Re: [gentoo-user] WPA2 connection configuration?

[Mark Knecht]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 4:19 AM, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:43:13 -0700
> Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 5:14 PM, Alan McKinnon
>> <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote:
>> > On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:08:05 +0700
>> > Pandu Poluan <pandu@××××××.info> wrote:
>> >
>> >> On Sep 27, 2011 5:11 AM, "Mark Knecht" <markknecht@×××××.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> [-- snip --]
>> >>
>> >> > Speaking as someone experienced in running Gentoo but certainly
>> >> > not a power user - I don't write scripts or program at all - I
>> >> > gotta say I don't like that way this is all working on my system
>> >> > so far. TO BE CLEAR, I am SURE that I don't have everything
>> >> > configured as well as it could possibly be, but I also suspect
>> >> > that would be true for the majority of new wireless users on
>> >> > Gentoo after only a day or two.
>> >> >
>> >
>> > Just to throw a small spanner in the works....
>> >
>> > All my wpa issues were solved long ago by dumping the gentoo net
>> > scripts, then installing and running wicd where it all
>> > JustWorks(TM).
>> >
>> > init.d scripts work great for static servers.
>> > wicd works great for mobile laptops.
>> > There's very little overlap between these two.
>> >
>> > Have you considered using wicd at all?
>> >
>>
>> Alan,
>>    I haven't seriously considered wicd because I don't understand what
>> it is, how it links into everything else on the system.
>>
>>    For a user type the idea of dumping init scripts in favor of
>> something else is a _really_ foreign idea to me. As someone who has
>> used Gentoo for at least a decade please understand that I've never
>> done _anything_ like that before. I'm sure I can figure out more or
>> less how the scripts work, but there are other things I'd worry about
>> like some some system update deleting them, etc.
>>
>>    Reading the wicd homepage it looks like it could help, but how many
>> hours am I going to have to invest to get it running? Understand that
>> I've already dumped maybe 10 hours into getting here. I figure I'll
>> need another 10 hours of work - reading web pages, trying things out
>> and failing - before I feel like I should ask a question here, so
>> that's 20 hours minimum. Please understand that wireless was working
>> on this machine in Windows in under 10 minutes - not 20 hours!
>
> Windows does it the right way for a mobile workstation, and wicd
> follows the same general idea.
>
> At boot-up , a wicd daemon starts, this is the thing that does the
> heavy lifting and runs as root.
>
> When the user's DE starts, you run the wicd-client. It comes with a
> sensible config dialog where you set sensible stuff like
>
> wired interface takes priority over wireless
> use wireless APs that have been sen before in preference to new ones
> buttons to define pre-and post-connect scripts if you need them
>
> when the client has decided what it's gonna do with your connections,
> it requests the daemon to do it. It's all very well-thought out and
> obviously designed with the needs of laptop users in mind. Sort of like
> NetworkManager working properly without the issues of NetworkManager.
>
> For me, it all just worked out of the box and connected every time to
> all APS - WEP, WPA, even the weird funky corporate BS thingy someone
> installed at work. Took about 10 minutes :-)
>
<SNIP>
> --
> Alan McKinnnon
> alan.mckinnon@×××××.com

Hi Alan,
   OK, so wicd really does seem to do the job. It was only about 10
minutes to get it working. Thanks to you and others for suggesting I
look at it.

   Basically, I've removed net.eth0 and net.wlan0 from rc-update and
added them with '!' to hotplug in rc.conf. Additionally I commented
out everything in /etc/conf.d/net just to ensure no one is using it. I
configured the settings for both networks in wicd to different ip
addresses and they seem to be what the machine is using. Switching
between the two networks is completely painless. All good so far.

   The only thing I've noticed is that ntp-client doesn't run when
booting. ntpd does run immediately after ntp-client fails. I'm not
sure if that's caused by some delay in the wired network coming up
using wicd or something else but it was working in my previous setup.
Any ideas about that one?

   Anyway, I suspect I could drop in at the library and get it to
connect there. I'll give that a try later this week.

Thanks,
Mark