"Just Works" Configuration of Ethernet at bootup

What features/apps/bugfixes needed in a future Puppy
Message
Author
User avatar
ecomoney
Posts: 2178
Joined: Fri 25 Nov 2005, 07:00
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Contact:

#21 Post by ecomoney »

Ive got a guy here who worked in his last job was a manager in a call centre where they sent out cable modems. The story from him is that the majority of people do not know how to set up their own internet connection.

Puppy linux could be both a LiveCD, and a installable distro... and a learning tool.

A "best fit" solution for all puppy internet connection policy to this process.

When an application requiring an internet/network connection is launched, check to see if there is an active ethernet connection, and if so off to connect with it. This option dialog should also have a "connect another way...", and "help.." buttons, which opens the current internet connection wizard, or displays a tutorial on internet connections. (Do I need to start quoting the mission statement again?)

Thinking positively gets things done 8)
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

User avatar
WhoDo
Posts: 4428
Joined: Wed 12 Jul 2006, 01:58
Location: Lake Macquarie NSW Australia

#22 Post by WhoDo »

ecomoney wrote:When an application requiring an internet/network connection is launched, check to see if there is an active ethernet connection, and if so off to connect with it. This option dialog should also have a "connect another way...", and "help.." buttons, which opens the current internet connection wizard, or displays a tutorial on internet connections.
Now THIS I can agree would be an excellent feature. Are you volunteering to develop it?
ecomoney wrote:(Do I need to start quoting the mission statement again?)
Oh please! Ask 20 people to interpret the same "mission statement" and you'll get 20 different versions! It's a statement of aims, not a manifesto! :roll:
ecomoney wrote:Thinking positively gets things done 8)
No, actually DOING things gets things done! Thinking positively is at best wishful thinking and at worst a bone lazy approach to life. (Do I need to keep pointing out my signature?) :wink:
[i]Actions speak louder than words ... and they usually work when words don't![/i]
SIP:whodo@proxy01.sipphone.com; whodo@realsip.com

User avatar
mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#23 Post by mikeb »

Well since auto connection to a ethernet based network is the default for every other live distro I've tried i can assume the only reason it is not is because dhcpcd in puppy is buggy and fails for many people....about 4 posts per week and the many more who do not bother to go that far.

mike

ps most new broadband users here now get an auto connecting router/modem and auto connection would get them online without pressing a button....why should only windows get the user friendly label?

tlchost
Posts: 2057
Joined: Sun 05 Aug 2007, 23:26
Location: Baltimore, Maryland USA
Contact:

#24 Post by tlchost »

tubby wrote:Try adding to your /startup dir
snip
Worked ok for me on a frugal install, found and connected to ETH0.
You may not need all of the above but i went for belt and braces. :lol:
Before I confuse myself further....if the items you cited are in startup, then they run at every boot of Puppy?

I was hoping to do something that only ran at the first boot of Puppy, as happens with the video and sound setups.

Thanks
Thom

User avatar
James C
Posts: 6618
Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 05:12
Location: Kentucky

#25 Post by James C »

Just to throw in my recent experience with distros that auto connect to wired ethernet, there are a lot that don't.

The latest Mandriva release does not connect on any of the three machines I tried with the live cd, even though the "blinky" showed an active connection.To connect(according to their forum and wiki) its necessary to setup the firewall and disable IPV6, save the changes and reboot. Kind of hard to save and reboot running live. I installed Mandriva anyway and after I was able to save the changes everything works but I'd really preferred to just have Puppy's trusty Network Wizard.

I try most of the "big name" releases and a lot of them are having the same problems and have forum threads about " my computer won't connect".Some users have problems while others don't, but if it doesn't work on all equipment it still need further development.

Anyone is free to make a puplet to autoconnect to the internet, it might be a good idea.....just not for the default Puppy release. :)

User avatar
ttuuxxx
Posts: 11171
Joined: Sat 05 May 2007, 10:00
Location: Ontario Canada,Sydney Australia
Contact:

#26 Post by ttuuxxx »

I can see why it couldn't autoconnect at startup to lan internet, there always be the default network wizard on the desktop, for dialup, lan.wireless etc. Like my tv pc that has 2 nic cards in it, If it was to auto connect it would probably go with the first eth0 where as my actual net is eth1, but most users would be eth0, really if the default script was hacked and it just selected the first etho and then selected Auto dhcp and didn't save the settings, it would work. but first it should check and make sure no previous setting are saved, you wouldn't want it to delete wireless settings etc.
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

tubby
Posts: 317
Joined: Sat 24 Jan 2009, 15:49

#27 Post by tubby »

@tlchost, the original poster asked for a way to connect automatically i tried it and it seemed to work. as i am still learning about puppy and linux in general my ways of doing things are probably the worst way but as i said i am still learning.
I was hoping that someone more knowledgeable would be able to use the method and write a wrapper with a firewall loading script.

nooby
Posts: 10369
Joined: Sun 29 Jun 2008, 19:05
Location: SwedenEurope

#28 Post by nooby »

Firewall and ipv6 involved. Very advanced stuff for us newbies indeed.

Puppeee 4.3.1 just worked for me on both machines. Why did that one work when the others don't or ???

have to run.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

User avatar
mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#29 Post by mikeb »

its necessary to setup the firewall and disable IPV6,
its this sort of high brow crap that puts people off linux and thankfully distros like puppy don't try to make life a geek paradise hence my desire for this ability....other distros that want to be used do it.
If it does not connect then nothing lost really, or can these major releases not cope with that?

mike

User avatar
ecomoney
Posts: 2178
Joined: Fri 25 Nov 2005, 07:00
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Contact:

#30 Post by ecomoney »

I could code an ethernet connection script, and someone better than me at bash coding could put together a far better script than me a lot faster. This is the benefit of working collectively.

Patriot has already written a routine (which still needs testing) here on this thread...which contains an example of a badly coded connection script written by me.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45629

This could be used as the "guts" of the proposed "easy connect" routine. as could code from the /usr/sbin/net-setup script which has already been extensively tested. I say "easy-connect" because of the dangers the developers on this thread have explained. Its also important to listen to pensioners (one of the largest internet groups) and cybercafe owners (Linux "showroom") as well as developers.
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

tubby
Posts: 317
Joined: Sat 24 Jan 2009, 15:49

#31 Post by tubby »

Well this pensioner has done some digging and there is an autoconnect.pet already in the ibiblio reps.
Surely this could be your starting point.

User avatar
mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#32 Post by mikeb »

Well this pensioner has done some digging and there is an autoconnect.pet already in the ibiblio reps.
yes someone did do this recently but my dodgy memory could not remember who or where...from what I remember he made a remaster with it included it it was working just fine.

mike

Puppyt
Posts: 907
Joined: Fri 09 May 2008, 23:37
Location: Moorooka, Queensland
Contact:

#33 Post by Puppyt »

tubby wrote:Try adding to your /startup dir
dhclient
dhclient-script
dhcpcd (symlink to dhclient)
dhcpd
All downloadable from the ibiblio packages.
Worked ok for me on a frugal install, found and connected to ETH0.
You may not need all of the above but i went for belt and braces. :lol:
Great stuff, tubby! I'll test it soon.

I want to make an idiot-proof Puppy (spot the Catch-22). Something that works out of the box for new computer users - "age" be damned - with no interest or inclination to command-line or scripting (or wizards), will resume intact after improper shutdowns (yay Silver Puppy's thread and pet - sorry off-topic) etc etc.
Regarding nooby's request for a compromise in automatic ethernet at bootup - just how hard would it be to include the option in the typical live-cd startup options of keyboard, locale, Xorg and mouse?

User avatar
ecomoney
Posts: 2178
Joined: Fri 25 Nov 2005, 07:00
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Contact:

#34 Post by ecomoney »

Is this for ethernet, I believe its a program for automatically connecting to wireless
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

User avatar
sunburnt
Posts: 5090
Joined: Wed 08 Jun 2005, 23:11
Location: Arizona, U.S.A.

#35 Post by sunburnt »

Hi ecomoney; How`s it going?
LanPuppy did exactly this, it got the gateway config from the router
wrote it to /etc/resolv.conf , and did auto-setup of networking at boot.

Puppyt
Posts: 907
Joined: Fri 09 May 2008, 23:37
Location: Moorooka, Queensland
Contact:

#36 Post by Puppyt »

sunburnt wrote:LanPuppy did exactly this, it got the gateway config from the router...
Thanks sunburnt! Downloading now - missed my radar completely but is now much appreciated.

User avatar
mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#37 Post by mikeb »

Is this for ethernet, I believe its a program for automatically connecting to wireless
nope Lan routers/modems...by the nature of the roaming beastie i don't think auto wireless would be quite as feasible.....mainly due to the common use of encrypted networks.

mike

Puppyt
Posts: 907
Joined: Fri 09 May 2008, 23:37
Location: Moorooka, Queensland
Contact:

#38 Post by Puppyt »

shinobar at the Puppy Linux Japanese Team has released this little gem for puppy4 (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51630) - is this what you were thinking, nooby and ecomoney, for automatic LAN connection?
shinobar wrote:It automatically starts up the desktop with 800x600 screen size, Universal timezone, us-English keyboards.
You can change the first setup with one window.
The network connection is also automatic in case an eth0 interface is found and DHCP is available.

Quick setup Puppy is easy to make up based on any Puppy v4.x.
Download firstsetup-0.4en.pet from here.
Follow the document.

User avatar
jemimah
Posts: 4307
Joined: Wed 26 Aug 2009, 19:56
Location: Tampa, FL
Contact:

#39 Post by jemimah »

The secret of Puppeee and Pwireless2 is to use the latest Dhcpcd. All you need to to is start it and it will know which interfaces have a carrier and automatically request an IP - no configuration necessary, works on both wired or wireless networks.

User avatar
01micko
Posts: 8741
Joined: Sat 11 Oct 2008, 13:39
Location: qld
Contact:

#40 Post by 01micko »

jemimah wrote:The secret of Puppeee and Pwireless2 is to use the latest Dhcpcd. All you need to to is start it and it will know which interfaces have a carrier and automatically request an IP - no configuration necessary, works on both wired or wireless networks.
I think as Pwireless2 matures it will become the default networking app in Puppy/Quirky. It is coming along nicely.
Puppy Linux Blog - contact me for access

Post Reply