How to run KNetworkManager

[Timothy Murphy]

Ed Greshko wrote:

>> This raises an issue I've wondered about for some time, namely
>> What info does NM provide, and what is provided by KNM?
..
>> In my experience anything to do with networking on Fedora/KDE
>> is utterly confusing and confused,
>> compared eg with the simplicity of networking under Windows.

> KDE has its own set of tools to interface with "NetworkManager".
> 
> Those tools can be accessed from the panel "System Tray" or if you don't
> have that you can always to to "System Settings"--->"Network
> Settings"--->"Network Connections".

Yes, that was really my point.
I wasn't sure if this route (through System Settings)
was provided by NM or KNM.
As far as I can see, one gets exactly the same information this way
as if one right-clicks on what I think of as the NM icon in the system tray.
So it is not clear to me what KNM adds to the meal.

> I really don't have any problems using "Network Manager".  I found it
> "mostly" simple
> to setup an openVPN connection.  Still have to write a bugzilla about how
> it "should"
> restrict where you put certs.  But, without knowing the specifics about
> problems people encounter....it is hard to comment.

I have openVPN working fine without involving NM, as far as I can see.
What exactly does NM add to this?
I see the tun0 interface with ifconfig,
and can ping, ssh, etc without any problem.
I do remember reading some time ago (long before F-17 came out)
that one was going to have to set up openVPN through NM,
but that day does not seem to have arrived yet, hopefully it never will.

NM is fine if it works, which in my case is nearly all the time.
It is when it fails to work that I find it infuriating.
The error messages in /var/log/messages and elsewhere 
are completely unintelligible,
and there is a total lack of documentation,
eg what files does NM look at?

Personally, I wish NM would just stick to WiFi,
and not try to deal with Bluetooth, Mobile data, openVPN, etc.
I never use NM for these (or for ethernet connections)
and have never had any trouble with them.

As far as I can see, the old network service
has got mixed up with NM in some way,
and is no longer a genuine alternative?

In my view, NM/KNM typifies what I consider a bad development in Fedora,
which has been going on for some time,
in which one application seems to rely on several others,
so that the whole system is gradually becoming more and more spaghetti-like.

Dennis Ritchie's adage that a program should do one thing and do it well
does not seem to come into the Fedora/KDE world-view.



-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland