You are better off using nm-applet, knetworkmanager bleeds from many wounds.
1. crashing at least once a day
2. unable to connect to a wifi network where nm-applet can (if I properly understand what "network frontend" means, it is not knetworkmanager or nm-applet that does the logic, so they should not be different)
3. does not provide an easy way to disconnect a network (there is no option on the drop-down menu)
4. Mobile broadband tab doesn't work out of the box (that is a big "HUHH?")

For example:
1. kill knetworkmanager
2. start nm-applet
3. start a mobile broadband connection
4. kill nm-applet
5. start knetworkmanager
and voila, your broadband connection still works fine, knetworkmanager displaying all available data about the connection, while the broadband tab is still grayed out.

Fintan wrote:

Does anyone have an update on KNetworkManager and Mobile broadband devices?

I would like to know that as well.

Upgrading to kde4.4.1 greyed out my mobile broadband tab in plasma-widget-network-manager on KK and LL beta.

Synaptic says:

Network Management widget for KDE4 Plasma

This package contains the Network Management plasma widget which aims to
provide a fully featured GUI for managing networks. Currently, the only
supported backend is NetworkManager. Support for wired, wireless, GSM
and VPN networks are provided. The widget is exclusively written for Plasma
and KDE4 and it is not supposed to work in other environments. The package
also provides the KDE4 Control Module (kcm) for changing network settings (to
be used by NetworkManager later).

This widget needs Plasma shell to be usable. Main KDE 4 Plasma shell is
available in the kdebase-workspace-bin package. The user friendly name of the
widget is "Network Management" (in e.g. "Add Widgets" dialog).

Which version of KNetworkManager are you using? I find it works perfectly well at finding wireless networks, and at interacting with my Nokia phone connected via USB ( works perfectly ) or Bluetooth ( needs Blueman, but this is a NetworkManager deficiency and not KNetworkManager's fault )

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$ knetworkmanager --version
Qt: 4.6.2
KDE Development Platform: 4.4.2 (KDE 4.4.2)
KNetworkManager: v0.9

The real problem is that this is a fresh Kubuntu 10.04 install, so my expectation was high on having everything working. I'm using a HTC Hero with network sharing (in the phone), and it was working in Ubuntu 9.10 Gnome and KDE, too.

I don't have problems finding wifi networks, I can't connect to a specific network (which is a hidden one so this might be the root of the problem). It is also strange that I created this connection as a WPA/WPA2 Enterprise connection, but the KnetworkManager lists it as Insecure (although it still displays my home wifi with name and strength, even I'm 20 km far from home...)

bcooksley wrote:Which version of KNetworkManager are you using? I find it works perfectly well at finding wireless networks, and at interacting with my Nokia phone connected via USB ( works perfectly ) or Bluetooth ( needs Blueman, but this is a NetworkManager deficiency and not KNetworkManager's fault )

Ok, the removal of the Kill Connection was a big issue, but throwing a hissy fit and just clicking on the connection will reset it. (Hissy fit not required)

The dropping connection bug was fixed in an update, but it, like 9.10's version, still has a fit if I do something intensive...

I have a minimalist approach to getting the WPA wireless working that will even work from the command line if you were not able to boot into a graphical interface. It takes a little work but is solid and takes very little memory to run. I use this to manage my wireless net on KDE and Gnome fulltime:


# First setup the wireless internet and check that the wireless driver is loaded:

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ip link set wlan0 up

# Check the wireless signals that are available:

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iwlist wlan0 scan

# Enter your wireless signal name and password. Mine is 'dlink'. You will have to replace 'dlink' with yours... Then enter your password for that wireless signal at the blinking curser so it will be saved to file:

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wpa_passphrase dlink > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf


# Make /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf readable by root only so your password cannot be read by non-root users:

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chmod 0600 /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf


# Load the wireles driver with info you just stored:

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wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf


#Start it:

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dhcpcd wlan0


# Check if it's working:

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ping -c 3 http://www.kde.com


# Add commands in /etc/rc.local to start the each time you boot up (This works in Arch. I'm not sure if it works on other distros):

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#!/bin/bash
#
# /etc/rc.local: Local multi-user startup script.
#

# Uncomment the command below to run rfkill to unblock wireless driver if needed:
#rfkill

wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
dhcpcd wlan0

* As a side note, if you had a wired connection you could enter 'dhcpcd eth0' and you'd be up and running. Also, if you find that you're getting messages saying that your driver is blocked you can install 'rfkill' and simply add that command 'rfkill' at the start of the /etc/rc.local file or wherever you're starting your net.

If you want to have a terminal based web browser you could install 'lynx' and use it in emergencies. It works great and has a super low footprint too.


I give credit to the arch wiki for this information. It's just about the best resource out there:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be ... nvironment

Sophiefl -

1) Mach Boot has been superseded by a variant of Chromium (the OS not Browser, see machboot.com)

2) Mach Boot uses IceWM, not KDE

3) Yes Mach Boot is based on Debian (per Google) look at /etc/debian_version to see what version

4) Probably better off posting on Debian as not a KDE related problem, make sure to include kernel and Debian versions

5) Probably better off using the new Chromium version

6) You don't note whether Ubuntu connects to your wireless, if it does I'd guess your problem is driver related. You also don't state that your wireless connector app (whatever it is) opens or if it shows any available networks. ifconfig would be a could command to run to see what connectivity is available

7) Have you looked for Mach Boot forums/mailing lists to search?

simpleblue wrote:I have a minimalist approach to getting the WPA wireless working that will even work from the command line if you were not able to boot into a graphical interface.

Thanks a lot for that tip ! I was often forced to lay a lan-cable to the router as i got problems with dist-upgrades (even now to Oneiric...) ;-(

But is there a small mistake in your post?

You wrote :

# Enter your wireless signal name and password. Mine is 'dlink'. You will have to replace 'dlink' with yours... Then enter your password for that wireless signal at the blinking curser so it will be saved to file:

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wpa_passphrase dlink > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf


Since the file has still only root-permissions at that point, the pipe couldn't work?
So should one use ''sudo'' or chmod before that command?

Please be aware that newer distributions, shipping with NetworkManager 0.9 allow you to create "System Connections" which will allow the system to connect automatically, even when logged in as root at the console.