Posted by: Darrin Tisdale
on May 10, 2002 09:18 AM
Recently, I spent some time installing SusE Pro 8. I was quite excited about the version. I was already using many updated features, including KDE 3, but still, hey, it's gotta be better, right?!
Well, yes and no, I found out. Here's why:
What did they do to the wireless start-up? As a consultant, I work with many different companies. With my clients, I usually get them hooked on 802.11b when I install an access point at their office (with proper encryption of course). I used to type linux SCHEME={client} at the lilo prompt, passing the environment variable in at boot. Does that work now? No.
Frankly, they messed up wireless. The network.opts file now has a YaST flag in it--I generally like YaST--that lets me configure the information for the card. But it does not call the wireless.opts to configure the card for wireless connectivity, so 1) if you have a DHCP wireless card, you are SOL (you need the wireless script to run before the network is set up, otherwise, the card cannot talk on the LAN), and 2) you must redo the iwconfig statement by hand. Yuck! That's what the wireless.opts file is for, silly! BTW--I tried turning YaST handling of my wireless card off. That turned it off completely.
And why don't they compile wireless statistics into the kernel? I want to use iwspy. True, I could compile my own, but then VMware complains each time I try to start up. And worst of all, there always seems to be a difference between the pcmcia rpm installed and the pcmcia version header file. Why? Because when I compile my 3Com driver (I use the poldhu_cs driver) it would complain about pcmcia driver versions not being the same. Arg!
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What happened to wireless cards?
Posted by: Darrin Tisdale on May 10, 2002 09:18 AMWell, yes and no, I found out. Here's why:
What did they do to the wireless start-up? As a consultant, I work with many different companies. With my clients, I usually get them hooked on 802.11b when I install an access point at their office (with proper encryption of course). I used to type linux SCHEME={client} at the lilo prompt, passing the environment variable in at boot. Does that work now? No.
Frankly, they messed up wireless. The network.opts file now has a YaST flag in it--I generally like YaST--that lets me configure the information for the card. But it does not call the wireless.opts to configure the card for wireless connectivity, so 1) if you have a DHCP wireless card, you are SOL (you need the wireless script to run before the network is set up, otherwise, the card cannot talk on the LAN), and 2) you must redo the iwconfig statement by hand. Yuck! That's what the wireless.opts file is for, silly! BTW--I tried turning YaST handling of my wireless card off. That turned it off completely.
And why don't they compile wireless statistics into the kernel? I want to use iwspy. True, I could compile my own, but then VMware complains each time I try to start up. And worst of all, there always seems to be a difference between the pcmcia rpm installed and the pcmcia version header file. Why? Because when I compile my 3Com driver (I use the poldhu_cs driver) it would complain about pcmcia driver versions not being the same. Arg!
When will this be fixed, SuSE?
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