On Sat, 9 Apr 2005 at 23:24 -0600, Dan Wilson wrote:
2. Reconfiguring wireless on my laptop every time I sit down on a new wireless network is not something I have time to do.
What flavor of Linux have you run? I am using SuSE 9.3 with Gnome 2.10 and there is a nice little applet (netapplet) that allows you to easily switch between wired and wireless. It also detects nearby access points and provides a nice interface to configure each one.
You must have a wireless card that came with decent software if you don't have to mess with wireless everytime you sit down on a new network. This is definitely not a standard thing between cards - some are harder than others - and the default windows way is sometimes disabled by the card (and isn't automatic). Most cards come with software that is easier then the command-line tools in linux, yes. But there are things on linux to make it a no-brainer.
I use waproamd. Whenever I enter a new wireless network, if it is wide open I am connected automatically. If it needs a wep key, I just have to save that key to a file, and I am connected automatically that time and every time in the future. No clicking, no fussing.
What about moving between wired and wireless networks. In Windows, if a wireless connection is available, it is used. If a wired network is available, it is used (not sure what it does if both are available). In the past, I have always fired up an xterm and run /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 stop && /etc/init.d/net.eth0 start. This is somewhat painful, and I'd like for Linux to automagically use whatever network is available without *any* user intervention. Ideas?
--Dave
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