wireless interface not visible in network-manager
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
network-manager (Ubuntu) |
Expired
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Binary package hint: network-manager
I am running kubuntu feisty on a thinkpad x60 tablet with an atheros ar5212 wireless card. When I have the card handled by the ndiswrapper driver, I see the "wlan0" interface in iwconfig and I can configure it to connect to the network in the command line, but network-manager does not offer any wireless interfaces to connect (nm-tool only lists my ethernet card). For simplicity I have disabled encryption on my AP, and I know that the ndiswrapper driver has working scan capabilities.
If, on the other hand, the card is handled by the madwifi driver (ath_pci), I get an "ath0" interface which network-manager _will_ let me configure. For unrelated reasons, however, I can not use the ath driver.
When I insert ath_pci, NM reports:
NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[
NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[
NetworkManager: <information>
NetworkManager: <information>
NetworkManager: <information>
NetworkManager: <information>^INow managing wireless (802.11) device 'ath0'.
NetworkManager: <information>
However when I insert ndiswrapper, the only response I get from NM is this:
NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[
I worked out this problem: network-manager ignores interfaces that are configured in /etc/network/ interfaces, so when I tried to configure my wireless interface using "manual configuration", the interface was disabled for network-manager. This sounds to me like a major usability bug because users can easily disable their interfaces just by clicking around, and have to manually edit the interfaces file just to get them working again.