OLPC wireless startup at boot time

[James Cameron]

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 01:14:33AM -0700, Hal Murray wrote:
> I just measured the pause at 20 seconds.  Is there a reason for that delay?  
> Why doesn't the WiFi LED turn on sooner?

When I tested this in the past few months ... avoiding NetworkManager an
sticking to shell commands, I could get reconnected after suspend in
about three to five seconds.  Therefore I think that the problem is
related to NetworkManager.

> What is a "scan"?

# iwlist eth0 scan

(effectively this is what is used by NetworkManager when it does a
scan ... the results are then passed by NM to Sugar over DBUS.).

> Does it check one channel or all 3?

It checks all 11, depending on the regulatory domain.

> I'd expect most people to be using nearby APs with good signal
> strength so they should be easy to find and not require extra scans.

A scan can fail to detect an AP because the AP beacon is trodden on by
another transmission.  Scanning is not a reliable thing; it's not like
the APs know they are being scanned and can try harder.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/