w-lan... once more

[Derek Broughton]

Daniel Goldsmith wrote:

> 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. 

Yeah, I only use wireless to connect to two unsecured networks, so I haven't
had to try it with WPA or WEP, but had heard it worked.

> 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.

Well, I got a reasonable sounding explanation why they do that, from the
network-manager list, but no better reason for the problem than "it must be
a problem with your driver".
-- 
derek