Re: A comment on NetworkManager

[Aaron Konstam <akonstam sbcglobal net>]

On Thu, 2006-05-11 at 02:48 +0200, Peter Roediger wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I thought I should write a little -personal- comment on what I think
> about the current implementation of NetworkManager and, more
> importantly, its design goals. First of all, I'm very pleased to see
> that there is some effort going on to make a linux desktop more
> user-friendly in terms of network usage and managing more than one
> network device in more than one (wireless) network. So far,
> NetworkManager looks to me like a very good approach to it, though it
> has some, in my view, major shortcomings which I'd like to address in
> this mail. 
> 
> 1.) Wireless networks list.
> There is no "Search for wireless networks" or "Refresh wireless
> networks list" button/option in the applet. While this seems to be
> convenient in the first place it turns out to be not in some cases.
> Consider this: Many laptops nowadays feature an LED that shows the
> status of the wireless connection ( e.g. flashing when it's not
> connected, etc.). Thus people will naturally switch the wireless
> network off when it's not needed. Then, they might disconnect their
> wired LAN at one point and go to some place that is supplied by a
> wireless network. Now, they turn on their wireless network card by a
> hardware switch and...they have to wait. They have to wait until NM
> will update the list. Which will take some time. The average user will
> not understand this behavior. But the average user would understand an
> option mentioned above. It's easy. Easier than a WEP key. 
> Or something else: You walk around in a foreign city in order to find
> a hotspot to logon to. There is a desperate need to update the list
> immediately. It's simply crucial.
I must be pretty confused. I use my wireless at home and at work and
nm-applet shows me immediately the wireless access points that are
available.
> 
2.) The configuration issue.
In my view NetworkManager is one of the most intransparent linux
applications out there. There's no Documentation (correct me if I'm
wrong), there is no configuration file easily accessible and there are
weird things going on with resolv.conf. How is it configured? How can I
change the DNS server without violating "# generated by NetworkManager,
do not edit!"? Do I have to use a special program.

In answer to part of point two, it is the DHCP server that supplies the
addresses of the DNS servers not NM