Arch Linux

zebulon

Member

Registered: 2008-10-20

Posts: 374

Refactoring the wireless management pages

Hi,

I would like to discuss the refactoring of the management part of the Wireless setup page, as I find it awkward to follow. Firstly, it is not clear about the different management options (rc.conf + wireless_tools or netcfg or other higher level manager) and is confusing when it comes to using unencrypted, WEP or WPA wifi networks. I have already added a note that the /etc/rc.conf examples are for WEP, that WPA users should use wpa_supplicant and anyway should avoid mixing rc.conf and netcfg methods. But still that is not entirely satifactory. Moreover, the wpa_supplicant page is redundant when it comes to wifi management. I realise that for beginners this may be very confusing.

Maybe that would be nice to merge wpa_supplicant and wireless setup pages, and reorder management explanations this way:
- explain the difference between encryption methods
- explain manual configure: for unencrypted/WEP using iwscan, iwconfig and ifconfig; for WPA the same + wpa_supplicant. Remind the wpa traps (waiting between association and IP query). It is always good to have the manual setup as it shows how things are setup and helps debugging.
- how to make it persistent:
   - adding a wifi interface to /etc/rc.conf like for a wired network is possible but limited: only for unencrypted/WEP and not suitable for roaming
   - using network managers and network profiles: should replace /etc/rc.conf method (to avoid conflicts). Some managers manage all kind of networks: netcfg, NetworkManager etc... or the wifi specific ones (wicd, wlassistant, etc.)

What do you think ?

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Refactoring the wireless management pages

While you are waiting for responses, I'd recommend that you start the actual work. It is a wiki, after all - if someone has a different view of things, they can just change it.

zebulon

Member

Registered: 2008-10-20

Posts: 374

Re: Refactoring the wireless management pages

While you are waiting for responses, I'd recommend that you start the actual work. It is a wiki, after all - if someone has a different view of things, they can just change it.

OK, no problem. I just wanted to know if people were objecting to this way to do things. Of course I agree with myself

dmartins

Member

Registered: 2006-09-23

Posts: 360

Re: Refactoring the wireless management pages

This sounds like a good idea to me. I have always been slightly confused when it comes to setting up wireless in Arch (and linux in general). In the past I have resorted to using NetworkManger or wicd. When those break I am left scratching my head again!

zebulon

Member

Registered: 2008-10-20

Posts: 374

Re: Refactoring the wireless management pages

Hi (and happy new year!),

As announced earlier, I have refactored the wireless management part in the Wireless Setup wiki page, also trying to include the current stuff. I tried to take into account the various possibilities (encryption and management methods) and I hope you'll like it!

u_no_hu

Member

Registered: 2008-06-15

Posts: 453

Re: Refactoring the wireless management pages

Nice work...... 
A few troubleshooting tips at the end will make it perfect....

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zebulon

Member

Registered: 2008-10-20

Posts: 374

Re: Refactoring the wireless management pages

Nice work...... 
A few troubleshooting tips at the end will make it perfect....

Thanks! Regarding the troubleshooting tips, there are already a lot in WPA Supplicant and Network Profiles pages. Maybe that would be nice to assemble them all together. But that's another piece of work. Maybe what I can do is to provide the links.