w-lan... once more

[Daniel Goldsmith]

On 11/22/06, Derek Broughton <news at pointerstop.ca> wrote:
> Maya wrote:

> > The network-manager now shows me that he found a wireless network, but I
> > can't connect. The network is unsecured. Any hints?
>
> Explain "can't connect".  I may have a similar problem, but I _can_ connect,
> then at some point after a working connection is established
> network-manager seems to invoke wpa_supplicant for reasons as-yet unknown
> and wpa_supplicant takes down the interface.  I had no trouble at all
> before network-manager was modified to depend on wpa-supplicant (even for
> unsecured connections).

For my tuppence worth -

Using a Broadcom card in a dell - Ubuntu Dapper can connect quite
happily to a WEP-enabled wireless link. I have used it in a number of
situations, all with success.

If the WLAN is *unsecured* however, it just will not connect, for the
same reasons Derek outlines. Modifying network-manager to rely on
wpa_supplicant for all connections must count as one of the stupidest
'fanboy' moves ever to affect a decent reliable program. Just because
supplicant exists is no reason to trash a perfectly acceptable
utility.

Regards,

Daniel