Pandora Wifi/net Config Tool

[danboid]

First I'd like to say how exciting it has been watching pandora come to life, especiallly the last couple of days with the videos of the MK0, zodttd getting zpsx running full speed unoptimised and with cycles to spare etc. In my mind there is absolutely no doubt now that we'll see full-speed N64 emulation on Pandora- from what I undestand you can overclock to 900Mhz which is a full 10x the clock speed on the N64 ferchrissakes! The PSP has an inferior CPU to the Pand, its only ~3x the clock rate of the N64 and that handles N64 emus quite nicely. Anyway, I'm not here to discuss emus, just thought I'd bring that up

In another, older thread on this board I've already brought the critical importance of wifi/net connectivity and setup being as easy and reliable as possible by default on the P, but I don't think any of the devs replied to my posting so I'm giving it its own thread. I'm sure that there will be many Pandora users who will use X11 for Firefox (or Fennec?) pretty much exclusively- what with web/e-mail being the most common task people use computers for these days it will no doubt be a big selliing point for Pandora if it is easy to set up and works well.

In that thread I mentioned how disappointed I was with the latest Ubuntu- almost exclusively on the grounds that they botched up the whole big-Linux-chance-to-lynch-MS-whilst-they're-down (Vista) by making a total balls up of wifi/net configuration by sticking with cruddy GNOME networkmanager, which barely works at the best of times and even then it will ask you for at least 2 separate passwords to connect to protected wifi. Ubuntu wants to displace Win as the standard desktop OS- maybe one day it will but not until connecting to wifi is simple, reliable and hassle-free.

The only Linux distro I know where wifi works as it should (easy, reliable, only need to enter your wifi protection password once etc) is Mandriva which comes with the fantastic net_applet tool, the source of which is contained in the drakx-net srpm

http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distribut...v2008.1.src.rpm

I have not tried compiling it myself yet so I don't know just how closely it is tied to Mandriva ie if it would be able to work on Debian or what-have-you with a simple recompile or not. Reason I say this is that I'm wondering why no other distros (with the exception of Mandriva-based distros like PCLOS) haven't adopted this superior tool?

The only other half-decent wifi/net manager for Linux I know of is wicd

http://wicd.sourceforge.net/

Its way better than networkmanager but its still got a few rough edges and I haven't found it to be as reliable as net_applet- I tried wicd recently and it was auto-connecting to WPA2 wifi on boot as I wanted for a while but then it stopped doing that for some reason and I had to open up wicd and click Connect, which was still better than NM's password frenzy!

Any thoughts from the devs?

 

[Insanemal]

I am also quite interested in finding out more details about the Pandora's wifi setup. Allthough i dont beleve there is anything wrong with gnome network manager. It asks for your gnome keyring password the first time you run it. Then never again. So personaly i quite like it. But this is not what im after. I am more interested in the ability to bust open a console window and change things like mac adresse,s and such on the fly. Im in a uni where we are only allowed one wifi device on the network. so setting the pandora to the same mac as my laptop when its not in use will be one of the most valueable things i can think of. Im actually quite interested in on device console access in general. I know on my gp2x i only had it from a homebrew app. But i was hopeing that the pandora would offer this 'out of the box'. Im not worried if its even in a "hard to reach" place as i know its not for everybody. Anywho

 

[danboid]

Insanemal:

Well I wouldn't worry about that as I'd would be VERY surprised if Pandora didn't come with a full TCP/IP stack as default- in fact I'd say its pretty much guaranteed it will, simple because it has in-built wifi. People not bothered about a good networking GUI and WANTING to set up net connections CLI style will be few and far between. It is important that every common computing task should be do-able graphically on the P's default X11 desktop or else it will scare off Linux newbs.

 

[Insanemal]

Insanemal:

Well I wouldn't worry about that as I'd would be VERY surprised if Pandora didn't come with a full TCP/IP stack as default- in fact I'd say its pretty much guaranteed it will, simple because it has in-built wifi. People not bothered about a good networking GUI and WANTING to set up net connections CLI style will be few and far between. It is important that every common computing task should be do-able graphically on the P's default X11 desktop or else it will scare off Linux newbs.

Im really not sure you know what your on about here. Being able to change the mac address on a wireless adaptor isn't allways a given. I was expecting it have a full tcp/ip stack. But what I wasnt expecting was a driver set that allows you to override the Mac address. Normally I setup my networking using a gui. Its only when i need to do things that gui's arent setup for that i use command line. Also, Please refrain from cloaked attacks on other people who disagree with your opinions.

 

[danboid]

Cloaked attack? Just how was I 'attacking' you? :blink:

I'm no networking genius but I know the basics and enough to know that you can change your MAC address with ifconfig, which as I'm sure you know is a central/standard tool in the Linux TCP/IP stack, ala

ifconfig <interface> hw <class> <address>

There is also the 'GNU MAC changer' http://www.alobbs.com/macchanger/

I would like if you didn't make wild assumptions about my computing know-how, please!

Friends? :rolleyes:

 

[Insanemal]

Cloaked attack? Just how was I 'attacking' you? :blink:

I'm not networking genius but I know the basics and enough to know that you can change your MAC address with ifconfig, which as I'm sure you know is a central/standard tool in the Linux TCP/IP stack, ala

ifconfig <interface> hw <class> <address>

There is also the 'GNU MAC changer' http://www.alobbs.com/macchanger/

I would like if you didn't make wild asumptions about my computing know-how, please!

Friends? :rolleyes:




Lol.. i know how its done but it was my understanding that not all drivers are compatable with it. Its a security thing. I wasnt making assumptions. But i was kind of offended at your almost mocking use OF CAPS. lol.

 

[javaJake]

Well, if there isn't any network configuration tool included then, if I was in a betting mood, I'd bet $5 the community would make something in a flash.

 

[danboid]

Well, I would be VERY surprised if it didn't come with ifconfig- thats almost as bad as not coming with ls innit??


Why that should upset you or seem offensive I don't really undestand but we're not going to get upset about it as no mocking was intended ja? I'm not that type.

OK!?!

 

[Insanemal]

yeah i was thinking that a compleatly in house prduct would be better any way as it would give better intergration

 

[danboid]

IMO the Pandora team should try to avoid re-inventing the wheel as far as the X11 environment is concerned, whereever possible.The 'other' GUI, well thats different and I don't think they really have any other options. Anyone know of a good SDL network config tool?? I'm presuming the gmenu-style interface will be using SDL?

Of course though, if net_applet could not be used for some reason and wicd was also deemed not suitable then maybe they should try to create their own network config GUI but I highly doubt they have the time, money or resources to produce something better than net_applet before July and from scratch

 

[javaJake]

NetworkManager is very modular. The actual software that does the configuring is a daemon, and applets connect to it and provide input from the users. This should work for a quick development of a wireless tool, I would think. It would automatically support many many different types of networks.

Edit: I forgot to mention that this software is in Ubuntu, so it's easy to check out. Its homepage is a bit on the meager side, but the mailing list is very active. http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

 

[cb88]

javajake didn't you even read the first post? he practically dissed gnome network manager....the one in ubuntu at that

never used wifi(but plan on buying a laptop with it) but have actually heard good things of wicd and i have had a bad run in with gnome networking even on Ethernet wouldn't work with a dsl modem in debian etch i think it is due to my setup though

 

[javaJake]

javajake didn't you even read the first post? he practically dissed gnome network manager....the one in ubuntu at that

I admit, I sped-read through his post. If any post is bigger than three paragraphs, I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

In that thread I mentioned how disappointed I was with the latest Ubuntu- almost exclusively on the grounds that they botched up the whole big-Linux-chance-to-lynch-MS-whilst-they're-down (Vista) by making a total balls up of wifi/net configuration by sticking with cruddy GNOME networkmanager, which barely works at the best of times and even then it will ask you for at least 2 separate passwords to connect to protected wifi. Ubuntu wants to displace Win as the standard desktop OS- maybe one day it will but not until connecting to wifi is simple, reliable and hassle-free.

...

Its way better than networkmanager but its still got a few rough edges and I haven't found it to be as reliable as net_applet- I tried wicd recently and it was auto-connecting to WPA2 wifi on boot as I wanted for a while but then it stopped doing that for some reason and I had to open up wicd and click Connect, which was still better than NM's password frenzy!

Any thoughts from the devs?

The "password frenzy" is due to the fact that networks have their own password, and then the storage place for the passwords is encrypted. This isn't unusual: I have to type in two different passwords before my backup system begins doing its thing. I personally have had nothing but good experiences with NetworkManager. It does everything I want it to do, and reliably.

 

[Insanemal]

Javajake:

This is what i also said in mine. I run ubuntu on serveral pc's both laptops and desktops and have never had any problems with the tool provided. Esp in 8.04. I entered the password for my keychain once (i think) and have never entered it since. It was a different story under earler versions (ive been using ubuntu since 6.04).

Back to the original statement tho. I think something similar to the PSP or even DS wifi config would be more inline for a handheld. It gives you all the info broken up into a nice clean format. If you added on an advanced tab that let you pass command line instructions to the different modules, that would be good.

 

[coderunner]

Never had problems with gnome network manager. It's always been great in ubuntu for me. The only issue I had problems with was the broadcom drivers for the wireless card that is in alot of laptops. With 8.04, even that is totally automated now, so even less work for me to do.

 

[Insanemal]

Never had problems with gnome network manager. It's always been great in ubuntu for me. The only issue I had problems with was the broadcom drivers for the wireless card that is in alot of laptops. With 8.04, even that is totally automated now, so even less work for me to do.

yeah this is why I was asking about the mac address, and your ability to change it. I know that wasnt the exact issue broardcom adaptors had. But i know that "standard" functionality, isnt allways standard. Esp in this case

 

[magicman5421]

I'd like to add my support too for the GNOME network manager too. I've had my problems with it, as have others, but the reason for that is simple. Different hardware. With pandora, that won't happen. (unless you make modifications, in which case, you're on your own) Whatever network manager is used and tested, if it works on one, it will work on all of them.

 

[javaJake]

I'd like to note that if you upgrade Ubuntu instead of reinstalling it, something may fail. I know they officially support upgrading, but I've heard nothing but bad things about it.

 

[sindbad]

I'd like to note that if you upgrade Ubuntu instead of reinstalling it, something may fail. I know they officially support upgrading, but I've heard nothing but bad things about it.

I've upgraded both my laptop and desktop several times and nothing bad happened, they still work just fine.