NetworkManager serious usablity challenges

[Robert Moskowitz]

F16, Gnome3.   (sent also to gnome NM list)

I am at a friend's house in Amsterdam trying to get connect to his 
wireless and it is failing, so this message SHOULD go out when I get to 
the KLM lounge tommorrow (that was working friday)...

A major defiency is the loss of deleting SSID configurations.  There is 
no 'delete' feature anymore in the Network Settings panel.

There is a network near here that has the same SSID as at another 
friends (let's call it NETGEAR), but this one has a different password 
that I do not know.  Doesn't matter, NM keeps trying to connect and asks 
me for a different password when it fails. I have no way (or found no 
way), to delete or even deactivate this SSID from NM.  So it keeps 
trying and trying.

Connection to my friend's wireless SEEMs to be a DHCP problem.  I have 
this hunch by watching /var/log/messages; this 'new' network manager 
does not tell me why it is failing.  Now I shoud preface the next part 
with I work in 802.11 standards.  Right now I am active in 802.11ai 
(FIA), so I KNOW the .11 state machine.  Is the problem in initial 
connection (AUTH,ASSOC); note it is possible to be receiving BEACONs, 
but be too far to actually ASSOCIATE with an AP.  The user should be 
told the problem is here.  Or is it a bad password; well that is the 
guess when it presents the dialog for the password but i KNOW the 
password is correct.  Oh, perhaps the problem is DHCPv4 (or v6?) and 
since there is no way to tell the user to fix the DHCP allocation in the 
router, the poor user gets asked to try a different password?

You KNOW what the failure is.  PLEASE give some information as to which 
step things stop at.  Plus change the icon from that strange ... thing 
to something showing trying and trying what?  (ASSOC, SECURE, ADDRESS).  
Also be so informed that when 11ai gets done (you do have 2 years) we 
are going to do all this in a couple/few roundtrips.  My proposal does 
the whole shabang in 2.  The AUTH starts the securing and the ASSOC 
finishes the securing and does the addressing, though there are times 
where addressing extends the ASSOC for another roundtrip.

Now back to feature loss over Gnome2 NM....

I cannot turn off wireless from the NM pulldown if it is currently 
trying (and really failing) to connect.  I have to open the Network 
Settings dialog and turn off wireless there.  While attempting to 
connect the on/off switch is replaced with the text 'connecting'.  I 
know that, I want to stop it trying to connect, and the only way to do 
that is turn the wireless off.

Does turning NM off turn off the wireless radio?  I have a Lenovo x120 
and it does not have a wireless radio switch and on airplanes, I like to 
turn off my radio and save  battery.   All I can do is turn off NM, but 
I have no way of knowing WHAT is being turned off!

Enough challenges for tonight.  Tomorrow it is off to the airport and 
hopefully connectivity there on my way to the IETF meeting.  (yes I am a 
standards guy).


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