On 04/04/2011 10:31 AM, Stanislav Maslovski wrote: > I do not think that reading documentation before trying to achieve > something is that elitist. And in the case of wpa_supplicant, it is > definitely not dozens of pages. Basically, it is just > > man interfaces > man wpa_supplicant.conf > zless /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/README.Debian.gz
Without "expert" help, no new user will find these. A Debian Squeeze laptop user will have a broken network by default, and nothing obvious pointing them to the answer. Just a mute (if pretty) desktop, blankly defying them to get the network to work! > The wireless networks in public locations are usually open and do not > require any specific configuration; the most of them are catched with > a simple roaming setup outlined in that README from above, supplanted > with a default /e/n/interfaces stanza for DHCP-based networks. If one > instead prefers using a GUI, then there is wpa_gui with which one may > scan for networks, select the needed one, change parameters, etc. I have done user support with countless new users on irc, first on #debian-eeepc and recently, also on #debian. It is the very rare (bearded guru? good one :) new Debian user that will have a happy time jumping through the hoops to make wpa_supplicant work for them. And even once they manage to make it work, I've *still* seen cafe connections fail on my lovingly hand-crafted wpa_cli + wpa_supplicant setup that succeed when I reboot to a Squeeze GNOME live image with NM. I to this day have not been able to figure out why. > I also use wireless at home and at the sites where I work. For these > locations I have several fixed stanzas in /e/n/interfaces and in > wpa_supplicant.conf that I do not need to touch at all. That's good for you, clearly. Nobody's trying to argue that your solution isn't a perfectly fine one for you, and others with similar needs. But the average laptop user really does have a hard time with the status quo. Something needs to change in the next release. Ben -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4d99ca01.9030...@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca