Re: Usability issues with 0.7 / Ideas for next release.

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Tue, 2008-07-08 at 14:45 +0200, Patrick wrote:
> While the improved 3G and vpn capabilities are nice there are a few
> small issues that could be addressed to improve the next version
> (0.7.?)...
> 
> 1. Would be nice if NM with the right packages installed could handle
> pand connections to simplify connecting to the internet via bluetooth
> devices.

Right, BT support will come post-0.7.  First for DUN, then for PAN.

> 2. If one has a wired connection then its really hard to switch to a
> wireless one without unplugging the cat5 or usb connection. It'd be
> better if it was as easy as point n click.

You can certainly bring up the wired interface, but the default route
will stay on the wired device because it's plugged in.  I'm not sure I
see a good use-case here... you'd be connected to wireless after picking
it from the menu, so you'd be able to access anything on that network
already.

> 3. Having the user choose what type on encryption the network uses when
> entering the password isn't of much use,  most users don't know the
> first thing about encryption, it could be automatic. (works in win:()

This is also a common request.  As another data point, Mac OS X requires
you to choose WEP key types just like NM does.  Most vendor tools from
D-Link, Linksys, etc that don't use WZC also make you choose.

The right solution is to try successive key permutations quickly, but we
can't do that easily.  First, drivers suck.  Second, the kernel API for
wireless isn't conducive to this and doesn't give enough feeback to make
it work.  Third, with WEP you simply don't know whether the key is right
or not until a DHCP attempt has timed out, which can take 45 seconds.
So taking up to 2 minutes to connect to a network just sucks.

The fundamental problem is that both WEP ASCII and Hex key types overlap
with the WEP passphrase type.  Most places use passphrases.  But I've
personally seen places that use a what _looks_ like a hex key as a WEP
passphrase.

Dan