The mystery of WiFi

[Timothy Murphy]

Tod Merley wrote:

>> IIRC, Fedora - and other distributions -
>> tried to bring up the interface <xyz>
>> if there was a file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-<xyz>.
>>
>> But this no longer seems to be the case -
>> I have an ifcfg-eth0 which is completely ignored
>> by "service network restart" and even "ifup eth0".
>>
>> How does Fedora now decide what interfaces to try to bring up?

> I believe they are using an automated environment overseen by
> NetworkManager.
> 
> To play in a bit more static environment (from gnome desktop):
> 
> System > Administration > Services
> Un-check NetworkManager
> Checki Network (about 2/3 down the list)
> Save!
> Reboot or restart service.

Actually, I'm almost certain I wasn't running NetworkManager (NM)
on the computer in question.
I don't normally run NM, because it does not work
with all the WiFi cards I use -
in particular it does not work with my Orinoco PCMCIA cards,
which I am reluctant to throw away as they have very good antennae -
and I like to run as near as possible the same system
on all my machines.

I've also found that "alias eth0 xyz" in /etc/modprobe.conf
also seems to be often ignored.



-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland