[OLPC Networking] Testing the Wireless driver changes

[Dan Williams]

On Thu, 2008-01-17 at 14:18 -0500, Mikus Grinbergs wrote:
> >> To completely silence the radio:
> >> #!/bin/bash
> >> rmmod usb8xxx
> >> mv /lib/firmaware/usb8883.bin /lib/firmaware/usb8883.bin.quiet
> 
> > For a more user-friendly solution, (short of a hardware rfkill switch)
> > put a toggle somewhere in the control panel for "Don't turn the radio on
> > automatically" that is _UN_checked by default, and a wireless
> > enabled/disabled button there too.  ...
> >     Then ensure that NetworkManager is clued into the preference value
> > above, and that NM sets it's initial wireless-enabled state coherently
> > with the preference value above as well.
> > 
> > Were these things done, by default the behavior would be the same as it
> > is now, but those people who wish insane amounts of control over the TX
> > power state can have their fluffy white cake and eat it too.
> 
> I'm one of those who wishes for control.  The G1G1 offering has set 
> up a user population different from the education design of the OLPC 
> project.  I live in the boonies, have no wireless, and there are no 
> other radios within range.  My connection is by wired ethernet.
> 
> Took me a while to find out that NetworkManager would set up my 
> wired connection, if I provided a DHCP server.  However, if I happen 
> to unplug my ethernet cable for a while, NetworkManager reverts eth0 
> back to radio (and I need to reboot to reconnect as wired).
> 
> 
> What I wish for is a user toggle that when I'm at home will inhibit 
> NetworkManager from supplanting the wired connection.  (But I do 
> want to restore radio function when I take my XO to a cafe.)

NetworkManager has functionality to enable/disable the wireless, it's
just not exposed from the user interface yet.  I believe Simon has been
looking into this.  In the mean-time, you can disable wireless by
running:

dbus-send --system \
     --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
     /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager \
     org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.setWirelessEnabled boolean:false

and NetworkManager won't try to use either of the 802.11bg or the mesh
interfaces until the next reboot.

Dan