I have a great deal of experience in open source and I appreciate that it sometimes comes complete with it’s own peculiarites and problems. However, this NetworkManager thing is the worst piece of software I have ever come across. Not only does it randomly drop my wireless connection, it also sometimes puts the router into a state whereby not even Windows Vista will connect to it from the same machine (dual boot).

It is inconsistent, and frequently drops itself into a state where you can do nothing with it. It also appears to have several modes of operation which seem to randomly present themselves and eventually, it is impossible to get the thing to connect at all. It is going to /dev/null shortly and I never want to see it again.

This has to be some reflection on the authors because if they cannot get this software anywhere near right after several years then something is sadly lacking. I also question the wisdom of the distributors of Fedora and Ubuntu for including it in their distros.

Sometimes things are better done with shell (or PERL) scripts, or made to rely on manually edited config files. Sometimes the generic GUI approach is not suitable—especially when it appears that the developers couldn’t care less whether it works or not.

Having spent the best part of two days solid in trying to get this rubbish to work, I will be trying wicd or a PERL script. If I have time after that, I may even get round to writing a proper program to drive it all in a proper language like C++.

OK, but what is actually wrong about NetworkManager?

There is NO bridge from problem to solution. As is the case most often, Free Open Source Software is written with the assumption that since it works for the author(s) it will work for everyone. That’s a real problem for those of us who want to advocate Linux to new users. A real big problem. Case on point from a recent experience. One that has repeated itself a couple dozen times in the past six months.

HeliOS Solutions installs Linux on new users computers. Often, and more often than you would imgagine, some people tell us they want UBUNTU installed on their computers. If the hardware profile shows a 845/945 intel chipset, we strongly advice against it because of the “second update bug”. A bug by the way that has existed and went unanswered/unfixed for three years. Most of it has anyway. If they insist on Ubuntu, we tell them there will be no warranty on the install. If they still want ubuntu, one of the FIRST things we do is uninstall Network Manager and install Wicd. Here’s why. (finally)

With Network Manager, there is NO bridge between problem and solution. If it doesn’t work, and it doesn’t work more often than it should…there is nothing telling the new Linux user how to go about making it work. Now this is going to be perceived as an attack on Ubuntu…attack is a bit strong. The fact is, they’ve known about this “issue” for a few years…they’ve decided it’s “good enough” for us. That sucks.

In other distros, and I am personally of late partial to Mandriva, when you set up your install, it walks you through wired AND wireless connections as part of the setup. If your pci card or device is not natively supported, then it is not in the list, but the nsidwrapper option is and if you have a wired connection, it takes you straight to the website that has the exact driver you need to use the wrapper. THAT is new user support.

So our poor New Ubuntu Users, determined to get their wireless working, pull out the shotgun method. They start installing via synaptic every wireless networking tool they can find in hopes of getting wireless up and running. Thats how most people find Wicd. And yes, I rarely have wicd fail. It rocks…wifi radar works well too but not with the “sure every time” connectivity of Wicd.

Thanks for bringing this topic up. And as I look at the date you wrote this I just shake my head. Ubuntu STILL hasn’t fixed Network Manager…or most of their other 3 year old problems.

That’s sad.

h