wouldn't you know it ...

By basd on Jan 10, 2009 | In Welcome

So, I posted how I was deliriously happy with OpSu 11.1 -- and the next thing I knew, wireless connections no longer worked. ARGHHHH!!!!

...

Knetworking would not connect. Switching to the old ifconfig system via yast -- no connect. Not via ifconfig /iwconfig / ifup / ifdown -- NOTHING! Not on my regular encrypted wireless, not on the public unencrypted one. Nada, nada, nada.

Irony of ironies, I had moved my computer from its eth0 connection -- I was going to watch basketball and (tada!) update my main, really important computer to kde 4.2. But, not being able to get a wireless connection, I didn't get that far. Yeah, I know that the OpSu repository still calls it an "alpha alpha use at own risk" version, but it's stable on my test platform and has cool toys, so why not? Especially as the KDE 4.2 official release is Jan. 19. Must be close to ready, right?

So, I put the computer back on the eth0 connection and checked for updates. Nothing. Why stop with mere disaster! Go for it! I updated to 4.2 anyway. (And it's important to report, no plasma crashes! -- A couple of widgets died, but were handled elegantly -- and the new replacement ones work just fine.)

BTW, the KDE 4.2 OpSu repositories do not automatically install the KDE4 Knetworking GUI, which is a very nice improvement, so one needs to go into YAST and add it.

BTW#2 -- the "personal settings" interface can now apparently set the NTP server and turn it on and off. But, note, the update apparently turns it off.

BTW#3 -- I'm not certain where the overriding powercontrol gui is. Personal settings>display has screen powersaving setting, but so does "power control" on the advanced tab. Whichever is the case, my screen(s) did not power off, so the prior settings were altered in the upgrade. This a.m. I noticed that the "performance" screen settings were not set for screen power-off, so I've changed that, but haven't tested whether the screens will actually power down or not.

STILL NO WIRELESS, although the KDE 4 network manager looks very nice. Also, it does not seem to actually utilize the network connections that are created via "manage network connections." This is important, because I use manual IP and manual DNS -- but I can't get them active on the DCHP eth0 connection. The wireless radio goes on and "finds" the various wireless signals, but every time I select one of them, it creates a new connection for the same wireless -- and then, apparently doesn't use the parameters I enter.

Argghh, argghh, argghhh. Until this gets fixed I will be (oh no!) having to run windowsXP in order to have wireless connections.

Oh, wait, I haven't tried GNOME yet, maybe it will work -- but this seems to be a problem in the underlying network manager and not the gui.

And, it may not be a software issue, or at least one that will get fixed via an update. It may be that there is now a corrupted setup file, in which case I am doomed to do a clean install, which I really, really don't want to do.

So, I think I will wait a few days to see if there are any updates on the way. I think I noticed a networking security update, which may have been the disasterizer.

Thank you for visiting and have a pleasant tomorrow.