Wishlist for network wizard

[marksouth2000]

This week I will take my Thinkpad to a wireless coffee shop and try it with an RTL 8180 wireless NIC through the PCMCIA card...

Please report back SHS, I would love to have the RTL8180 cards working under Puppy. I have one that works fine under Ubuntu and under OpenBSD, but no luck under Puppy so far....

Cheers, Mark

[Béèm]

Add detection of IPv4 ethernet over Firewire and configuration support, if possible.

Having the hardware I am willing to do testing.
My config: a laptop and a desktop with Firewire ports interconnected through a Firewire cable.

[rarsa]

Add detection of IPv4 ethernet over Firewire and configuration support, if possible.

I'm adding it to the list.

As I have no clue what needs to be done to configure that, I'll appreciate if you point me to a post where that's explained or send me a Private Message with the instructions.

Bear in mind that I' giving higher priority to the more common configurations although if configuring firewire is straight forward chances are it will be included.

[Nathan F]

Heck, I don't know if IPv4 ethernet over Firewire has ever even been done successfully on Puppy yet. Béèm and I worked at it a bit last year, there should be a lengthy post somehwere on the developers forum, but I would have to go looking for it. I think we got close but never quite there. Maybe with the new kernel though, it will work.

As for the dialog windows not accepting the Enter button, this is an issue with the gtk2 build of Xdialog, and also with gxmessage compared with xmessage for that matter. If I remember right, if you want to have a default choice with gtk2 widgets it has to be explicitly set. Gxmessage was built around gtk2 so it can set a default button, but I don't think this build of Xdialog can. It would have to be added at the source level so that makes it a different project.

You could switch some of the dialog boxes over to gxmessage perhaps, but for a lot of things it will not be appropriate. For the time being, other mouse haters like myself can remember to use the Tab key to toggle to the right button, and then press Enter.

This has actually been driving me crazy for a while, having to grab the mouse to click "OK". I actually sent Barry a patch to address this in PETget, but I don't know if he'll use it or not yet.

Nathan

[Brian C]

I'd like to report a bug- When I try to select an AP using the network wizard, it refuses to let me get out of the list of APs, no matter what button I press. I have to kill the task to get out of it.

[rarsa]

Heck, I don't know if IPv4 ethernet over Firewire has ever even been done successfully on Puppy yet.

In that case it will stay in the "wish list" forever

Really, the wizard is not really a wizard that grants wishes. I can only code in it what can be done from the command line.

Jokes apart... Béèm, please let me know when you have it working and send me instructions on how you did it. Without the HW I cannot even guess what will work.

[rarsa]

I'd like to report a bug

Brian. Please open another thread. This one is just for the wizard's wish list.

[Brian C]

Sorry. I noticed "fix problem" in your list in the first post, so I thought this would be a good place.

[Béèm]

Heck, I don't know if IPv4 ethernet over Firewire has ever even been done successfully on Puppy yet.

In that case it will stay in the "wish list" forever

Really, the wizard is not really a wizard that grants wishes. I can only code in it what can be done from the command line.

Jokes apart... Béèm, please let me know when you have it working and send me instructions on how you did it. Without the HW I cannot even guess what will work.

@Nathan,
I am getting much closer now. Before I went away for a rather long Christmas holiday, I managed to do IPv4 over firewire, if I remember well with LinNeighbourhood and by means of a ftp server I set up in Puppy.
Here is a thread about it: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=13513
The Firewire card isn't automatically detected in the wizard hence my request.

@Rarsa,
I am being back now and I am installing a new PC, which takes some time (yes XP first). When done I'll do the testing and report the steps I went through.


P.S. It's a pleasure to work in SeaMonkey 1.1 (XP for now) and have spell checking when I type.

[rdchin]

Please include WPA-TKIP Passphrase encryption in next network wizard or as soon as can do, if possible. I had three friends ask me if there was any way to connect to WPA encrypted wireless networks with old MS Win95-98 laptops. Although I was able to set them up OK, none of these people are PC saavy and simply want to read their web-based email. If they had to connect to a different network via command line interface or change the network password, they couldn't and/or wouldn't do it.

I'd love it if I could boast that puppy does WPA in a GUI in two shakes of a puppy's tail.

thanks

[Béèm]

@Rarsa,
I am being back now and I am installing a new PC, which takes some time (yes XP first). When done I'll do the testing and report the steps I went through.

Sorry to take such a long time, but I'v been busy.
The procedure I follow to get the 1394 (as it isn't detected by the network wizard) is:
modprobe ohci1394
modprobe ieee1394
modprobe eth1394
modprobe raw1394
modprobe dv1394

In puppy 212 it is after the last modprobe I hear the sound of the connection (to a XP Pro machine)
I am blessed with a eth1 device and issue ifconfig eth1 10.0.2.1

With linNeighborhood I query 10.0.2.1 and get a return with the machine name and in the comment the network group I defined in XP.
I then scanned the machine for the network resources, but none were found altho there are.
This is where I am at the puppy 212 configuration.

I did the same for puppy 213, but I didn't hear the sound at the last modprobe dv1394 and I haven't a device eth1 added neither.
So there is regression here.

I hope you have a better insight in view of detection of 1394 in the network wizard.

[laptopnewbee]

i would like to see the signal quality numbers when a scan gives more than one ap, so that as in my case where i have choices i know which choice is better from that standpoint.

[img][img]http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/12147/2006345707782921473_rs.jpg[/img][/img]
i sometimes even have more than one ap with ether of those ssids to pick from. i'm sure that there are some of the paid wifi users who have more than one service who would like to know which account has the better signal at the location they are at.

[rarsa]

i would like to see the signal quality numbers when a scan gives more than one ap.

I thought we had a conversation in the #puppylinux channel where I advised you that I had added that functionality to version 2.14-8.

I am about to upload 2.14-9 after a little bit more testing, no later than the end of today (easter standard time) so you could try both or wait until 2.14-9 is out.

[rarsa]

duplicate

[laptopnewbee]

I thought we had a conversation in the #puppylinux channel where I advised you that I had added that functionality to version 2.14-8.

sorry, after checking again i see that the numbers show up when i hover my pointer over each ap listing. this brings me to wishing that the info was there without the mouse action, but as long as i can get the numbers i can live with it.

[Springer]

I haven't checked out the 2.15 beta (or even 2.14, for that matter) so if this is already handled outside the network wizard, my apologies...

I would *love* to see Puppy continue to make the commonly-needed things that are hard on most distros dead easy to do in Puppy. A perfect example would be the addition of PPTP and IPSec connections in the network wizard. I know these can be a hairball in some unusual situations, but in reality, there are a few configs that will work with most gateways out there. For instance, if PPTP works with MS PPTP and popular open source server distros like m0n0wall/pfSense or Ubuntu Server, then that's good enough for the wizard.

Using a PPTP or IPSec connectin to secure wireless is becomeing more common as people realize that the ususal setup of a wireless router or AP on the *inside* of their firewall makes the firewall pretty pointless. Wireless needs to be treated link the net at large, but you also need to be able to join the local net after correctly authenticating.

This would be a killer differentiator for Puppy, and would move it ahead of even the really big distros. (I write this from within Ubuntu Desktop, which is HUGE - it must have taken two solid hours to install, and really doesn't *appear* to offer that much more for a desktop user than Puppy 2.10Pro!)

FWIW, it would be nice not to have to add a VNC server for use with WinIIvnc to every Puppy version. Am I the only one that knows how incredibly useful WinIIvnc is for using a primo keyboard and mouse plugged into a Windows box?

[rarsa]

(Disclaimer: After re-reading my post it seems a little bit rough. That is not the tone I wrote it with. I am just presenting my thoughts. All contributions to this thread are welcome)

First:

I believe that the VPN connections and the Network wizard are completelly different animals.

Of course the Wizard could try to implement the VPN or for that matter include a browser or a samba configurator, hey if that's in, why not Remote desktop and VNC?... Those ideas generaly lead to bloatware.

The purpose of the network wizard is to connect you to the network, not to configure what you want to transmit trough that network. That is what the Network submenu in the main menu is for.

Second:
Cisco's IPSec is proprietary and it is illegal to redistribute without the proper license.

vpnd is an alternative but it does not allow encrypted passwords because Cisco's encryption is proprietary and closed.

I cannot comment on PPTP as I've never had to use it.

[tempestuous]

PPTP VPN definitely works in Puppy, in earlier versions anyway. Setup instructions -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 2140#42140
Puppy 2.14 does contain the necessary ppp_mppe module in its zdrv file.

And forum member HairyWill contributed a pptpconfig package here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=12003

[donde]

rarsa
I got wireless laptop to work once with WPA, did something and can't connect anymore. I think you should separate wireless from LAN steps. Not sure what the various "saves" mean. Have just one save at very end when one is satisified and all works. Also, no indication how to delete a profile. Also, after setting up WPA profile, not sure when to "scan" or "use this profile." I think eth1, (my wireless) should say wlan1 to mean wireless. Need more step by step and indication of success, failure, and what to do.
Thanks...donde

[Springer]

rarsa said:
I believe that the VPN connections and the Network wizard are completelly different animals.

They're only completely different animals to techno-geeks that understand how the code works. To a USER trying to connect to a network, the distinction is unnecessary and confusing.

IMO, a "Network connection wizard" should make as much of the process as possible "automagic" - the goal is to get as close to "one-click" network connectivity as possible - cleanly, quickly, and simply. This is *exactly* the philosophy Puppy excels at. I well understand that doing this is not entirely trivial, but the tools at hand are now mature enough to give it a good go, and making this sort of thing automatic would be *highly* valuable to those who need a good OS for remote workers and Road Warriors, which I would expect to be natural targets of the Puppy philosophy. If CE is really in Puppy's future, as Barry has said, then this is something that should be seriously considered.

Of course the Wizard could try to implement the VPN or for that matter include a browser or a samba configurator, hey if that's in, why not Remote desktop and VNC?... Those ideas generaly lead to bloatware.

C'mon, obviously there is a point of bloatware, and I'm more oppsed to that than almost anyone here. But if you're connecting to a remote VPN network over a public WiFi link in a cafe or hotel (a very common scenario), then you *must* sort out both the local network connection AND the VPN before you can really do anything. That means putting them together makes a whole lot of sense.

Further, there are now a whole lot of people (like me) who now need VPN access through a firewall even for HOME wireless networking - any other wireless setup pretty much opens up your whole network to bad people within wireless range. (You'd be surprised how many BIG companies have great firewalls that are essentially bypassed by wireless.)