kubuntu intrepid beta: knetworkmanager. wifi. Problems and Fixes

[linomac]

Knetworkmanager can become one of the most irritating problems of kubuntu intrepid beta testers. other will try hard to fix it, others will just simply wait till final.
I tried to gather as much information as possible about the matter, and here i present my outcomes. Hope to be useful for someone.

Although I could see my wifi network as available and knetworkmanager tried to connect to it, it was failing.

I resolved my problem with
1.
aptitude reinstall knetworkmanager network-manager wpasupplicantand
2.
aptitude install nscdNscd caches libc-issued requests to the Name Service. If retrieving NSS data is fairly expensive, nscd is able to speed up consecutive access to the same data dramatically and increase overall system performance.

Some hints to resolve your problems
1. Check the logs
less /var/log/syslog2. Learn to use the following commands

list network devices
lshw -C networkcheck wireless extensions
iwconfigscan for wifi networks on range
iwlist wlan0 scanfor extra info to see what is going on
dmesgand while connecting
iwevent3. Warning: if wlan0 is defined in /etc/network/interfaces Knetworkmanager will NOT configure it.
So, you can either choose the manual configuration or Knetworkmanager

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More sources to read:

http://live.gnome.org/NetworkManager
http://live.gnome.org/NetworkManager
http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
http://en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetworkManager
http://freedesktop.org/wiki/NetworkManager
http://www.redhat.com/magazine/003jan05/features/networkmanager/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NetworkAdmin
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WPAHowTo/Kubuntu

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Problems still existing at my computer as of 13 October 2008 latest beta updates:
1. available wifi networks are not shown in the list with right click at tray icon. they are shown only if i want to create new wifi conection
2. i dont see option for dial-up connections and for vpn as i see in screenshots for gnome intrepid
3. preinstalled 3G (mobile internet) operator settings are not shown, like in nm-applet of gnome intrepid
4. no "conect to other network options"

Other users have also mentioned various problem in usability of knetworkmanager
http://weblog.obso1337.org/2008/expert-review-of-knetworkmanager-07/

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Other places where knetwork bugs are discussed and u can contribute with your feedback or find solutions

https://bugs.launchpad.net/opensuse/+source/knetworkmanager/+bug/259278
http://bugs.kde.org

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other places where someone can check other possible info
http://forum.kde.org/
http://www.kubuntuforums.net/
http://kubuntuway.net/

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update: i checked a computer with kubuntu hardy - kde4 remix.
network manager works nice there, but it is the old version 0.2 something
maybe there is way to put this old version at intrepid? because 0.7 it is just svn as i understand
so beta intrepid + beta knetworkmanager = ...

[jacksaff]

If anyone knows a painless way to downgrade to the old version of knetworkmanager that is in hardy (it runs on kde3) I'd be very appreciative. The missing functions in the new version are leading to missing hair here.
The version in intrepid doesn't even seem to have a presence on the web. All the info I can find shows the old version. Will the kde4 manager be ready in time for 8.10? It's a huge step backwards in terms of missing functions at the moment.

[hyper_ch]

I would use WICD as network manager: http://wicd.sourceforge.net - actually I use it on Kubuntu Ibex

[linomac]

i agree with you.
maybe they are working on it.
we ll see what happens in 2 weeks

[linomac]

I would use WICD as network manager: http://wicd.sourceforge.net - actually I use it on Kubuntu Ibex

Questions for WICD

does it integrate well with kde?
do u see trayicon?

should i remove knetworkmanager and also networkmanager service?
or i let NetworkManager service running ?

does it locates automatically the interfaces or should i set them up at /etc/network/interfaces

[hyper_ch]

yes, it integrates with kde and yes, you see a trayicon (after you've logged out of the session and started it again) and it will auto-deetec interfaces, no need to edit the interfaces file and when you add the wicd repository it will also auto-remove the knetworkmanager and its service. It will be a replacement for it.

Just add the repository and install wicd :)

[linomac]

thanks a lot hyper_ch
you are great!
i m going to try it

[linomac]

after latest upgrades knetworkmanager connects with wifi,but the problems continue.

the newconnection-> wlan0 does not find all networks available, even the closest ones, autoupdate for network scanning does not work
generally it has hard time scannig for networks

[Dareus]

I had some troubles with bc43 firmware but now it works, quite well to be honest (at least as well as in hardy to me). I thing that i really dislike is the old qt3 style, a lot of efforts were put in porting adept, kdesudo and other tools to qt4, why not do the same for knetworkmanager?