this be the time when I'll finally be able to tell my newbie friends that it's not necessary to edit "/etc/network/interfaces" anymore because a new shiny GUI app will do it? Or should I just dash all hopes, and continue to tell them that the easiest way to it it's still to manually edit that text file?

I hope it's the former and not the latter as telling newbies that this doesn't work isn't going to make the best of first impressions. Especially when it comes to connecting to the net!

[maestrobwh1]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

I always have found it odd that kubuntu has stuck with knetwork manager.

I have always purged it in favor of wicd.

To even make it worse, but default, network manager is now requiring access to kwallet. I can't think of too many instances where the user of a laptop would find this at all useful or necessary. Quite frankly, it is stupid.

This is what the average user needs: an tray icon, that when clicked, lists the available connections and with a single click, the connection activates and leaves the icon showing the signal strength. I can't even read the signal strength on knetwork manager if it happens to work... it is white and disappears into the default desktop.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

When I hover my mouse over the wicd icon in the system tray it gives me the wireless signal strength at my location in dBm.


0dbm is equal to 1 milliwatt into 50 ohms.
-3dBm is half a milliwatt
-6dBm is 1/4 of a milliwatt
-9dBm is 1/8 of a milliwatt.
For every 3dB below 0dBm, you get half your power.

Right now it varies between -29 and -33 dBm, and I am only 10 feet from my Linksys WRT54GL wireless router.

[Teunis]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

Interesting numbers.
But I can hardly believe this low power!

Wicd on my old laptop shows -58dBm, some 10 feet and two wooden doors from the Fritzbox router, which is equivalent to about 50%.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

open a Konsole and issue

iwconfig

and see what your Tx-power, Link Quality, Signal Level and Noise Level are.

Here's mine, from 10 ft away.

$ iwconfig
....
wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"GreyGeek"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz ......
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-30 dBm Noise level=-86 dBm

[Teunis]

Re: Network Manager is still buggy as always

Mode:Managed Frequency:2.432 GHz
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=57/70 Signal level=-53 dBm Noise level=-94 dBm

That's the Tecra laptop.

The old Satellite shows:

 Mode:Managed Frequency:2.432 GHz Access Point: 00:1C:4A:00:D8:15
     Bit Rate=12 Mb/s  Tx-Power=15 dBm
     Retry long limit:7  RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off
     Power Management:off
     Link Quality=26/70 Signal level=-69 dBm Noise level=-94 dBm

That's extremely low power at the slower 12Mb/s