Re: Dynamic WEP support.

[Pat Suwalski <pat suwalski net>]

Robert Love wrote:
> >                      _________________
> > Authentication type: | Open system  \/ |
> >                     |-----------------|
> >                     | Shared key      |
> >                     | 802.1x          |
> >                     '-----------------' 
>
> The problem with this is that once you select "802.1x" you really want
> the WPA-EAP dialog.  Which isn't impossible to do, but its a bit of code
> changes for us.

My problem is with the above drop-down. There is no way that people will 
know what those options mean. A lot of people are okay with the 
difference between "WPA" and "WEP", but what is the distinction between 
"Open system" and "Shared key"? I'm not clear on it myself.

This might be a silly suggestion, but I wish there were a checkbox in 
the preferences for "simple mode" and "verbose mode", or something to 
that effect. The simple option would list options in plain english, for 
example "802.1x" would become "Certificate file".

The "Open system" label really should be revisited. It conflicts with 
the idea that there is a WEP key for preventing Open access. No? Quite 
confusing...

Finally, if you've gotten this far, there is a patch I'm planning to 
write that will automatically detect the WEP type, there is no need for 
a drop-down box. Hex will be hex, 26 characters/nibbles long. The 
"password" mode for that does no get that long.

While the backend is good at making assumptions for the user, the 
front-end is a little behind with this.

--Pat