Re: NM scanning policy

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

On Wed, 2005-05-25 at 10:19 -0400, Bill Moss wrote:
> Proposed change to NM scanning policy.
> 
> Context menu scan item: three states -- On, Auto, Off
> 
> On: NM's current policy which is to always scan but adjust the time 
> between scans.
> 
> Auto (default): When a wired connection has been established, stop 
> scanning (also consider powering down radio). As soon as a wired 
> connection is not available, begin scanning. After a wireless connection 
> has been made, stop scanning but start again if the signal strength 
> falls below a threshold.
> 
> Off: Do not scan or stop all wireless devices and power down radios.
> 
> Justification: Scanning powers up the radio.  When operationg on battery 
> and connected by wire, scanning wastes power. Scans that take a long 
> time can be disruptive.

This sounds fair, although I would roll the first 2 ones into one
option, with NetworkManager using HAL to check whether the machine is
running on mains or battery power.
Would obviously need some UI work to allow the user to know that no
wireless networks are being scanned.

Cheers

---
Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>