Re: Mysteries of NM

[Aaron Konstam <akonstam sbcglobal net>]

On Sat, 2011-02-26 at 15:09 +0000, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I'm running NetworkManager on my Thinkpad T60
> (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG controller, iwl3945 driver)
> and it works fine under Fedora/KDE,
> but I find the user interface almost completely unintelligible.
> 
> If I left click on the NM icon in the panel
> a window comes up with WLAN Interface on the left,
> and Connections on the right.
> (Rather annoyingly, there is no X at the top right-hand corner
> to close the window, one has to click again on the icon.)
> A number of APs (4) are listed on the right, including the one I am using.
> 
> On the left, the Traffic box shows a number of moving spikes,
> distributed unevenly but approximately one every 10 seconds.
> I take it these are beacons of some kind from the APs?
> 
> If I click on the Manage Connections button at the bottom of the window
> and then choose Wireless, my present connection is listed,
> but it says Last Used: Never. which I find puzzling.
> 
> If I highlight this entry, and click on Scan,
> I see rather a nice map showing the APs previously listed,
> presumably showing the stronger signals nearer to the centre.
> (What, if anything, does the location around the circle mean?)
> 
> I find it odd that this graphic only appears
> after I have chosen a specific connection;
> I would have thought it would be more logical
> to offer it when the APs were listed earlier.
> 
> Are others puzzled by the NM interface,
> or am I being obtuse?
> 
> 

I am mystified by your description of the interface. When I left click
on the NM icon I get no Traffic Box, no Manage Connwections button, etc,
etc and so forth. Is it that you are using knetworkmanager rather than
Network Manager?
-- 
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Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam sbcglobal net